Ben Venue from Ledard farm

[Billyfreedom]

Having stayed at the mcDonald forest hills hotel for years now we have always wanted to climb Ben Venue hill behind the hotel. We followed the route on walk highlands site.

On a calm sunny day we headed up the hill from Ledard farm as a foursome 3 of them big hill virgins. The start of this walk was a bit boggy in the forest section but the walk was not too strenuous as it climbed up the side of the waterfall, the path was narrow in places however.

Once out of the wood the views opened up giving a great view of Loch ard behind you. The open section of the walk up the glen between the crags was on a mixture of stream path and paths. The stream was not too full so the crossing was easily made on the laid girders. The views then became even more impressive as we walked around the crag with views down over loch Katrine.

The path then dropped down to meet the loch Achray path before ascending steeply up to the summit. 3 hrs 30 mins up was not bad with beginners and the views were worth it.

The return trip was much quicker and ave you views over loch ard before descending again into the wood down to loch ard. A very worthwhile walk with good views and highly recommended

[raindog]

I was struggling up the mudbath from the Achray carpark on Sunday. I wish I'd made the choise to start at Kinlochard as well! Still a good day to be out and about though.