Easter Walks

Easter weekend, glorious weather, and a weeks walking holiday fast approaching - it's time to get serious. Much as we would have liked to get out every day, we have a garden full of weeds (slightly less full now), but we did manage to get out for a few walks in between.

Stuc a Croin

Now I know its pathetic, but I haven't done any serious walking for a long time now. We set off for a valley walk just outside Callander, along Meall Leathan Dhail. This walk starts from the car park past Bracklinn Falls, and offers great views of Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Croin. The last time we walked along here we had unbelievable views of a golden eagle. Halfway to Stirling however, it was decided that a valley walk would be a waste of a great day and what we should really do is climb something. That something turned out to be Stuc a Croin.

A couple of years ago we did my only double Munro walk so far - Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Croin from Callander - this was not easy by any means, but I agreed to attempt the single peak. I made the beginners error of not eating enough though, and by the time we were halfway up to the saddle I had no energy left. Also, despite a change of socks, my feet were a bit wet after the river crossing (when will they rebuild that bridge?!). We did make it up to Lochan a Croin, but the peak beat me. I didn't even have the energy (or inclination) to take any photos ... sorry about that.

We did see multiple buzzards, a dipper, and a large group of red deer - but no eagles!

Cramond

On Sunday, to stretch my broken legs before gardening, we headed out to Cramond for a walk along the shore. Instead we happily found low tide, and extended this with a trip round Cramond Island. The sun was out, as was most of Edinburgh, and best of all it was nice and flat!

Gorse in bloom on Cramond Island

View across to the Pentlands

Ben Venue

Before 9am, Callander is a quiet, peaceful town. At 3 in the afternoon it is an extremely busy one, with narrow streets and many pedestrian crossings which cause the traffic to back up for miles north along the A84. We could have gone home via Aberfoyle. We should have gone home via Aberfoyle. But we didn't. Apart from that, climbing Ben Venue was very satisfying. For one thing I actually made it to the top!

On top of that we had great weather, and met some really nice people on the way up (it was a very busy hill). We tackled the hill from Loch Achray: through some forest, then up onto the ridge (very muddy at this stage) and along to the summit. We were rewarded with stunning views over Loch Katrine, and across to the hulking mound of Ben Lomond, just visible through the (heat?) haze. A more interesting, but sightly longer, route looks to run from Loch Ard. This is a great hill with lots of variety, and at just the right level of difficulty for me just now. More walks planned for next weekend.