Ben Ledi
| Ben Ledi | |||
| Perthshire | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Ben Ledi seen from Kilmahog | |||
| Range: | Trossachs Hills | ||
| Summit: | 2,884 feet NN562098 56°15’32"N, 4°19’23"W | ||
Ben Ledi is a mountain in Perthshire. It is 2,884 feet high, and is classified as a ‘Corbett’. It lies about 4 miles northwest of Callander, near the village of Kilmahog.
The mountain is in the Trossachs Hills, which are often regarded as having some of the most romantic scenery in the Highlands.
The name of the mountain is Gaelic, and means 'Hill of the long shoulder'.
Ben Ledi is particularly well known through Walter Scott's poem Lady of the Lake.
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, and stories arose that in ancient times, Beltane rites were observed on the summit. The name is in fact a corruption of Beinn Leitir which translates to 'the Hill of the Slope', which is a very suitable description of the long south shoulder used to access the summit. A cairn was built on the top in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's jubilee.
About the slopes
A small lochan, Lochan nan Corp, lies at 2,149 feet above sea level about a mile to the north of the summit. The name means "the little loch of the dead", and was thought to be named for an accident to a funeral party at which 200 lives were lost. In truth the lochan is on the old coffin road from Glen Finlas to St Bride's chapel close to Loch Lubnaig. The pass is therefore named the Bealach nan Corp – 'Pass of the Dead' - and the lochan is named after the pass. The lochan is far from deadly as the legend suggests: it not deep enough to sink a man past his waist, nor of sufficient area to accommodate any large funeral party, let alone 200.
Ascent
The eastern slopes of Ben Ledi are owned by the Forestry Commission, and form part of the Queen Elizabeth II Forest Park. A constructed path leads from a car park on the A84 road just south of Loch Lubnaig to a fence at about 890 feet (270 m) where a rough track continues to the summit via the south shoulder, a distance of 2 miles. An alternative route following Stank Glen leaves the shores of Loch Lubnaig about a mile 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 5½ miles.
In addition to hiking the Ben is occasionally used as a take-off point for paragliding.
The Ben Ledi ridge continues north, dropping down to about 600 m before climbing again to the summit of Benvane (a Corbett not to be confused with Ben Vane, a Munro on the west side of Loch Lomond.)
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ben Ledi) |
- Computer generated summit panorama:
- A walk up Ben Ledi
References
- Climbing the Corbetts, Hamish Brown, ISBN 1-898573-08-5
- The Call of the Corbetts, Irvine Butterfield, ISBN 0-7153-2754-2
- The Corbetts and Other Scottish Hills, Scott Johnstone (Editor) et al., ISBN 0-907521-29-0
- The Corbett Almanac, Cameron McNeish, Neil Wilson Publishing, ISBN 1-897784-14-7
- 100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains, Ralph Storer, ISBN 0-7515-0300-2
