Wednesday 12th September 2007
I only went up a Corbett on this walk because I had other plans for the morning; I visited the distillery at Glenturret, now bastardised as the Famous Grouse Experience. They seemed more interested in their blend than in the actual malt making process, and when I tasted the blend I was not impressed. It left a sour taste in my mouth, but when I tried the blend of just malts (no cheap grain whisky), it tasted quite good. Though that may have been the Highland Park in it, which I love. With my head full of the drams of whisky I headed off to the Trossachs to see what the fuss there was all about. My original intention had been to go up both Ben Venue and Ben Ledi today but after my visit to the distillery one of these had to go. I had decided that I would go up Ben Venue because it is more celebrated, despite being smaller and is right next to the Trossachs (whatever they are). In the event the road to the Trossachs was closed so instead of taking a long diversion I decided to go up Ben Ledi.
After parking beside an old railway line, south of Loch Lubnaig, I walked along the old line, now a cycle track, for a kilometre until I reached a sign that said "Ben Ledi". Surmising that this may just be the right way I headed off along the path climbing through Stank Burn Glen along manufactured gravelly paths into the corrie at the head of the valley. Despite the name and the heavy forestation this was quite a lovely place and I stopped to enjoy the surroundings and had my lunch while sitting on a large rock. On with my walk, the gravel path ended at a fence as the path continued on the other side across grass (and mud) up to the top of Bealach nan Corp. Onward up the grassy hillside I plunged into the clouds and later into rain. Except for on Monday, I had endured clouds at the top of every summit I'd visited in Scotland on this holiday so far.
Reaching the summit ridge I walked along what I'm sure would have been a delightful ridge in clear weather, but I was not so blessed. Eventually I arrived at the summit where there is a trig point, a shallow cairn and a little distance away was a metal cross marking a memorial to a mountain rescuer who was killed on Ben More. The conditions discouraged a prolonged stay so I left south-east along the ridge and descended over Meall Odhar and down below the clouds. Despite the rain stopping, the view, although extensive, was not great (perhaps it was just the poor light) as Ben Ledi lies near the Highland fault and everything I could see southwards was lowland, including a wind farm. The fabled Trossachs were shrouded in dark clouds and could not be seen clearly. Following the path, I turned left and dropped steeply down below Creag Gorm re-entering the forestry land and descended further beside the Corriechrombie burn plunging into the woodland back down to the road and my car. This was not a great walk, although it would have been helped by better weather, but it was too short to be really satisfying.
I only went up a Corbett on this walk because I had other plans for the morning; I visited the distillery at Glenturret, now bastardised as the Famous Grouse Experience. They seemed more interested in their blend than in the actual malt making process, and when I tasted the blend I was not impressed. It left a sour taste in my mouth, but when I tried the blend of just malts (no cheap grain whisky), it tasted quite good. Though that may have been the Highland Park in it, which I love. With my head full of the drams of whisky I headed off to the Trossachs to see what the fuss there was all about. My original intention had been to go up both Ben Venue and Ben Ledi today but after my visit to the distillery one of these had to go. I had decided that I would go up Ben Venue because it is more celebrated, despite being smaller and is right next to the Trossachs (whatever they are). In the event the road to the Trossachs was closed so instead of taking a long diversion I decided to go up Ben Ledi.
Reaching the summit ridge I walked along what I'm sure would have been a delightful ridge in clear weather, but I was not so blessed. Eventually I arrived at the summit where there is a trig point, a shallow cairn and a little distance away was a metal cross marking a memorial to a mountain rescuer who was killed on Ben More. The conditions discouraged a prolonged stay so I left south-east along the ridge and descended over Meall Odhar and down below the clouds. Despite the rain stopping, the view, although extensive, was not great (perhaps it was just the poor light) as Ben Ledi lies near the Highland fault and everything I could see southwards was lowland, including a wind farm. The fabled Trossachs were shrouded in dark clouds and could not be seen clearly. Following the path, I turned left and dropped steeply down below Creag Gorm re-entering the forestry land and descended further beside the Corriechrombie burn plunging into the woodland back down to the road and my car. This was not a great walk, although it would have been helped by better weather, but it was too short to be really satisfying.
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