We got a fantastic day for Ben Venue, although perhaps a little on the warm side. But apparently we were very lucky as more than a few seasoned Venue walkers told us on our way up that it was reasonably rare to get a beautifully clear day on the hill. Maybe that says more about recent summers though than the local weather systems.

We chose to walk from Ledard Farm as we thought it would be the quieter route of the two but there were still plenty of folk using this access path. Despite the weather being dry recently, there were still a lot of boggy patches and I regretted not having my gaiters on in the wooded section when I went ankle deep in bog. The views when Loch Katrine come into sight are amazing and well worth the boggy ascent. Watch out for the path splitting as you near the true summit as you can choose to skirt it or go up and over to get to the summit with the trig point. My companion wasn't that appreciative of the extra climb although arguably the views from this section are better than the end of the walk. It depends if you prefer watching the Sir Walter Scott steam up and down Loch Katrine or the views of Venacher et al.

And definitely get there early to get a good parking space! By 9.15am the place was already hoaching.