Ben Vorlich from Ardvorlich, Loch Earn

Ben Vorlich, at 985m on the Ordnance Survey trig point, is a Munro and a Marilyn; Wikipedia records that it rises in the Grampian Mountains close to the Highland Boundary Fault, which Walkhighlands credits for the “excellent views into the Lowlands” from its summit. Callander’s own visitor information site names it one of the closest Munros to the town, climbed from Ardvorlich House on the southern shore of Loch Earn. The hill sits on Ardvorlich Estate ground: Walkhighlands’ deer stalking notice covers Ben Vorlich, Ben Our, Creagan an Lochain and Meall Reamhar between mid-September and 20 October, though it states access via the main paths and ridges is unaffected.

There is rough, informal parking on the verges of the minor road along the loch’s south side, and the route starts up a track on the far side of the Ardvorlich burn, between a pair of urn-topped stone gateposts, before crossing back over the burn and climbing past several gated stiles. Past a footbridge over the Allt a’ Choire Bhuidhe the track becomes a path, climbing across open heather and then the increasingly eroded Sgiath nam Tarmachan ridge, “wings of the ptarmigan”, to the trig point. Walkhighlands’ own guidance is that most walkers should stop here and return by the same path; fitter parties can continue along the connecting ridge and down to a bealach, then up a boulder field and a short scramble-graded slab section to reach the rockier, steeper summit of Stùc a’ Chròin, before a boggy, eroded contouring path leads back around the head of Coire Buidhe to rejoin the outward route.

Taking in both summits the round is 14.5km with 1,145m of ascent and six to seven hours, by Walkhighlands’ count; the shorter there-and-back walk to Ben Vorlich alone, which Walkhighlands says is enough for most visitors, is not separately measured but skips the harder ground beyond the bealach entirely. A fit walker wanting a full Munro day within reach of Callander gets one here, provided the boggy, eroded return path and the short scramble onto Stùc a’ Chròin hold no fear. Anyone who would rather skip both is better suited to Ben Ledi, a smaller hill nearer the town that starts at the Pass of Leny and, on Walkhighlands’ figures, runs to 10km and 770m of ascent.