Long glens and lochside woods under the Ben Lawers range, big Munro country with an easier way in than the far north-west
This is a landscape of long glens and dark lochs, with the high Lawers ridge closing off the southern skyline. The National Scenic Area takes in 487 square kilometres around Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon, one of the longest and quietest glens in the Highlands.
Ben Lawers is a giant here, the highest mountain in the southern Highlands, and the ridge running north over Beinn Ghlas and An Stuc makes for a grand high-level day. Over in Glen Lyon the Carn Mairg round takes in another set of Munros with fewer people about.
These are big mountains — high, exposed and slow to clear when cloud sits in — but the glen roads bring you closer to their feet than the remoter west does. Take the usual hill kit; late spring through autumn is the straightforward season, with winter turning it into full mountain conditions.
