Ben Venue (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

: A' Bheinn Mheanbh) is a mountain in the Trossachs area of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The name Ben Venue is derived from the

words meaning "the miniature mountain". The summit lies approximately 2 kilometres south-west of the pier at the southern end of Loch Katrine. At the foot of the mountain close to the shore of Loch Katrine is ''Bealach nam Bò'' meaning the "pass of the cattle", a reference to the lawless days when Highland cattle "lifters" used the pass to drive stolen herds to their land. Ben Venue is a popular walk and can be accessed from either Ledard farm track at Loch Ard, via the

Beinn an Fhogharaidh Beinn an Fhogharaidh is a mountain ridge, high, in the southern Scottish Highlands near the village of Aberfoyle in Stirling council area, Scotland. Location Beinn an Fhogharaidh rises about west-northwest of Aberfoyle and around sixteen ki ...

ridge, or from the car park at the head of Loch Achray: both routes are approximately 5 km in length. A sign in the forestry warns that the mountain should not be approached or descended directly to or from Loch Katrine, as the slopes on this side are very steep and littered with dangerous cliffs. Several indistinct paths do exist on this side of the hill however. Ben Venue has two summits a short distance apart. The triangulation pillar on the eastern summit has a height of 727 m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

, and this height is often given as the height of Ben Venue as a whole. However the western summit is shown to be slightly higher, 729 m, on the

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...

's 1:25000 map. From (either) summit on a clear day the view extend to the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meanin ...

, the Clyde and

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; sco, Isle o Arran; gd, Eilean Arainn) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Historically part of Butesh ...

and the Paps of Jura. Good views can be seen along Loch Katrine, Ben A'an, Ben More, Stob Binnein, Ben Lomond and the Arrochar Alps.

External links

* A full description of the walks can be found a
www.incallander.co.uk, walking section
{{Coord, 56.225006, -4.461986, display=title, region:GB_type:mountain Grahams Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of the Southern Highlands Mountains and hills of Stirling (council area) Trossachs