Beinn Narnain - Scotland Summer 2005

	The weather kept its promise from the previous evening and turned out exceptionally well. After a good breakfast I left to tackle my fourth Munro for this holiday, Beinn Narnain. I decided to leave the car at the hotel and walked along Loch Long to the start of the footpath, allowing me some good views of my destination over the loch. Having arrived at the footpath I initially followed the old railway from the hydroelectric scheme to quickly gain some height. Soon I had the first great views over Arrochar and Loch Long in the bright sun. I continued past Creag an Fhithich towards Cruach nam Miseag, on the way I had some impressive views of The Cobbler (Ben Arthur).

Approx 2/3 up Beinn Narnain I had an amazing view south west, taking in Ben Lomond and a glimpse of Loch Lomond, the full length of Loch Long as well as The Cobbler (Ben Arthur). This view is also available as a QuickTime VR panorama of the view south west from Beinn Narnain:
	Past Cruach nam Miseag I continued upwards, occasionally having to scramble over the odd rocks until I reached The Spearhead and soon the summit of Beinn Narnain. From here I had another fantastic view over the various lochs and summits. What might look like the summit of Beinn Narnain in the picture on the left is actually Beinn Ime (1011m) in the north east, the summit of Beinn Narnain is the trig point on the left. While in a way similar to the panorama above this view still gives a completely different perspective. The view goes all the way from Ben Vorlich in the north, past Loch Katrine, Ben Lomond, Loch Lomond, Loch Long to The Cobbler in the south west. It is also available as a QuickTime VR panorama of the view from the summit of Beinn Narnain:

By now it was lunch time, I found a sheltered corner to sit down and eat my lunch. Feeling refreshed I decided to return via the 'back' of Beinn Narnain and descend along the western flank. Crossing the large flat plateau of the summit of Beinn Narnain I had an impressive view of the Arrochar Alps with three Munros and a number of other hills in close view. This panorama is also available as QuickTime VR panorama of the view over the Arrochar Alps from Beinn Narnain:
	Despite the excellent weather it wasn't too busy on Beinn Narnain, only a handful of other walkers had decided to visit it. The Cobbler was much more busy, when I reached the footpath through Coire a' Bhalachain it turned much busier, in particular with walkers descending from The Cobbler. This path has been upgraded significantly since I walked here in December 2003, a huge improvement. Now I just followed the path down, enjoying some more fine views over to Ben Lomond as well as over Loch Long and Arrochar. Late in the afternoon I arrived back at the hotel after a fantastic day out hillwalking. I had a relaxing bath, reading the newspaper, eating chocolate and enjoying a wee dram of Islay single malt.

The map used for this walk was Explorer 364: Loch Lomond North. A description of a walk taking in both The Cobbler and Beinn Narnain can be found in Southern Highlands (Pocket Mountains)

Departure from Islay <- Scotland Summer 2005 -> Travel back to Swindon