Ben Lomond running loop

What a glorious run this is and one that is going to hurt your legs unless you are already a serious hill runner.

The most common way of running Ben Lomond is a straight out and back on the main walking path, this route however is the loop. We decided to tackle Ben Lomond by going up the smaller path on the west side and descending on the main walkers path. The reason for this choice was the smaller path has some scrambling sections that make a downhill run difficult.

From the car park you head north up the loch path. You take the small path to the right labelled 'Ptarmingan path' by a stone, which is just after the Loch Lomond bunk house. Once on the path it's a relentless uphill to the top. That said, it is well worth stopping to catch your breath and take in the views every so often. This is a spectacular ascent in terms of the views offered.

The path itself is well formed and generally this path to the top has far fewer people on it that the main route. On our last ascent in May we passed only one hill walker. You are very quickly out off the trees and the steepness of the route is hard going for the first with the path quality remaining good. At the path flattens out a little before you hit the last km where a fair bit of scrambling over the rocks is required.

The top of Ben Lomond comes at you all of a sudden taking this route, one second you are scrambling up a rock the next you are beside the trig point marking the summit. Ben Lomond is a very popular hill walking route and you can expect to meet people at this point.

The downhill on the main path is a well made path and is a mix of steep and not so steep. As parts of the path are all stone it can get very slippy so take care and also watch out for all the hill walkers. Most hill walkers step to the side to let you past, but there's always the chance they don't see you. The path is easy to follow and takes you back to the information centre at the car park with the last of the route being in the trees.

Overall although our legs hurt for a few days after this run it was so worth it. If you can make it, try starting this route as early as you can to avoid the crowds and of course avoiding weekends. We would recommend before 7:30 am. Enjoy this one, but take extra care.