 Bealach nam Bo by Loch Katrine
about 4.5 miles round trip
 Mostly easy walking with a steep climb at the end up to the
Bealach
Description:
Length: about 4.5 mile
Start: Loch Katrine road about half a mile from Loch Achray
Parking: Junction Loch Katrine dam road and Trossachs Rd. (P)
Surface: Tarmac road, forest tracks and open hill
Map: Shows walk to the Bealach Nam Bo.
History
The Bealach nam Bo - or pass of the cattle - is the route supposedly used by the highland
cattle thieves (and by Rob Roy MacGregor) to take their cattle down Loch Katrine side to
hide them among the watery mazes of Flanders Moss.
Route
Walk up the Loch Katrine dam road, ignoring the left turn over the attractive little
arched footbridge, to the dam and cross the steel grid walkway over the dam(it looks
like a private area but is a public path up to and over the dam). 
Some old steps lead on from the dam and up through the woods (mind your feet here) to
cross a fence with a stile. Turning right here a rough track by the burn leads gradually
up toward the Bealach - a twin gap in a shoulder of Ben Venue. The views down to Loch
Katrine are impressive and reveal the small islands not seen from the more usual viewpoint
at the Trosachs pier.
The track continues up the gentle slope, crossing the burn several times and eventually
a stile is reached. After crossing the stile take the ill defined right-hand track which
winds up the slope, steepening all the way up to the right hand pass.
Climb up from the pass to the crest of the little knoll on the right for one of the
best views of the southern end of the loch.
 Head back down to the pass and walk a little way northwest before
swinging round to the left to bypass some steep rocks and find the other rockier pass
which has a more obvious track leading through it. Note the huge overhanging crag above
the pass and the tumble of rocks which is still added to every winter due to the effects
of frost.
Heading back down now toward the dam, the track is ill defined again through some of
the boulder field and leads back to the stile at the fork in the track.
Continue now back past the stile (crossed on the way up) but stay on this side of the
river - the Achray Water - eventually reaching a forest road. Continue on this until you
see the new arched bridge crossing the river to take you back to the tarmac road, where a
right turn leads back to the car park.
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