- Monday 6th May 2019
- Stirlingshire
Stuc a Chroin lies in the southern part of the Highlands of Scotland, located just south of Loch Earn in Stirlingshire. This is one of three Munros in the area around the town of Callander.
This was the other Munro we had wanted to undertake on 1st April this year when we climbed its neighbour Ben Vorlich which lies to the east of it. However due to horrendous weather conditions on that day we made a safe judgement of missing it out and saving it for another day….today was that day!
Stuc a Chroin stands at 3199 feet high. Its translation (pronounced: stook a Kroin) from Gaelic is ‘Peak of Danger’ which probably comes from its steep north-east face with its rocky buttress giving the peak its great character.
There are three ridges to Stuc a Chroin and our route for today was from the south-west starting from Ardchuillarie on Loch Lubnaig, up a forest path which would take us to Glen Ample and over Beinn Each, which is a Corbett.
On the drive to Callander it rained and we were preparing ourselves once again for another wet one on the hills….however as the day progressed it got better and better with the sun coming out to greet us, welcoming us into the hills.
There is no real easy way to start this hike, as within minutes of setting off we were on very steep ground, a narrow path which wound its way up through the forest until eventually meeting up with a broad forest track which then took us out into the open hillside.
From here a track continued along the Right of Way leading up to Glen Ample.
After a short while we saw a post directing us to Beinn Each.
On looking up we could clearly see the track and the start of another very steep climb which just seemed to go up and up, zigzagging the mountain.
It got steeper and the path clung to the edge of some steep slopes before dipping down into some gullies, then had us climbing steeply to the next gully and so it went on before we made it to the summit of Beinn Each in good time.
It had been a very steep climb indeed but on reaching the top the weather was being kind to us although there was a flutter of snow but we had views in every direction.
We couldn’t relax just yet though as we had our sights set on the Munro in the distance, our hard work was just about to begin.
From here Stuc a Chroin looked so far away…and worst of all was that we had to head a long way down to get to the foot of it to head all the way back up again!!!
The route down was pretty rocky and tricky but we could take our time as temperatures were good.
The ‘path’ offered an interesting walk as we made a steep descent from Beinn Each which then had us climbing up and over some crags before once again descending into the Bealach nan Caber with a final climb up a slightly steeper grassier section between some other crags.
We continued to go up and down twisting and turning until we were at the foot of the climb and then decided to keep moving and summit before our much earned lunch break.
The ascent was unexpectedly not as difficult as it looked. It was still steep and rocky but we made it surprisingly in good speed.
The day was so good, you could not fail to exchange comments on the beauty of our surroundings and the inhabitants that occupy this place.
In fact a few times I just stopped and stood still and listened to the sound of silence, nothing, no wind, no birds nothing…….
The views from the summit were vast and glorious and included The Bishop Hill, The Arrochar Alps, Ben Lomand, Crianlarach Hills, the Ben Lawers Range, the Firth of Forth, Stirling Castle and Wallace’s Monument to name but a few!
We looked over to the summit we had been on only a few weeks back whereby we saw nothing……today we saw everything.
It was a sight for sore eyes and these eyes wanted to have this view for a little bit longer…collecting those magical moments!
So it was time for that much earned lunch break and we picnicked on the summit.
The sky was blue and the temperatures were pretty good, there was not a soul in sight, only us, we knew we were lucky.
Departing the summit was hard as its views like this that make it all so worthwhile. But depart we had to as we had a long walk ahead…we had to leave this wonderful summit behind.
We decided we would try and head down a different route, we always feel it makes the walk slightly more interesting.
We retraced our steps descending down to Bealach Glas, headed back towards Beinn Each, then chose to leisurely descend down some grassy steep slopes, through a stretch of open heather hillside which finally brought us back to our forest track onto the Glen Ample Track.
From here we then had a fairly long walk back through the glen and down the forest path to Loch Lubnaig.
Back at the car after 7.5 hours the boots were off, rucksacks stowed and we were off home…..It had been such a beautiful day on the hill today in superb spring conditions.
Mary's Outdoor Adventure's 
Hello Maryl. Was wondering where you would be off to this weekend
Funny you should choose Callander because I’m reading a book that Aunty a lena lent me. It’s by a lady called. Melanie Reid who is a journalist and writes. An article every weekend in The Timessay magazine
She fell off her horse and is now a Tetraplaegic. I became interested in her writing because of Matthew. To cut a long story short she lives near Callander near a place called The field of Gary loaning in the Trossachs . Apparently their cottage is in the wilds but she refused to move
To get back to your walk,that was a peculiar looking frog. It looked as if it had lived underground for most of its life. Another question what was the post with all the cross bars? It doesn’t look like a sign post was it to keep that enormous boulder in place. Questions Questions😣😣 Look forward to the next blog. Love /God Bless Aunty Alice xx
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Hi there….After spending Saturday/Sunday doing boring stuff like painting the kitchen….I had to escape!
That’s weird re the Callander connection, that’s a few things now that have happened in connection with one another….were definitely connected! So this writer…no connection with you then just coincidental having same surname?? I’ve never heard of the journalist must check her out….if I were her i wouldn’t move either from my cottage in the wild…good attitude 😁
The frog was cute but a very weird colour….and very much liked to be photographed!!! The cross bars were part of an old fence that we practically followed all the way up the hill but I found something photogenic about it…It actually does look like it’s holding that boulder up though!
And we got sun…..woo hoo!!
Lots of love xxx
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Mean the Field of Gartloaning
Like the red trousers is that so the rescue services can find you 😂😅😃
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Ah….right title will help when I’m looking it up 😂🙈…thanks 😁
And yes red trousers so I’m visable to go with the whistle i carry to be heard….and see you guys think I’m “silly” too 😂😜….I always have a plan 😉 xxx
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Is the whistle to warn the Bears 😄😄😄. .Thme whistle was recommended to frighten off bears in Canada.!
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I’m not 100% sure why I carry the whistle if I’m being honest with you but its in the rucksack along with a whole host of other ‘things’ I carry and never use…you would be impressed ;-)…I’m going to say that my whistle is for if I fall down a hole, or cliff then out would come the whistle….or if its foggy and I’m giving off to Andy for ‘another fine mess he’s got me into’ and he wanders off leaving me to get lost in more ways than one (haaaaaa) then I can blow my whistle…..you just never know!! A part of me would like to have said it was for bears….that must have been crazy wandering through forests thinking they could be lurking ahead!!! Hope you carried a stick for protection like we have done on numerous occasions lololol! xxx
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Hello Mary. Got round to reading your blog properly now we’re home. Have had to put the heating on as it’s distinctly chilly after Girona. Lovely photos and AT LAST a photo of Andy FACING the camera🤗. I admire the way you know all the proper names of the hills and lochs. You certainly know your Scotland. That frog looked as if it was posing for the camera…..must’ve thought you looked “frog friendly”🐸 so didn’t scuttle away as they usually do. Anyway happy blogging and hiking. Xx
Ps we feel exhausted after our ‘hiking’ up and down steps across cobbled streets and lanes…we even managed to climb up to have a walk along the medieval wall around the city so it’s nice to be back on level ground again! Just as we were leaving yesterday they were making preparations for a big political event in Plaza Independence last night..would’ve been interesting to see what was going to happen although we wouldn’t have understood a word as they would be speaking in Catalan……think we might’ve got the gist though.
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Hi there..I bet you can feel a difference in temperature from where you’ve been. I’m saying that but we’ve had a heatwave here…it’s been a massive 13 degrees 😂😅 which means I’ve been out walking the dog with just a hoodie on, what a difference 😍😎…your photos looked lovely from your trip and like you say it would have been interesting to see what would have came about the Plaza Independence….hope nobody ruined the flowers 😂😏!! Glad to hear you guys have been ‘hiking’…now you’ll be all set for those ‘hills’ in Boxted 🙄🙈.
I don’t always know the hills or lochs around where I’m going and do have to research at times …it’s all about the maps with us 😂…we like maps.
P.s. was that medieval wall anything like the one that surrounds Chester…did yous do the whole wall?? X
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Hi Mary good to see the weather was kind to you for the long weekend break. Amazing views once again how lucky we are to have all this lovely open spaces nearby to explore.
On Saturday I had a lovely day with my walking group in London. We started the walk at the Olympic Park walking along the Lee Valley onto the Hertford Union Canal onto Victoria Park to join Regent Canal then down to Canary Wharf. We then took the Thames clipper down to Greenwich for lunch. We spent around three hours exploring Greenwich then back on the clipper and down to the O2 to take the cable car across the Thames to Docklands and back to Stratford for our journey home, so it was a enjoyable new experience for me.
Going along the tow paths was quite congested with runners, cyclists and other walkers great to see everyone getting out and about. London does have lovely parks where people can also escape to but saying that Victoria Park and Greenwich Park were also very busy . A couple who lived in London also joined us as they hadn’t walked the tow paths by the canals.
Sunday ‘s walk was around Mersea Island with lots of space bit different from our London walk as we had sea on one side and countryside on the other so a lovely weekend of walks. Theresa xx
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