An Caisteal

Monday 23rd May 2022

I have had a problem with Scottish mountains for many years. While I love being at the top of a mountain, I am highly dependent on the weather for my enjoyment and the weather in Scotland is notoriously poor. I tried to exorcize this demon at Easter and I was quite successful, though this was mainly because the weather was good. Now, I was back in Scotland and the weather was poor again, so my demons were back. I was staying in the Youth Hostel at Crianlarich and hoped to go up some of the Munros that are to the south of the village, but it was drizzly with low cloud and I didn’t want to go up a mountain in those conditions. I walk purely for fun and not to challenge myself or complete a list, so at the start of this day I was really unsure what I was going to do as even though there are short walks in the area, there is nothing that would occupy me for the day. Eventually I decided I would climb the path through Bogle Glen to the junction on the West Highland Way for Crianlarich. The usual path into the village descends east from the junction and this is the path that I have taken previously while the Bogle Glen path descends north, is steeper and is not recommended. Since I’d not taken it before I thought I’d climb it, however this path is notoriously boggy and the rain was not helping with that, plus all the trees to the left of the path have recently been felled and have left an ugly scar on the hillside with the new tree guards not helping.

Once I reached the junction on the West Highland Way I had a problem of what to do next, but first I had to get past the large number of people who were blocking the path and only after I had negotiated my way past them could I set off south down the West Highland Way. When I was in Crianlarich in 2015 I had also planned to go up some of the nearby mountains until rain again stopped my plans, so on that occasion I walked along the West Highland Way to Benglas Farm Campsite, visited a nearby waterfall and walked back again. The one thing I didn’t want to do now was a repeat of that walk and yet that is what I found myself doing. Even though it hadn’t been windy in Crianlarich, it was quite windy on this exposed path, which made me even less keen on going up a mountain, however it had stopped raining and there was even a small patch of blue in the sky. I didn’t want to be walking on the West Highland Way as I wanted to be going up mountains, but the weather was not right for that, though as I looked across the valley towards the mountains at the head of Glen Falloch part of me was desperate to be going up those mountains.

An important point is that even though I enjoy being at the top of a mountain, I don’t enjoy climbing mountains so I prefer to have a good footpath that will ease the gradient as much as possible, but there isn’t a good footpath up these mountains and that was putting me off. For now, I was on the West Highland Way and I was impressed with the quality of the path, which was certainly better than had been the case when I first did the trail in 2004 on my first ever walking holiday in Scotland. However, the footpath soon degenerated into the more familiar track that I remembered from previously and was totally waterlogged and required me to wade through the water as I passed dozens of people coming up the West Highland Way, which is now more popular than ever. Eventually I descended to the valley bottom and walked beside the River Falloch until after crossing the river I finally turned off the West Highland Way to take a track that slowly climbs the hillside. An idea had come to my mind of attempting to climb An Caisteal, which is one of the mountains around the head of Glen Falloch, even though there is no path. The track I was on crosses the slopes of Stob Glas to the Allt Andoran stream where a small dam collects water for a hydroelectric scheme, but from there on I had to make my own way up the hill.

Slowly, I struggled up the pathless, boggy hillside until eventually I had to stop for a rest during which I had my lunch and it started raining. While wearily sitting on the side of the hill looking across the valley I wondered what I was doing there as I was not enjoying this. I was supposed to be on holiday, so what was doing here? By the time I had finished my lunch the rain had stopped and the sun had come out, which refreshed my spirits so I decided to keep going and soon the gradient eased with the view behind me opening out and the sun shining in the valley. Despite the mountain resolutely clinging to cloud, things were beginning to look good and spurred me on to keep climbing the hill bypassing the top of Stob Glas to reach Bealach na Bàn Leacainn where the terrain began to steepen and become more craggy while a faint path inconsistently led the way. As I plunged into the clouds and the weather worsened, I kept climbing and eventually reached the summit ridge where I found a clear footpath. With strong winds assailing me, I turned left onto the path up to a cairn, though not the summit, as the clear path took me across a saddle and up to another cairn that must surely be the summit of An Caisteal.

I had previously climbed An Caisteal in 2005 along with two other Munros in the area, but on that occasion I did not do the northern ridge of An Caisteal down Twistin Hill, so I was keen to do that ridge now, however it was very windy and this ruined the experience. Although there was an excellent footpath with some simple scrambling, the wind was strong enough to be distracting, which is a shame as I have wanted to walk along this ridge for a long time, ever since 2005. Once I was below the clouds, I saw that it was now more overcast than earlier with no sign of the sunshine as I slowly made my way along the ridge to reach Sròn Gharbh at the end where the path disappeared and the terrain steepens with the ground underfoot becoming very boggy. Veering to my right I headed down to the track that runs beside the River Falloch and down that to eventually reach the A82 trunk road, which I walked beside all the way back to Crianlarich. This was not a good walk although there were some good moments on good paths, but the weather was not good enough for me even though it wasn’t as bad as feared or forecast. A lack of good footpaths up the mountain and strong winds while on the mountain unfortunately ruined the walk for me.

Kippenrait Glen and Sauchie Crags

Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd May 2022

One month after I had previously been in Scotland I was back for a two week holiday, though this was a difficult holiday for me to plan. I had a vague idea of wanting to go up mountains, but nothing specific and even when I did come up with a plan, inspired by my earliest walking holidays in Scotland, I still had difficulty with the availability of Youth Hostels on the first night. It wasn’t until just before Easter, which is relatively last minute for me, that I started looking elsewhere and discovered that the Stirling Youth Hostel had a bed available so that is where I caught a train to arriving mid-afternoon. I previously spent long weekends in Stirling in 2013 and 2017 and enjoyed my time there exploring the historic city and the surrounding scenery. Even though I was only spending a day in Stirling this time, I was still looking forward to returning, though the weather wasn’t great when I got there and climbed the craggy hill on which the old town sits to dump my rucksack in the Youth Hostel. Lightened of my load, I set off around the old walls through the woodland below the medieval castle and was soon happily reminded of my previous visits to Stirling. Leaving the walls of the castle, I made my way across Stirling Bridge where William Wallace defeated the English in 1297 and to Allen Craig upon whose top is the National Wallace Monument.

More of interest to me was the woodland behind the crags which were filled with wildflowers that in 2013 had included bluebells, but not in 2017 due to hot weather earlier in the month. Fortunately this time I was once again able to enjoy the bluebells that decorated the hillside along with many other wildflowers before I eventually reached the Wallace Monument at the top of the hill. Descending back down the hill, I made my way past Stirling University and along the main road to Bridge of Allan reversing my steps of my first day in Stirling in 2017. On that occasion I took the Darn Road from Dunblane that follows the Allan Water and initially I copied that enjoying the views up and down the river until I reached the deep gully of Cock’s Burn whose banks were covered with the sweet smelling white flowers of ramson, wild garlic. There I abandoned the Darn Road to follow Cock’s Burn through the ramsons up to Glen Road. After a while walking along the road I passed a barrier that closes the road to traffic as the terrain becomes more spectacular and I passed around the heavily wooded valley of Kippenrait Glen. Eventually the path crosses the Wharry Burn and as I started to make my descent into Dunblane the rain began to fall.

The following day the weather was no better so I decided not to copy my previous visits to Stirling when I had enjoyed the delights of the fabulously wooded and wildflower-rich glens that come off the Ochil Hills. Instead I made my way to the Battle of Bannockburn visitor centre, which I had never been to before and felt obliged to take the battle experience tour. Afterwards and with the weather seemingly improving, I set off on a walk that I had found via the University of Stirling Blog. The walk took me on a meandering route near the Bannock Burn before climbing through woodland on a steep, narrow path up to Sauchie Craig where the ridge undulated above steep cliffs to my right. This was an enjoyable walk which was helped by the open views south over Middlethird Wood and north towards the valley of the River Forth. Rain failed to dampen my enthusiasm as I made my way along the ridge turning south towards Lewis Hill and traversed several gaps including one that was negotiated by a well-engineered path zigzagging across the craggy terrain. At one point a clear sign indicated I should turn right, but the better, drier path went left and that was the way I went just as it started to rain heavily.

This path took me away from the edge of Sauchie Craig, but still led me all the way up to the top of Lewis Hill, which I arrived at just at the moment when the rain stopped and the sun came out. This afforded me with good views across North Third Reservoir below Sauchie Craig and along the length of the crags. A good path took me gradually down from the top of Lewis Hill to a road where I was soon able to walk up to the reservoir and follow the shore while the weather continued to improve and give me with good views across the water to the crags where I had just walked. After crossing the dam I headed back up the crags on a wide path crossing them through one of the gaps and plunging into the conifer plantation beyond I descended down to the Bannock Burn eventually returning to the Battle of Bannockburn visitor centre. This was a short walk as I had a long journey ahead of me to get to where my holiday really starts, though with most of the trains cancelled this was not going to be easy. I enjoyed the walk along the ridge above Sauchie Crags while the sunshine later in the day was a welcome surprise after the earlier rain.

Ben Venue

Friday 22nd April 2022

On my final day in Scotland on this holiday I tackled a mountain that has represented failure to me on a number of occasions. I first attempted to climb Ben Venue in 2007, but I couldn’t even get to the car park because the road was closed so I had gone up Ben Ledi instead. In 2013, I tried to catch a bus to the foot of Ben Venue, but there isn’t a bus service to the Trossachs so the closest I was able to get to was the village of Aberfoyle, which is a useless starting point for going up Ben Venue with my attempt eventually being stopped by rain. Finally, I had planned to climb Ben Venue in 2020 before Covid cancelled everything. Now, in 2022, I was camped beside Loch Achray with blue skies overhead and nothing could stop me climbing Ben Venue until, after leaving the campsite, I realised that I had left my walking poles behind. This was not the first time I had done that on this holiday having done that when I went up the Brack earlier in the week, but since I had few problems then I kept going along the footpath that is marked as the hill path up Ben Venue. This took me through conifers before emerging into Gleann Riabhach where the trees have been felled leaving a desolate scene with decaying branches littering the valley floor, however this was still better than a constricting view of conifer trees in all directions.

An excellent path took me up Gleann Riabhach, but as I slowly climbed the wide valley, strong, cold winds began to attack me all the way up to a broad, boggy saddle, where I really wished I’d brought my poles, though not to ease the pressure on my knees, but to help me get over the bogs. Beyond the bogs, the excellent path resumed up to a large cairn where I turned right onto a gloriously rocky path that crosses the windy, southern slopes of Ben Venue to climb all the way up to the crumbling remains of the trig point at the eastern top of the mountain. From the top I had amazing views particularly east over Loch Achray and Loch Venachar while to the south were the subsidiary tops including Beinn Bhreac and Creag a’ Bhealaich with Ben Lomond behind them on the horizon. Turning my back on the eastern views, I couldn’t help thinking that a top to the west was higher than this point and a quick look at my map revealed that the western top is two metres higher even though the main path goes to the trig point. Therefore I headed off along a faint path that crosses the windswept hilltop until I reached a small cairn that marks the summit of Ben Venue.

Now I had great views west towards the Arrochar Alps and across Loch Katrine, though it was striking to me how low and interesting the hills were immediately to the north in comparison, while higher mountains were far away in the distance, but most striking was the effect of the Highland fault that leaves the land to the south and east comparatively flat. Beside the summit, sheltered from the strong winds, I had my lunch before I moved off and joined the main path battling against the strong winds back down to the saddle and the large cairn that I had passed earlier and marks the junction. If it hadn’t been so windy I would have stayed high to explore this gloriously rocky mountain and visit the subsidiary tops. Despite only being classed as a Graham, which is a mountain between two thousand and two and half thousand feet high, it has an abundance of rock that makes it feel like a proper mountain that would merit exploration. Feeling that those subsidiary tops could be visited next time when I might climb from the south, I turned left at the large cairn and made my way back over the bogs and onto the good path that descends through Gleann Riabhach and away from the strong winds.

Retracing my steps, I made my way all the way back to the Trossachs, but it was still quite early and I had no idea what to do for the rest of the afternoon. With hindsight, I should have stayed an extra day in Arrochar as I didn’t need two full days in the Trossachs. Nevertheless, these two days gave me plenty of time to explore, which is what I did by turning left at Achray Water to follow an increasingly sketchy path until I reached the dam for Loch Katrine. After a wander back to the pier I made my way back to my campsite beside Loch Achray, which is rather a pathetic end to a great walk up a rugged mountain. I was relieved to finally climb Ben Venue and it hadn’t disappointed me as it is a proper mountain with enough rock to make it a satisfying climb.

Primrose Hill Trail and Ben A’an

Thursday 21st April 2022

I spent the Easter weekend walking around the Arrochar Alps in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park before moving midweek across to the Trossachs to spend some time in an area that I had never visited before and I was happy to have several days to explore. I arrived the day before and stayed in the National Park campsite beside Loch Achray waking up in this tremendous location to find fabulous sunshine. Eagerly, I made my way straight back to the Trossachs Pier ignoring the meandering route of the Great Trossachs Path that I had been on the previous day to return to the tourist hub where I filled up my water bladder from the tap, which provoked some comment because the tap was new. I greatly appreciated the water and properly equipped for the warm weather I set off along the private road beside Loch Katrine. My aim was to climb Ben A’an and my map indicates that there is a path beside a wall from the shore of the reservoir, but despite going up and down the road several times I failed to find it. I think my map is out of date and this path no longer exists, however I did remember seeing a path the day before that heads uphill from Loch Katrine, so I walked further along the road and eventually I found a path marked by green ringed posts.

This does not go up Ben A’an and is actually a fabulous path called the Primrose Hill Trail that climbs through glorious woodland to a wide terrace path where I enjoyed great views across Loch Katrine while at my feet were the eponymous primroses, which I was fortunate to be seeing as I was walking at precisely the right time of year. The path was lined with primroses, violets and dandelions, which had an abundant number of peacock butterflies feeding on them. As I made my way along the wide path the views across Loch Latrine got better and better with the gentle gradient making this a pleasurable walk in the hazy sunshine. Initially the Arrochar Alps, where I had been a few days earlier, dominated the horizon, but as I made my way along the path the ridge line of Ben Lomond began to grab my attention. Eventually the trail starts to descend the hillside, zigzagging down through lovely woodland on an excellent path back onto the road and a short distance along the road brought me to Brenachoile Point.

A viewpoint has been installed at the end of this short promontory with a memorial to the many artists and poets who have been inspired by the beautiful landscape of the Trossachs, most notably Sir Walter Scott in his poem, “The Lady of the Lake”. I took advantage of some seats nearby to sit down and admire the view myself while having my lunch, though a brisk, cold wind was blowing across the loch. Walking back along the private road past the channel that brings water from Glen Finglas Reservoir, I returned to the Trossachs Pier and took some time to take in the bustling atmosphere before continuing along the public road to the car park for Ben A’an. After being thwarted in my attempts to take an unorthodox route up the hill, I set off along the popular path that climbs steeply up. Primroses decorated the landscape again along with wood anemones, but as I climbed the wind grew increasingly strong while ahead of me the prominent peak of Ben A’an seemed impregnable. Inexorably the path climbed steeply up slipping around the back to gain the airy, wind-swept summit where I was rewarded with fabulous views across Loch Katrine.

I enjoyed clambering around on the rocks at the summit, though I couldn’t help noticing that there is higher ground on the more tedious heather hillside a short distance away, which rather detracted from the experience for me. Ben A’an has been called a mountain in miniature as, although it is less than half the height of a Munro, the climb is so steep to a summit that has enough rock with far-reaching views while the peak stands out in the landscape so that it attracts the eye from all directions, it is no surprise why it appeals to the crowds. Tearing myself away from the peak I made my way back down the heavily manufactured path to the car park and with nowhere else to go I slowly walked back along the road to my campsite. I took advantage of the early finish to sit and enjoy the scenery in the sunshine looking across Loch Achray towards Ben A’an and after dinner I took a short walk up the hill that rises south of Loch Achray through the conifer plantation. I have wanted to visit the Trossachs for many years so I was glad to finally have this opportunity and I was blessed with good weather as well as loads of time to wander around and explore. I had planned to walk through the Trossachs in 2020 until lockdown hit and it was all cancelled, but I had not planned to stay long in the area then, so I am glad that I was now able to enjoy myself with no great hurry to head off somewhere else.