The Cobbler (Ben Arthur) from Succoth

The Cobbler, marked Ben Arthur on many maps, is a Corbett of 884m, and Walkhighlands says it has the most distinctive outline of any mountain in the Southern Highlands: three rock summits packed round a small corrie above the head of Loch Long. Wikipedia, citing a 2004 paper in the Scottish Geographical Journal, attributes that shape to large-scale landslipping rather than to ice. Wikipedia dates the Cobbler Club, Scotland’s first climbing club, to 1866, and Walkhighlands records that in the 1930s workers from Glasgow’s shipyards came out by bike, bus and train to sleep under the Narnain boulders beside the path.

The route starts at the Succoth car park off the A83, just west of Arrochar, on ground that Forestry and Land Scotland manages. Walkhighlands describes a wide zig-zag path through the trees, then a clearer path beside the Allt a’ Bhalachain, past the Narnain boulders and up stone steps to the ridge between the north and central peaks. The central peak is the highest, and its summit is a rock pinnacle. Walkhighlands says the path goes through a hole in the pinnacle onto a ledge that is broad but slopes outwards over a big drop, then up the far side, and that you must be able to climb back down because there is no alternative. It rates the top the most technically difficult summit to reach of any Corbett, and notes that most visitors give it a miss.

Walkhighlands gives 11km with 920m of ascent in four to six hours for the circuit over both main peaks, descending south-east on a steep, loose path with a short scramble down a gully; returning the way you came is easier. Walkhighlands lists Citylink buses to Arrochar and local buses to Succoth, so the day does not need a car. The Cobbler suits a walker who wants a rocky mountain on a built path and is content to stop on the central plateau. Anyone planning to stand on the true summit without scrambling experience and a head for heights should leave that to others, and so should anyone who would be descending in poor visibility. For a Southern Highlands summit with no pinnacle to decide about, Ben Lomond has a clear path all the way up, with a rockier descent only if you choose it.