| Ben Vane & Beinn Ime
from Inveruglas Ben Vane Beinn Ime |
| Estimated net time | 6-8 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but there are steep section both up and down Ben Vane, and it's also a little steep down to the valley Gleann Leacann Sheileach. | ||
| Drinking water | Several sources of running water in the lower parts of the route. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route, except on either side of the valley between Ben Vane and Beinn Ime, and from a little below Beinn Ime and down to the valley Gleann Leacann Sheileach. (April 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at the car park by Inveruglas Visitor Centre. | ||
| Start height | 10 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 1490 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 19.0 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
 |
||
| Route photo |
| ||
From the junction between roads A82 and A83 on the north-west shores of Loch Lomond drive 6.4 km (4.0 mi) north on road A82. Park on the right hand side of the road, at the Inveruglas Visitor Centre.
Start your hike by following A82 south, partly on the side-walk and partly on a gravel path along the road, 800 metres. Turn right onto a service road leading up to the dam at Loch Sloy, and follow this road up to the transformation station after 1.1 km. Make sure you continue straight ahead on the tarmac road, and continue another 1.2 km. Turn left onto a gravel road and across the bridge after 20 metres. Walk 480 metres along this road and turn right onto a path immediately before a very small bridge.
Follow this path up Ben Vane's south-east slopes, noting that it is steep in places and also offers a touch of exposure. Close to the summit you will be using your hands in a couple of places but there are no difficulties and also minimal exposure in these places. The summit isn't marked in any way, and is located at the far end of a small plateau.
From Ben Vane continue west, with no path, down to the highest point in the valley between Ben Vane and Beinn Ime. Head uphill south-west where you find your best route, and aim a little south of the saddle betwen Beinn Ime and Beinn Chorranach to the right (north). From a little south of the saddle gradually turn south, and you're likely to pick up a path coming up from your right. Follow this path to the large summit cairn.
From Beinn Ime head south-east and south down to the saddle south of Beinn Ime. Leave the path a little before you get down to the saddle and turn left down towards the valley. Descend steep grassy slopes and aim for the forest road on the left hand side of the valley. Follow this forest road back to the Loch Sloy service road, turn right and head back down to A82 and Inveruglas Visitor Centre.
The plan for this Tuesday was to hike Ben Vane, Beinn Ime and Beinn Narnain. But given mist while ascending Beinn Ime, and above all feeling really drained throughout the hike, I decided to leave Beinn Narnain to be done together with The Cobbler some other time (potentially the next day).
At Ben Vane I had some reasonable views, and I also had a chat with a guy who reached the summit just before me. He told me this was his first Munro ever and that he had set himself the target of completing all of them during the coming five years. Given the fact that he has seven weeks holiday every year, and was in process of buying a caravan, this sounded fairly realistic. But I'm not sure he actually will do it given his relaxed definition of Munro bagging; his plan for the In Pin was to walk up to the climbing section and then descend without doing the real thing.
After Beinn Ime I descended down to the valley east of the saddle south of the mountain, which took me onto a long and boring walk back to the car.
