Queen Elizabeth Forest Park

The weather looked nice this morning, cold but bright and sunny, so we packed up and set off for David Marshall Lodge in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park near Aberfoyle for some light walking.

We started off thinking we'd follow the red trail, which is the longest if you tie it in with the blue one and trek up to where the radio mast used to be sited. Anyway, the signage was a bit off and we ended trekking up onto the old slate quarry wagonway. We've been up here a few times and it's a slog of a climb but worth it for the views and the easy walk around the contour of the hill as far as the old slate quarry.

Unfortunately, it looked like something out of a war zone. The forestry work has pretty much devasted the hillside and it's no longer a pretty site although the views are still good. You can see Dumgoyne to the south and Ben Ledi to the north as well as the imposing bulk of Ben Lomond over the Loch Ard Forest. Both the larger peaks had a fair dusting of snow on top as well.

We plodded on and dropped down through the quarry to the road and found the cross over point where we should have ended up on the red trail but the track was closed - forestry again. So we went back down the road and retraced our steps back down to the lodge, just in time for tea and scones.