With a good looking forecast for Saturday morning I decided Ben A’an would be the perfect opportunity to break in my new boots. Due to the likelihood of clear skies, I went up for sunrise, also with the hope of beating any crowds. That didn’t go to plan with a queue already formed at the ticket machine in the car park at 5:50am but what can you do.

I set off and was soon understanding why people described the start as quite steep, it starts to climb quite quickly but never too strenuously. It soon levels off until you start climbing again but at even a leisurely pace and with a fairly heavy bag on my back I was at the summit in 45 minutes. A lot of people clearly had the same idea with the summit bustling with around 20 people just before sunrise.

Due to the amount of people I decided not to get my drone out and disturb the ambience, instead opting to just take some photos instead. The views are truly stunning, down Loch Katrine and across to Ben Venue. The little amount of effort required to reach the summit is definitely hugely rewarded with what you are treated to.

Coming down was plain sailing once I’d got past some of the rocky parts just down from the top. It’s always nice coming back down after sunrise as the daylight walk makes for a huge difference and you see a lot you don’t see trudging up in the dark. The blisters from breaking in my new boots weren’t ideal but hopefully that’s them sorted.

Back down to the car for 8:30 and the car park was beginning to fill up. At £5 for all day parking it’s actually fairly reasonable and did my good deed and gave someone my ticket to put on their car.
Here’s 3 pictures I took on the day: