This is a lovely walk, although strenuous to start it is worth it for the views at the top. We parked in the car park in the centre of Callander next to the river and walking up to the high street turned left until we came to Tulliepan Crescent on the north side of the road. Here we turned in and followed the sign on the left for The Crags. The path immediately starts climbing through forestry, winding back and forwards up the hill with brief glimpses through the trees over Callander.
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| Taking a breather |
The path continues ever upwards, over a bridge and at last out of the forestry plantation and onto a narrower path. Here the path climbs up past and amongst boulders, with stunted and gnarly silver birch trees in amongst them, providing shelter for many other native plants. We saw Blaeberry, primroses, many mosses and ferns and lichens, gorse and heather.
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| Primula vulgaris, the common primrose |
Bracken had great fun scrambling over the boulders and through the muddy puddles, stopping every so often to look back and question why we humans were so slow. Higher up we got lovely views of the surrounding mountains and lochs. Ben Ledi stil had snow in it's gullys and Loch Venacher looked bleak in the cloudy overcast distance, but striking views all the same. To the north were Stuc a Chroin and the Glen Artney hills.
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| Bed Ledi with snow in the gullys |
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| Loch Venacher in the distance |
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| Bracken wondering why us humans are so slow |
Eventually we reached the top, acknowledging just how unfit we'd got over a winter where the weather stopped us getting out so much. The views, even on an overcasrt day were fantastic, with hills and lochs in every direction and great views towards Stirling, the castle and Wallace monument. The crag flattens out crowned with a monument built in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Silver jubilee. We sat in the lee of the monument out of the wind to have out picnic, what better place to eat with views, fresh air and a ridiculous dog for company.
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| Reaching the top at last |
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| Wallace monument in the distance |
Once we'd had our lunch, we packed up and headed downhill, over the other side. This was much muddier and slippy in places, so if you walk after rain be aware, it's a bit tricky in parts. Hence the muddy knee I came back with! The path eventually disappears into woodland and from here its a quick downhill scramble to the road.
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| Lone Hawthorn |
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| Bright and cheery gorse covered in flowers and bees |
Once on the road it's an easy walk back downhill into Callander and back along the high street to the car park. We decided to drive up to Loch Lubnaig and have a coffee and cake at the wee cafe in one of the parking areas. It was lovely to sit at the side of the loch and enjoy the peace and quiet, mountains and lochs before heading home to our usual busy chaos.
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