I must have been a bit fitter the last time I tackled the Callander Crags. Either that or the hill has become a lot steeper!
It’s not far to the top, though, and the views over Callander, the Teith and away to Loch Venachar and Ben Ledi make it all worth the effort.
It may be the end of April, but with frost in the air it wasn’t a day to be hanging about. The forecast even carried a warning of snow.
Having made it to the top, my walk took me along the ridge, past Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Cairn and down into the glen of the Keltie Water. After almost a month without much rain to speak of, there wasn’t a great deal of water but, even so, the Bracklinn Falls were still looking quite impressive. The wooden viewing bridge that crosses the falls is reassuringly sturdier than the rickety bridge that Sir Walter Scott galloped across on horseback as a wager.
Returning through the woods along the foot of the Crags brought me conveniently right back to the start. It may have been cold, but at least the snow never came to anything and the sun shone all day.
