Ben A'an is a hill in

the Trossachs The Trossachs (; gd, Na Tròiseachan) generally refers to an area of wooded glens, braes, and lochs lying to the east of Ben Lomond in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The name is taken from that of a small woodland glen that lies at t ...

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 the ...

. The pointed peak of its west top (454 m/1491 ft

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

map, 1@25,000 scale ''Explorer'' series, OL 46, ''The Trossachs'', 2015.) resembles a small

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

Location

Ben A'an is situated in

area of the highlands north of Glasgow, rising above

Loch Katrine Loch Katrine (; or ) is a freshwater loch in the Trossachs area of the Scottish Highlands, east of Loch Lomond, within the historic county and registration county of Perthshire and the contemporary district of Stirling. The loch is about lon ...

and

Loch Achray Loch Achray is a small freshwater loch west of Callander in Stirling district, Scotland. The loch lies between Loch Katrine and Loch Venachar in the heart of the Trossachs and has an average depth of . History Loch Achray was for a time the ...

. The summit area is largely treeless and comprises several rock outcrops and crags, its highest point being a rounded summit (461 m/1512 ft), unlike its lower west top.

Ascent

The normal route is from the pay and display car park of "Ben An" (sic) by the shore of

. From there the signed path heads straight uphill in a north-northeasterly direction before picking up the course of a burn, the ''Allt Inneir'', and heading north-northwest up to a low saddle (246 m). The path crosses the saddle heading northwest before picking up the course of another burn, the ''Allt na Cailliche'', and following it steeply uphill below the crags of Ben A'an. Close to the source of the burn the path swings westwards and behind the west top of the hill onto a col, from which it is a short climb to the summit of the west top which is the destination for most hikers. There is no obvious path to the main summit.

Views

Even though Ben A’an is not particularly high, it offers panoramic views of the surrounding

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

strath A strath is a large valley, typically a river valley that is wide and shallow (as opposed to a glen, which is typically narrower and deep). Word and etymology An anglicisation of the Gaelic word ''srath'', it is one of many that have been ab ...

s and mountains, including Loch Katrine, Loch Achray, Ben Venue and even as far as the

Arrochar Alps The Arrochar Alps are a group of mountains located around the head of Loch Long, Loch Fyne, and Loch Goil, near the villages of Arrochar and Lochgoilhead, on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The mountains are especially popular ...

on the western shore of

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of Ce ...

Name

Ben A'an from above Trossachs Pier (7096857079)

The name "Ben A’an" is an erroneous Anglicization by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

. Its original name is uncertain, but it has been suggested that it may have been ''Am Binnean'' which means "the pinnacle",Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park brochure ''What's in a name?'', 2014. although some sites cite its meaning as "the small pointed peak".''Climb to stunning views at Ben A'an''
at scotland.forestry.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2017.

References

{{Reflist Mountains and hills of Stirling (council area) Trossachs