Ben Ledi

Ben Ledi is particularly well known through Walter Scott's poem Lady of the Lake. Supposedly in ancient times, Beltane rites were observed on the summit. There are what is thought to be possible references to these Beltane rights in some of the Gaelic names on the mountain: Creag Ghorn; "Rock of Embers" and Creag Loisgte; "Burned Rock". In 1791 the Rev Doctor James Robertson, being minister of the parish at the time, was required to write a description of the parish for the First Statistical Account of Scotland. In his report he mistakenly (due to the similarity to le dia) took the name Ben Ledi to mean "hill of god" which suited the purposes of the kirk of the day. The name is in fact a…

The eastern slopes of Ben Ledi are owned by Forestry and Land Scotland, and form part of the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. A constructed path leads from a car park on the A84 road just south of Loch Lubnaig to a fence at about 270 m above sea level, where a rough track continues to the summit via the south shoulder, a distance of just over 3 km. An alternative route following Stank Glen leaves the shores of Loch Lubnaig about 1.5 km north of the start of the main route, reaching the summit ridge near Lochan nan Corp. The two routes may be combined to give a circular walk of about 9 km. A short distance down to the south-east of the summit trig point, an iron cross commemorates Sergeant Harry…