One challenge of living in The Trossachs is deciding which of the many options to take for a walk in lovely countryside on a fine summer’s day. This was my dilemma last week when I found myself with time to spare on a wonderfully sunny afternoon. I hadn’t been to Loch Drunkie for a while so a walk there seemed a good option, and returning by Loch Venachar made for a good circular route. The walk was a whisker over six miles and took a couple of hours at a leisurely pace with plenty of stops to admire the view.

I began by crossing Brig o’ Michael and joining the Three Lochs Forest Drive at Achray Farm. Turning left towards Loch Venachar, I followed the drive for about a mile then turned off to the right onto a rough path leading uphill through the trees to cut out a long loop of the Forest Drive. After about half a mile I re-joined the Forest Drive near the Loch Drunkie picnic area.

It was still lunchtime when I arrived and the area was busy with other walkers and visitors stopping on their tour of the Forest Drive to admire the view and enjoy a picnic. Their peace was somewhat disturbed when a pickup with a large trailer rolled up and disgorged two workers with strimmers and industrial mowers. I felt sorry for them in all their protective gear on such a hot day. They quickly set to with their noisy machinery, so I left them to it and headed back into the quiet of the forest.

I took a shady path along the shore of the northern ‘arm’ of the loch which forms part of the Loch Drunkie Trail (more about this trail here). The path cuts through the trees high above the waterline at the start before descending eventually towards the water. There’s access to the shore at several points and plenty of convenient boulders on which to sit and admire the view.

The remainder of the Loch Drunkie Trail doubles back to return through the forest to the picnic area, but I continued on along the lochside to the dam at the northern end of the loch. All the way, iridescent-blue damselflies darted around my feet, sometimes settling on stones at the side of the path. Despite all my attempts to snap a photo, they were too fast, flying off immediately I approached.

Leaving Loch Drunkie and its dam behind, I continued north along a minor path heading downhill through the forest. Before long, Loch Venachar was visible through the trees and I emerged onto the Aberfoyle to Callander section of National Cycle Route 7 (NCR 7).

After following the shore for a while, the path leads past the Black Water Marshes, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), important as a flood plain and freshwater habitat.

The tree-lined path then continues on for another half a mile before joining the Three Lochs Forest Drive and the remainder of my walk followed the Drive back towards Brig o’ Turk.

Near the end of the walk, I passed again through Achray Farm and was greeted by goats lazing in the sun. The farm’s ice cream kiosk was open and, luckily for me as someone who isn’t an ice cream fan (yes, there are such people!), it also sells sorbets. I rounded off my walk with a delicious and refreshing raspberry sorbet. A lovely end to a sunny afternoon in the countryside.