Lime Craig

Ben Lomond from the golf course

Ben Lomond and Creag Mhor

Queen Elizabeth Forest and Ben Venue

Cruach Ardrain, Stobbinnein and Ben More

Ben Ledi

Campsies

Summit colour

Lime Craig is an undistinguished looking hill that sits above Aberfoyle. It hosts a former limestone quarry that was used for local iron making using charcoal from the indigenous oak forests that are now largely replaced by coniferous plantations. Until eight or nine years ago it was topped by a brick shed that housed the Police radio transmitter, a system that had been installed at considerable expense in the days before mobile phones. The base remains and provides a superb platform to admire a panorama of central Scotland. Today I could see the hills of Arran to the south, Ben Lomond and the Arrochar Alps to the west, the Ben More/Stobbinnein hills and then across to Ben Ledi. To the south and east the long plateau of the Campsies looked a bit weary and all around was the massive afforestation that engulfed the Trossachs in the immediate pre war years.

There are three main routes to the summit, a direct steep path that goes straight up from Dounans camp, a meandering route from the David Marshall Lodge that passes through the Go Ape site and a longer route which goes from Dounans camp along the top of the golf course to Braeval and then follows a track to the summit. The latter is my normal route as it was today. It is a regular haunt and I have run  the hill over 175 times since 1988 and walked it almost as often. Today there was one local at the top and three elderly ladies with two dogs on the ascent. I must donate a seat for the summit so that others can enjoy the panoramic vistas as much as I have.

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