Day 27: Glengoulandie, Perthshire to Killin, Stirlingshire

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

31st January 2021: 104.37km walked today taking the total to 2712.12/8854km. 7.5% of 182 people's totals submitting 1391.55km.

Route 7: Comrie to Milngavie

We take the minor road north alongside the Keltney Burn, passing Glengoulandie before taking the Schiehallion Road past Loch Kinardochy. Just before Braes of Foss we turn left and climb up the Munro, Schiehallion, which translates to the ‘Fairy Hill of the Caledonians’. This hill is famous for being the site of the first ever measurement of the mass of the earth by Neville Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, in 1774. It was chosen because of its isolation and its symmetrical shape. As part of the experiment the volume of Schiehallion had to be calculated and to do this contour lines were created by Charles Hutton.

The path up Schiehallion has been replaced recently as the previous one had become a scar on the landscape and was very boggy. This new path makes for good going until the ridge is reached, where quartzite boulders abound, making the going pretty tough. It is worth it though for the views at the summit; to the south are 7 Munros including Ben Lawers, and to the west Loch Rannoch with views across to Glencoe. The only way down unfortunately is to retrace our steps back to Braes of Foss, where we head west along the minor road towards Loch Rannoch.

After Lochan An Daim we reach the site of ‘Craig Na Dun’, a famous Outlander location; it doesn’t actually have any standing stones as they were added by the Production Team. Not far from here, starting near Crossmount, there is a walk to Dunalastair Water and then on to MacGregor’s Cave. The walk takes you through oak woodlands and there are views across the River Tummel to the ruins of Dunalastair House en route. The cave, which is reputed to have been used as a hideout by members of the MacGregor clan when the whole clan was outlawed, was improved in Victorian times with a door entrance, a bench, and a window for visitors to admire the scenery.

Dunalastair Estate originally belonged to the Robertson family of the clan Donnachaidh. In the 18th century, the great poet chieftain Alexander Robertson of Struan, lived in a house called the Hermitage, thought to have been on or near the present Dunalastair House. He was a staunch Jacobite, so the house was destroyed by fire after the 1745 uprising. This was replaced by a double tower house built on the site about 1800, known as Mount Alexander. In 1853 the estate was sold to General Sir John MacDonald of Dalchosnie. He demolished the tower house and built Dunalastair House in its place, designed by Andrew Heiton and completed in 1859. Around 1861 he also built the main square in the village of Kinloch Rannoch, including the episcopal church and the MacDonald Arms Hotel (now called the Dunalastair). The estate was sold in c1881 to Hugh Tennant, who started the production of Tennant’s Lager. He died in 1890 at the age of 27 so the estate was bought by James Clark Bunten who was Chairman of the Caledonian Railway Company; it still belongs to their family today. The house itself was only really used properly until World War 1, after which there was not enough staff to run it. It was requisitioned during World War 2 as a school for children of Polish prisoners of war and during this period it was damaged considerably. In the 1960s the lead was stolen from the roof and, has since, slowly deteriorated.

Continuing along our route we pass Dunalastair Water, a man-made reservoir, providing water for the Loch Tummel Hydro-electric Power Station, and reputed to be one of the best wild trout fishing locations in Scotland, before we reach Kinloch Rannoch itself at the end of Loch Rannoch. In Kinloch Rannoch we see the main square, including the episcopal church and hotel, which was built, as mentioned earlier, in the mid-19th century by Sir John MacDonald of Dalchosnie of Dunalastair House.

We follow Loch Rannoch along the south shore before we reach the Black Wood of Rannoch, one of the few remaining areas of the original Caledonian Pine Forest that once covered much of Scotland. At the Carrie Burn we turn south to meet an old drover’s road, called Kirk Road, which takes us to Innerwick. It is not clear why it is called Kirk Road but may have been the route used by the minister of the parish to travel from Innerwick, in Glen Lyon, to Loch Rannoch.

At Innerwick we turn back east to travel down the beautiful Glen Lyon. Sir Walter Scott once described this glen as the ‘longest, loneliest and loveliest glen in Scotland’. It stretches for 40 kilometres, but we are only travelling half way. At the hamlet of Camusvrachan you can take a path up beside the river, Allt a’Chobhair, to a rock formation called ‘The Praying Hands of Mary’ or ‘Fionn’s Rock’. It is called Fionn’s Rock as according to legend it was split in 2 by an arrow fired by the legendary Celtic hero Fingal or Fionn mac Cumhaill.

Continuing along our route, we pass Inverar before reaching Fortingall. This historic village is famous because of its unique architecture, ‘Arts and Crafts’ vernacular style, and because it is rumoured to be the birthplace of Pontius Pilate. It also has a yew tree in the churchyard which is said to be the oldest living thing in Europe at over 5000 years old.

From Fortingall we retrace our steps to Kenmore and then up to the Rob Roy Way to continue west. This section of the Rob Roy Way is known as the Queen’s Drive and has superb views across Loch Tay to Ben Lawers and the surrounding mountains. At the Acharn Burn we head downhill to a hermit’s cave which was built in the 18th century by the 3rd Earl of Breadalbane. A 20-metre-long dark passage takes us to a viewing platform giving us a spectacular view of the Falls of Acharn. Leaving the hermit’s cave, we walk alongside the Acharn Burn before reaching the shore of Loch Tay.

The Rob Roy Way then follows a minor road to Ardtalnaig, then Ardeonaig. At Ardeonaig the path leads us away from the loch uphill, reaching heather moorland which we cross before reaching Lochan Breaclaich, which was dammed as part of the Breadalbane Hydro-electric Scheme. We then take a minor road which leads us through forest down to Killin and the Falls of Dochart.