Began the walk from the car park at Loch Achray. the first stage takes you through a section of woodland with areas of bog covered by walkways. You then head up a road used by Scottish Water and over the river (was very fast flowing at the time so looked amazing!) and into another wooded area, this time surrounded by taller trees etc. There is a well worn path throughout this stage.
- River prior to wooded area
After a short time in the woods you head up towards a more open area and a smaller path takes you along the base of the hill until you reach a large waterfall. This was one of the highlights of the walk, as always natural features never fail to disappoint and look far better in real life than a description can ever tell!
- Waterfall
- Another view of waterfall
Once at the waterfall the path fades slightly and terrain becomes steeper, however follow the course of the hill up the side of the waterfall. At the top the small river becomes slightly larger (not sure if this was only due to rainfall previous days) simply follow this until you come to a cairn. The path is now more visible and although not large it is easy to follow (as always take map compass etc though).
- View back down the glen
After reaching the cairn turn right and again follow the path along the ridge. The path dips and rises a couple of times until the summit becomes visible! By this time however the clouds had closed in on us and slightly spoiled the anticipated views over the Trossachs. This did not take away from how great the walk was and will definitely be back! (hopefully on a clear day!!)
- We made it!!
- Coming back down
Hope this comes in handy to anyone thinking of climbing Ben Venue!
