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| Name: | Ben Bowie |
| Hill number: | 102 |
| Height: | 313m / 1027ft |
| RHB Section: | 01E: Loch Long to Loch Lomond |
| County/UA: | Argyll and Bute |
| Catchment: | Leven (Dumbarton) |
| Class: | Marilyn, Hump, Tump (300-399m), Yeaman (Ma,Hu,Tu,3,Y) |
| Grid ref: | NS 33995 82878 |
| Summit feature: | a few stones |
| Drop: | 221m |
| Col: | 92m NS319836  |
| OS map sheet(s): | (1:50k) 56 (1:25k) OL38 347 |
| Observations: | 0.7m higher than top at NS 34004 82962 and even higher than NS 34161 83046 |
| Survey: | Abney level |
| GPS data: | show GPS entries for this hill |
N.B. Some hill summits are on private property or on land where there is no public right of way. Permission should be sought from the landowner where access to a hill summit is through private land(*).
*For information about access rights in Scotland see the ScotWays website.
Please report via the contact page any logs you see below which describe or encourage acts of trespass. Please quote the hill number and hill name.
| Logged Descriptions (logged by 364 users, only the latest 50 shown - Show all) | By | Date of Ascent |
| Ben Bowie and Killoeter from the start of the track near Daligan where there is plenty of parking. Lots of felling going on on the NE side of the fell - quite a steep and rough climb up from the track. | Mark Jackson | 19/07/2023 |
| From Daligan. Logging going on and some new windblow to navigate on upper circuit - main track is clear. | sclater | 23/04/2023 |
| Nice evening walk from the parking and through the forrest to reach the top. | Missphoton | 08/07/2022 |
| Pleasant evening ascent fae Daligan. | sclater | 07/07/2022 |
| Short diversion from the John Muir Way | tsharp | 30/03/2022 |
| From A818, NS 3280 8422. Small parking area. Followed forest track south then east to NS 3437 8334 where a small path heads uphill to the forest edge. There is some recent cutting and wind blown trees that are a mild inconvenience, but otherwise a reasonable path leads to the two tops. Main summit is the western one. | geralddavison | 25/03/2022 |
| Up and down on the Three Lochs Way | Arbie | 21/03/2022 |
| Decent parking just before the gate to the forest track E of Daligan. Started up Bolton's route, which goes up to join a soggy firebreak. The nice path goes up through trees but is blocked above by wind throw. I went along the firebreak a bit but it was horrible, so I took the next path through the trees and just walked across the slope below the fallen trees then up to pop out on open ground and eventually join the path to the top. Instead of arsing about in the trees again, went over the second bump then down to the BWF, easy narrow path on the N side, then back along the easy surfaced 3 lochs way. | Gill | 12/03/2022 |
| John Muir Way from its junction with the A818, then Three Lochs Way to gate in col. Through tussocks and trees to Killoeter, where bjewing's summit garden is still visible. A network of narrow breaks means the hand-to-hand combat with Sitka spruce is only intermittent. I returned to the gate and took the far more pleasant path over Ben Bowie's tops and curving E through forest to the John Muir Way. | Nick Down1 | 10/12/2021 |
| Along the JMW from Balloch, detouring to Bromley Muir and Ben Bowie, descending off the latter southwards to the Three Lochs Way Path then between the young sitka stands to the ridge fence line NE of Killoeter. A pretty good track runs besides the fence line, giving straightforward access to the top of Killoeter's three tops, before dropping NE along a mountain bike track with jumps back to the JMW path besides a couple of water filled quarries. | summitter | 13/11/2021 |
| Bus from Fife to Glasgow, then train to Craigendoran. Ascent from there. | BasherBob | 30/06/2021 |
| From Stoneymollan roundabout. | willyross | 07/05/2021 |
| From Killoeter crossing Three Lochs Way. Superb lunch spot with outstanding views. Northeast descent to join JMW towards Bromley Muir. | lordtonult | 28/04/2021 |
| Ben Bowie and Helensburgh circuit from the lochans. | thekirkie pirate | 12/03/2021 |
| From Daligan direct then back via forestry track. | sclater | 02/11/2020 |
| Nice and easy walk, superb sunlight through the trees. Nice view of Loch Lomond and Helensburgh. | Missphoton | 02/11/2020 |
| From Daligan (limited parking in small layby opposite forest road start on busy, fast, B832) to 3 way fingerpost and bend at NS344827, then boggy path to col at NS342826. From col on path along BWF WNW to top (BWF crossing protection in situ). Descended via smaller path to NE, meeting the forest road again between the junction and the major ride (approx. NS343833, hard to spot on way up). | Isbjorn | 14/10/2020 |
| From Daligan then onwards to Balloch. With G and F. | sclater | 02/10/2020 |
| From road to NW. Golden, warm evening, dead calm. Met plane spotter at top. En route Wilms to Torridon. | Rounsfell | 01/10/2020 |
| With The Fruin, from Garelochhead to Balloch | Iloveducks | 19/08/2020 |
| My brother had been here before but I enticed him to revisit with the promise of bagging Killoeter(qv). From the bealach btw the two. We think Jim's stones were moved to the top which is a superior viewpoint, though it seemed to be lower than the S top. A day of sunshine and spectacular showers. | pwheeler | 18/03/2020 |
| Cycled up the track from near Daligan until directly north of top. Then followed a log extraction track south to the top of the clear felled area then 5 mins to the top. | Simon Winton | 04/03/2020 |
| Have climbed several times. This time via Killoeter from Daligan. | sclater | 08/01/2020 |
| Ben Bowie circular from Helensburgh. Started from pier. Followed John Muir Way via Hill House and along road; up and over summit in persistent rain, then back to Helensburgh via Three Lochs Way. | PaulineD | 06/05/2019 |
| 1of3: From A818 near Daligan. | ChrisR | 27/02/2019 |
| ben bowie revisit and killoeter from daligan. | robertphillips | 17/01/2019 |
| The John Muir Trail wasn't there when last I visited this hill. Lots of folk about. | Colin Crawford | 24/12/2018 |
| From B832 E of Daligan. Great views. With PM. | CJM | 24/07/2018 |
| 2 parking spaces opposite forest road near Daligan. A 3 and a half mile walk with CM. Go up the right hand fork and after about 100m there is a faint path on the right which leads to the summit. | bolton | 24/07/2018 |
| Walked from Helensburgh anti-clockwise up The Three Lochs Way then back via the John Muir Way. A quality viewpoint for minimum effort. | Chris Mac | 24/06/2018 |
| Started from Helensburgh, took three lochs path from Craigendoran. Where the pines start look for a faint path which leads to the top. Returned to Helensburgh via John Muir way. | Buteobuteo | 27/03/2018 |
| Solo. From Daligan. | Dangerous Dave | 27/02/2018 |
| From near Blackthird. Followed track to pick up the John Muir Trail till high on the hill, turned onto the Three Lochs path for short distance, then up path, initially boggy, near fence line to summit. Fine views. | N.Morters | 10/02/2018 |
| Very limited visibility but at least the rain had eased off by now. | Alex C | 28/08/2017 |
| From Craigendoran via diverted route of John Muir Way. Good views despite cloud; strong wind. | Winterfloodian | 19/07/2017 |
| From car park at Helensburgh Reservoirs and the first time using a bike to access a hill. Route and write-up at: http://gayleybird.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-fruin-and-ben-bowie.html | Gayle | 21/04/2017 |
| Solo. Day trip by train to Craigendoran, returning from Balloch. Followed Three Lochs Way. From high point of this up path to Summit of Ben Bowie. Pleasant route. Good views from summit. Beautiful sunny day. Continued to Killoeter and Bromley Muir. | pwbellarby | 04/01/2017 |
| An easy ascent via the trade route from Daligan. | Chris Peart | 30/10/2016 |
| First hill with Universal Hiking Club | munromurph | 25/04/2015 |
| track through the trees, easiest to keep going until you come to a new signpost with 3 signs. go left , through the fence and then turn right to get to top of hill. | tallblond | 27/02/2015 |
| With Jenx, walked from the parking on the road verge as others. Very pleasant in the autumn colours. Took the wide ride, through larches then steep bank, before rightwards traverse to open ground in 50-60 metres. Reasonable path all the way to the hillocks on top. Stones in Jim's summit pic on this site were found to have been moved, cairn now on previous hillock | nordicstar | 18/10/2014 |
| Usual route from the N | AndrewFinnimore | 07/10/2014 |
| Would completely agree with tim747's comments! (path on left side of break, worn track traversing through forest then out over the humps) | Kevin29035 | 30/09/2014 |
| From the A818, up the firebreak (track on left side)it appears to end in a steep bank but daylight can be seen above. The track then traverses right an leads out onto open ground passing over all 3 summit possibilities making it as tamperproof a tick as possible! | tim747 | 27/06/2014 |
| Galltywenallt | 27/03/2014 | |
| Solo | HFB | 18/09/2013 |
| An excellent viewpoint over the Firth of Clyde and the Cowal Peninsula. | JohnW | 08/06/2013 |
| on tracks from daligan. | robertphillips | 16/12/2012 |
| Left car in small layby on north side of A818 at 328842 and walked SE up forestry track, not shown on older OS maps. At 344833 turn right up an adequately defined path through a narrow break in the forestry starting at 344833 and eventually reaching the summit. | Topographer57 | 10/12/2012 |
| final marilyn of two weeks away including final Munro and survey of Buidhe Bheinn and Sgurr a'Bhac Chaolais | vegibagger | 07/09/2012 |