Hill Walking Scottish Mountains
The Cobbler is one of my favourite walks. It is only an hour away from Glasgow, just on the banks of Loch Long. It has a 884m ascend, annoyingly making it just shy of a Munro. With cheap chocolate bars and a few bottles of water, the average person should be up & down in 5 hours. This is an incredibly popular hike with a very clear path and a car park at the bottom (bring pound coins).
Before setting off you debate with yourself, "how many jumpers do I need to wear?"
You are currently wearing a good jacket, but then decide that a hoody underneath would be a good shout. You pack those extra 2 penguin chocolate bars in your bag, and you're good to go.
At the foot of the mountain, you look up and admire the challenge that awaits.
You start off with a short lived brisk walk and start the timer....
The walk starts off with some zig-zagging paths which ascend steeply. It quickly leads to a forest, where the path continues to zig zag....a never ending, steep zig zag. As you are surrounded by trees, you cant see anything other than trees. You cant see the bottom or the top, and therefore have little reference as to how far you have walked. You feel caught in an endless walking loop.
The conversation is flowing in the group, except for that one keen person who is 25 paces ahead. You jokingly tell the newbie hillwalker that there is a coffee shop at the top, explaining that the staff restock by carrying the food up every Sunday. They believe you and it becomes a common topic.
15 minutes in and your heart is bouncing out your chest. Sweat is pouring out every glad you have.
You unashamedly stop and declare the first break. The jacket along with under hoodie gets taken off immediately and stuffed into the bag. You continue along the route with a cool breeze at your back and it isn't long before one of those layers go back on.
It should take you roughly 45-60 minutes to reach the end of the purgatory like forest. Afterwards it becomes a much more open and flatter walk, with a picturesque path leading straight toward the mountain in the background. A stream is flowing on the left hand side if any water bottles need topped up.
After the halfway point, you notice that the conversation has reduced, with everyone controlling their breathing. Everyone's bag is feeling heavier and heavier. You try to help this by holding the bag straps up off your shoulders. At each stop you get more and more annoyed at your packing choices, "why the feck would I need 6 bottles of water".
Eventually the path will split into 2. If this is your first time doing this hill, take the right route, it will give you a clear path to the top. The left route is a little less clear and certainly off the grid a bit but is definitely worth a go second time around.
On the right route, the path will lead you nearly round to the opposite side of the Cobbler. At this point you will again be met with split paths. To your left is a direct route to the summit, directly ahead leads to Beinn Narnain and the path to the right is Beinn Ime. It is not uncommon for people to bag all 3 of these in the one day.
The route to the Cobbler Summit is literally stairs. Steep, steep stairs. In bad weather this is where the group normally splits up. Conversation at zero, bombarded by rain, and a 20 foot gap between everyone appears. Some people adopting the "lets do it as quickly as possible" technique, others for "30 steps and rest" and some for "I am about to fecking die, I am happy to be last".
Being Scotland, nearing the top normally introduces a completely new climate. With the semi-passable nice day remaining at the bottom, you walk through the clouds and get hit by low visibility, high winds and cold temperatures. Swearing becomes the new language of choice within the group. If you still have good weather at this point.....you are lucky.
If you picked a clear day, at the top you will be rewarded with excellent views that make it all instantly worthwhile. With the unique shape of the Cobbler, there are 2 peaks, and it is worth visiting both.
No trip to the summit would be complete without attempting the "eye of the needle". This is a large rock on the very edge of one of the summits which can be climbed. It has a hole through its centre which needs to be climbed through to get to the top. Once you are on the other side of the hole, best not to look down....
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