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Picture of a view down a wooded hillside over a loch After the grey and cloudy weather the previous day I was hoping for better conditions on the Saturday. My wishes weren't entirely fulfilled, it was still fairly cloudy, but at least it was dry. Good enough to give Ben A'an another try, so I drove out to the Trossachs and parked the car in the car park at Loch Achray.

The path quickly climbs up the hill and after a while the first openings appear in the trees allowing some nice views back over Loch Achray.

About an hour into the walk I approached the summit, but not before enjoying the first impressive views west over Loch Katrine. The clouds were still hanging fairly low and the Arrochar Alps were hidden under clouds. Some rain was visible towards the north west, making me hope it wasn't going to move to Ben A'an.

Picture of a view over a loch Picture of a mountain summit
From the summit I had a great view over Loch Achray and Loch Katrine, even the Arrochar Alps were visible in the distance for short periods. This view from Ben A'an is also available as QuickTime VR panorama of the view south and west from Ben A'an:
Picture of a panoramic view over two lochs and other hills
Picture of people flying a kite on the top of a mountainPicture of a loch seen from a hillI stayed at the summit for quite a while, hoping that the weather would improve further and allow for some better views. A number of other people arrived and left while I was there, Ben A'an seems to be a popular destination for a cloudy Saturday in December.

One group used the fairly strong breeze to fly a kite right at the summit. It took them a while to get it up in the air and to figure out how to control it, but in the end they were successful in launching and flying it.

While the clouds never really lifted I still managed to get a reasonably good view of the Arrochar Alps in the distance, The Cobbler (Ben Arthur) clearly visible on the left. Beinn Narnain's and Beinn Ime's summits remaining covered by clouds.

Picture of cloud covered mountains in the distance
Picture of a path up a hillPicture of a path leading through birchesAfter an hour or so at the summit I started with the descent back to the car park at Loch Achray again. May be a little bit too early as some blue sky finally appeared when I was about half way down. The view back up the path to the summit was quite impressive, making Ben A'an looking much bigger and higher than it actually is. The low sun provided some nice light when I walked through some birches. Unfortunately the picture doesn't really do it justice.

I had hoped to stop at the Beech Tree Inn again on my way back to Glasgow, but when I discovered that I had a large dust particle on the sensor of my camera I had to change my plan. Instead of dining at the restaurant I drove straight back to Glasgow to buy some cleaning equipment to have the camera clean for the next day.

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