Wild Land News no 63, Spring 2005

The circuit of Stank Glen Article

being an account of desperate struggles, present and foreseen, to complete what was once and might yet be one of the best hill days in easy reach of the populace, including an ascent of Ben Ledi by its finest route, by David Jarman

Ben Ledi is not quite a Munro, but at 879m it is not far short. Rising straight above the Highland Boundary Fault, with the Pass of Leny at its foot only 80m above sea level, it is one of the most conspicuous of the line of mountains which you see as you look north from the Central Belt. It is certainly the most accessible of our 'proper mountains'. It is much visited and remembered.

Yet the standard circuit, up the tourist path and down by Stank Glen, is a plain and simple route with no excitements other than those conjured by the weather. The upper parts of the ridges are good to walk, and the summit is neat and a grand viewpoint. We suffered terribly for years getting up through the forest and back down again, and the recently reconstructed paths are a mercy undimmed by the long awaiting. Many visitors like to walk on a good path, and not worry about route finding. But such paths do take much of the challenge out of the hill, and there is a great deal of scope here, at one of the prime Gateways into our new National Park, to provide choices for more adventurous hillgoers. This would address several markets

people in the Central Belt looking to get slightly off the beaten track could do so without having to drive any further into the Highlands than Callander - good for sustainable transport, good for quick half day or summer evening outings.
people holidaying in Callander-Strathyre would have a choice of doorstep routes of differing severity and interest - as you find everywhere in the Lake District (see Wainwright) and on any mountain close to a resort in the Alps
youth groups would be able to graduate from the basic circuit to something more adventurous without being at all remote.

The frequenter of Ben Ledi can easily chalk up half a dozen different routes. Some of the better ones on the NE face involve negotiating forestry between the upper forest road and the forest fence, or long detours. Whether they have been allowed for in current felling and replanting operations has not been rechecked, but they should be.

By far the best circuit of Ben Ledi is that described by Donald Bennet in the SMC Southern Highlands Guide (1972 edition):

"a much finer route can be made up the Stank Glen and the north-east face of the hill. Once clear of the forest one turns left and climbs south-westwards beside a small stream directly towards the summit of Ben Ledi. The boulders and pinnacles [previously mentioned as giving the only rock-climbing the hill has to offer] are passed, a little hanging corrie just below the summit is reached, and one or other of its bounding ridges is climbed. The south bounding ridge ends near the cairn, and the north bounding ridge leads to the north top."

This north bounding ridge is the more exciting. Those boulders and pinnacles have come away from its flank, leaving a buttress which can be tackled up a steep but simple nose, or by a diagonal gully which affords a stiff scramble for the ordinary walker. The ridge itself is sharply etched - almost an arête - by a shallow rockslide which has taken away the original north top. Summit gained, where to now?

"the traverse northwards and then north-east from Ben Ledi towards Ardnandave Hill involves some fairly rough going over peat bogs and hummocks."

The first half of this traverse is now a regular path following the old march fence and continuing north to Benvane, another Corbett. To complete the circuit, one has to return to Stank Glen. The SMC Guide describes this, a little confusedly, as a separate ascent route:

"The most direct route to Ardnandave Hill is by the path up Stank Glen. At the point where the Ben Ledi route turns south-west the Ardnandave Hill route turns right, crosses the burn and goes north-eastwards up a break in the trees to the south-east ridge which is followed over a few knolls to the top."

And this was what my son and I were still able to do a dozen years ago in pursuit of his geography project, the only differences being that the burn crossing was now a forest road with an ugly giant culvert, and the gap in the trees up the nose of Creag Gobhlach was a bit of a squeeze. We found Aird nan Damh (meaning Hill of the Deer and horrible anglicised to Ardnandave) at 715m a grand little hill in its own right, its several steep knolls offering a bit of scrambling, and a fine deep pool just off on the south ideal for a warm evening's dip.

A few months ago I returned this way on a crisp winter Sunday morning with a dappling of snow on the interesting parts of Ben Ledi opposite. From the main A84 I had observed over several years the clear felling of the Creag Gobhlach nose, with apparently no replanting above the upper forest road which loops round Stank Glen. Very commendable I had thought, opening up a fine promontory in the landscape as well as a classic route. But at the culvert, a young replanting completely blocked the former direct route described by SMC. Ah well, a quarter-mile detour by forest roads brought me back to where you would naturally tackle the nose (which is quite steep at the top and only negotiable by a little gully).

No route presented itself. The whole slope was a mess of brash and reject trunks. A small part had been planted with larches - a nice scenic touch - but amongst the rest sitka was beginning to reappear, presumably spontaneously. I picked a point to break up it, jinking about to link the more open bits, and fell awkwardly and painfully by slipping on a greasy log concealed by flattened grass. On gaining the foot of the gully, it was choked by brash and the odd young sitka, and the way up beside it was unpleasant, pulling up on hanks of vegetation. No-one in their right mind would come this way. Nor is it possible to avoid the nose - to the right, it is craggy, to the left, up Stank Glen, the forest has been replanted.

Out onto the ridge, with good views opening up to Ben Ledi and Ben Vorlich, another unpleasant surprise lay in store. Dotted all over it, but especially in the most attractive nooks, on the knolls, and out on the valley rims, were scores and scores of young sitka, self-seeding up from the plantations. Most were still small enough to hand-weed, and I did my little bit. They may grow more slowly and more stunted up here, between 450 and 600m, but they will steadily make this fine skyline oddly spiky, and convert the ridge from open to an unnatural weaving between trees and copses. Ultimately, unweeded and ungrazed, they could coalesce into the impenetrable conifer thicket one can find in the Alps near the treeline. They ceased beyond the old fence which crosses the ridge, although a few more cropped up on the rims of Aird nan Damh itself, especially in the inaccessible and sheltered crevices of its rockslips.

And indeed amongst the boulders of the Ben Ledi rockslide, a veritable forest of escaped sitka is springing up. They are beyond pulling, and must await growth to the point where sawing them down will kill them, I am advised.

So just three simple and inexpensive steps are needed to restore this fine, obvious, classic circuit:

weed out or cut down all the self-sown sitka beyond the forest limit (this should be a matter of good management practice for all forest owners, under the control of invasive non-native species directives)
clear a generous swathe up the nose of Creag Gobhlach of all brash and rubbish, and reopen a gap in the replanting at first thinning
restore the direct line up the stream into the corrie of Ben Ledi, which you now have to detour around the extended forest to reach from the head of the Stank Glen path.

There is of course a larger question as to whether, in a National Park, on the best and most popular side of one of its finest mountains, we should still have continuous commercial conifer plantations. Stank Glen is enjoyed by many people today, on its well-built loop path, while the replanting is still young and the views can be seen. Once it closes canopy, the views will only be of the burnside, and it will be no different from any other 'forest walk'. It would undoubtedly be enjoyed much more by many people if it were converted to native woodland, perhaps with some larches for variety, and managed for glimpse and filtered views conveying the sense of being in a 'pleasant corrie'. This approach of 'rewilding' is being pursued in Ennerdale in the Lake District National Park, so why not here ?

If I had a visitor from abroad who had one short day to spare to climb a decent Scottish hill, avoiding busy and constructed routes, I would not dream of taking them to Ben Ledi - it would be an embarrassment. I would struggle to think of somewhere nearer than the Tarmachans. But it could so easily be a credit to Scotland. We own it all, and the land is managed by Forestry Commission Scotland on behalf of the nation.

A response to this article was received from Stuart Chalmers District Forester Environment and Recreation Cowal and Trossachs Forest District:

Ben Ledi is a popular hill and, as mentioned, we have improved the main access paths via Scottish Executive, the European Union, Scottish Natural Heritage and Scottish Enterprise money.
The work you have identified is desirable and we would like to take the opportunity to meet with you and discuss the options and to see if any of the Wild Land News subscribers would like to help with the proposed work.
Incidentally, landowners are not required (by statute) to remove self-sown Sitka spruce but in many circumstances it is certainly good practice to do so. As ever it often boils down to a resource and prioritisation issue.

Editor's note: As a result of this article and the FCS response, we have decided to spend our AGM weekend in the Trossachs and devote some of the time to weeding and clearing the sections of hill in question. Please see the AGM 2005 notice.