Climbing Ben A’an in Scotland
June 8, 2014Being spontaneous is probably the best part of travel and it’s certainly good for the soul. This past weekend we set out from Glasgow with no real plan, we wanted to explore an area we had never been before but we didn’t really want to drive for hours. I had looked u the directions to Loch Tay with a vague idea of heading there but happy to be distracted by something along the way. That is exactly what happen in the middle of the Trossachs National Park while we were driving along the beautiful Dukes Pass (scenic drive) the first gem of the day we knew nothing about.
Deciding the Dukes Pass was too good to only drive half of it we carried along the road until we hit the town of Callander (this was also partly because I had drank too much tea before we left and I knew it was my only chance of a toilet stop). My guide book also said the town was cute which was enough persuading me to drive on. As we wound around Loch Achray and Loch Venachar we decided we might like to try a walk ad began looking up a route in one of the many books I have on this area. Given our clothing choice, the lack of a coat and sensible bag we only had one choice of walk.
Ben A’an is around a two hour return; 2.25miles long and 454m high. We were drawn to this walk over any others not just because of its ease but because the views were said to be incredible, and they were. I’ll let the pictures do the talking about that… The climb was fairly gradual expect for the end where it becomes rather steep, however we met a lot of children doing this walk which gives you an idea of how manageable it is. Despite being very unprepared with clothing, shoes and equipment we made it up and down with no problems at all, except the rain getting us.
It wasn’t just Ben A’an that surprised me that day, right next to the trail for this hike is a huge fairytale building (Tigh Mor Trossachs). I had spotted it from across the Loch on our drive and I could not stop thinking about it. Upon googling it when we got home I found out it used to be a hotel but is now sold as holiday apartments. So I have no chance of staying there one day but it certainly brighten my day before then.
Ben A’an is around 45 minutes drive from Glasgow and is just one of many walks on offer in the Trossachs, Scotland.
