Ben Venue (727m, 2386ft)
This was expected to be a straightforward short day's walk in early spring, with a light dusting of snow on the summit, but it turned out to be a much more demanding hike.
Former work colleague Jonathan and I had been discussing getting together for a hillwalk for several months, and finally picked a Friday when we could both get away . It turned out to be a good day to pick - after a week of strong winds and some wet weather the forecast was for light winds and plenty of sunshine.
We had picked Ben Venue because it is reached quite easily from Stirling but wasn't too demanding in terms of height. I hadn't really thought about the possibility that snow might make the going difficult, but it turned out to be just as well that we had picked a shorter walk. I'd checked my old guide to hillwalks around Glasgow, and also found a useful route description on the In Callander website, which covers many other good walks in the area. At 727m, it's slightly higher than the twin peaks of Beinn Bhreac 2km to the west (703m) but a good 150m lower than another well-known peak in the area, Ben Ledi, at 879m, about 10km ENE.
There are two routes up Ben Venue, one from Loch Achray Hotel in the Trossachs, just under 3 miles to the east; the other from Ledard Farm beside Loch Ard, over 3 miles to the south. The Loch Achray route sounded wet and unappealing from the website description, so we opted for the Ledard route. I'd already climbed some of this during a previous stay at the nearby Forest Hills hotel, and knew what to expect (at least on the lower section).
We met up at Dunblane just after 9 a.m. on a chilly but sunny morning, and drove west through the picturesque villages of Doune and Thornhill on the way to Aberfoyle. The road to Loch Ard continues straight ahead, past the tourist information centre on the left and the turning up to the National Park visitor centre on the right. We could already see the summit of Ben Lomond rising up in the distance like an enormous white tooth, and we stopped off when we reached Loch Ard to take a few photos.
Setting out from Ledard Farm
A short distance after passing the Macdonald Forest Hills hotel on the right, we reached the road-end for Ledard Farm, and parked in the layby opposite. It was 10.15 when we set out up the farm road: a gentle stretching of the legs before we clambered over the stile, crossed the wooden bridge and started climbing the path. The early section of the route is delightful, with a glimpse of waterfalls to the right and then a belt of deciduous woodland through which the Ledard Burn winds its way, cutting deeply into the rocks.
There's a wetter section running up to the right of a coniferous plantation, where duckboards have been placed across the path to avoid slipping on the marshy grass. Then there's a gate through a deer fence, before the path climbs higher up the side of the glen. In reality Glen Ledard is close to being a gorge, with steep slopes on either side which create a narrow rocky gap lower down through which the burn flows. The path is easy enough to follow, but there wouldn't really be anything to stop anyone who stumbled and started rolling down the slope. We wondered what would be the most effective way of stopping such a fall - probably stretching out arms and legs to make rolling less likely.
Then the path starts to pass among old birch trees, and we spotted some movement on the slope up ahead to the left. There were about 10 goats grazing quietly, with one large group and then a couple a bit further away. We managed to get some photos before continuing to pick our way along the path. It was muddy in places, with tree roots and branches to avoid.
At one point the path divides; it looks like the main route continues straight ahead, but there's a fork off to the left which climbs up among the trees, and a wooden post has arrows pointing up to the left. It's important to go this way, otherwise you will end up in the muddy depths of the glen and have to scramble up the steep hillside to find the upper path. Presumably the lower path leads to a waterfall or some other feature.
Gradually the trees thin out and the path emerges onto more open ground, with the burn across to the right before it crashes deeper into the gorge. Ahead we could see the craggy tops of Beinn Bhreac, which we hoped to reach later in the day, spattered with fresh snow. The sun was coming and going through patchy clouds.
Taking a route around the hilltops
Further up, the path crosses the burn on a couple of metal posts laid across rocks. It's easy enough to hop over when the water level is low, but more difficult after wet weather. Just beyond this we had to climb over a stile across a deer fence, then start heading across the right slope of the glen. We must have missed the path somehow (we checked on the way down, and it was where the path reached a scar of eroded ground with loose boulders, which we must have climbed up). We realised we were above the main path and decided to go on uphill rather than going back down to the path which continued close to the burn. The map showed the hills curving round south of Ben Venue were reasonably round-topped and should provide a good alternative to going up to the bealach via the glen. We should get more of a view more quickly, and make a circuit rather than going up and down the same way.
This theory proved correct, with one flaw to it. As we got higher, we began to walk through patches of snow which soon became more extensive. A wide roadway suddenly appeared in front of us, and we decided to cross over it and go on up to the skyline. The snow was now quite deep, covering heather and boulders, so it was a slow climb.
Once on the ridge we found there was more of a breeze than we had expected, and the view over the hills behind us towards Ben Lomond was less clear. We turned left, towards the north and close to an old fence line, to go up through the snow and rocks to the top of Creag a Bhealaich. Once there we could see the tops of Ben Venue more clearly - like Beinn Bhreac it has two peaks, but the more distant eastern peak is slightly higher. Although it was barely a mile away, the tumble of rocks emerging from the snow made it appear more distant and challenging. It certainly wasn't an easy route to follow anyway.
Looking back towards the hilltop to the south, we saw the roof of a modern building jutting out on the right-hand side, and wondered what it was - maybe the track we'd crossed led up to it.
We had a snowy slope to descend, towards a couple of lochans, and a tight little gap to drop into. A broad low cairn lay at the point where the main path crossed and then led up the steep stony slope. We thought this looked a bit tricky in the snow, and opted for another slope to the left, but this turned out to be boggy underneath the layer of snow. We managed to climb up it as a shower of sleet began falling on us - not what we'd expected. Then there was what seemed to be a long arduous climb through deep banks of snow before we eventually reached the rocky western summit of Ben Venue. By then it was about 1.15, and we'd taken about an hour longer than we'd expected. On our approach to the summit we had views down over Loch Katrine to the left, with a rainbow appearing as the sunshine and showers battled overhead.
The continuation over to the eastern summit looked just as much work. At first it wasn't too difficult over the high ground, but then we had to drop carefully down a short but steep slope and sank deeply into the snow. Looking ahead we could see what looked like a tricky diagonal rake up the snowy edifice ahead of us, but once we started climbing it turned out to be manageable with care, and no danger of falling off anything.
By this time the shower had passed and the skies were clearer when we reached the main summit, marked by a trig point. From there we had good views in all directions, but we were still exposed to a chilly wind and didn't stay long. We retraced our steps back towards the western summit and found a sheltered bank to stop and have a late lunch.
Walking back down
We took the more direct rocky path down the slope to the cairn we'd passed on the way up, then picked up the main ascent route which crossed the northern flank of Creag a Bhealaich. It was a straightforward traverse of about a kilometre across to the bealach itself, but required more care because of the lying snow. The bulky shapes of Ben Venue and Beinn Bhreac rose to the right and the left, and between them we could look down on Loch Katrine where the steamship Sir Walter Scott was sailing serenely by. Beyond were the snowy summits including Ben More, Stob Binnean, Ben Lawers, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a' Chroin, looking like a range of Alpine peaks.
By the time we reached the stile at the bealach it was around 3 pm. We had already decided that we didn't have time to climb Beinn Bhreac, and instead took the main route back down to the left, which soon became the start of the Ledard Burn. It wasn't an easy route to follow, dodging between snow-covered rocks and muddy banks and gravel over which water was flowing. It wasn't any easier once the snow disappeared as the path was very wet and poor in places. At one point it crossed a burn cascading down the slope on the left with a succession of small waterfalls. Soon after that we reached the point where we had gone astray on the ascent, before crossing the high stile. The metal bars over the burn were now becoming submerged by the meltwater, but it was easy enough to cross.
Then it was a straightforward descent the way we had come, back through the belt of woodland across the steep slope of the glen.
In the woods just above the farm we paused once again to enjoy the scenery in the late afternoon sunshine. As we crossed the wooden bridge at the farm, a sheepdog bounded through the water below. We stopped on the other side and were surprised to see a whole pack of lively dogs cascading down the opposite bank through the trees, barking excitedly and then splashing around in the burn. There seemed to be some sort of sheepdog training going on in the field on the far side.
A few minutes later we were back at the car, changing out of our damp gear and then settling down for the drive back to Dunblane.
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