Did you ever finish reading a book and enjoy it so much that you straight away started reading it all over again? I certainly did that at least once. I was reminded of it because I did exactly the same thing in relation to a recent outdoor trip. I had a such an enjoyable walk and wild camp out of Blair Atholl that two weeks later, I did the whole thing again with a friend! This wasn't a trip through dramatic scenery or remote landscapes. It was simply a very enjoyable walk with a nice wild camp and lots of interesting things to see along the way.
The walk headed north and west out of Blair Atholl, skirting behind Blair Castle and picking up a pleasant track which contoured round the hillside to Bruar. It afforded good views down to the castle and to Schiehallion which poked its head above the lower hills to the west. Here there was a grand avenue of redwoods that soared into a blue sky and a pretty duck pond tucked into the trees that provided a nice spot to sit for an early lunch.
As the track passed above Bruar, an easy ten minute diversion joined the path to the Falls of Bruar. It was strange to pop out from the quiet hill track to the busy footpath at the falls and squeeze by people on the narrow path. But the view of the gorge and the falls themselves is always worth the effort.
From the Falls of Bruar, the track turned steeply north through Glen Banvie Wood. Although mostly plantation pine, the forest had some other tree species including an area of Scots pines which thinned to the open hillside beyond. This was the night's campsite and being at the edge of the trees, it was a perfect mix of woodland and open moor. This was advantageous later as it allowed us to have an open view of the night sky which was superb in the cold, crisp, winter air. Most prominent were the planets of Venus and Jupiter which were in alignment in the early part of the year. But the stars were beautiful as well with Orion and the Plough overhead.
A cold, frosty morning followed a chilly night with the temperature below zero. But this was another advantage of the camp spot at the edge of the woods in that the trees had maintained a slightly higher temperature than out on the moor. After packing up camp, we set out following the track down Glen Banvie through pleasant stands of pine. When I did the walk on my own, I climbed the low ridge of Sron Dubh to the north as I wanted to investigate a small cairn and shieling marked on the map. This was a rugged walk and the rivers that crossed the route cut surprisingly deep gorges into the hillside. However, the old, lichen-covered cairn was a good vantage point. I dropped down from here to the shieling and was amazed at how extensive the ruins were. This was obviously a small village in the past.
When doing the walk with my friend, we stayed on the track down through Glen Banvie which meant we could see the shieling from the other side of the glen and this view reinforced the impression of a settlement of significant size. A little bit of googling later, revealed that the settlement was known as Riechapel or Chapelton and included dwellings with outbuildings, stock enclosures and possibly a kiln. It was inhabited during the 18th century and it's thought that a limestone-rich bedrock provided favourable conditions for agriculture. My friend created this image with the two parts of the old settlement superimposed on the modern OS map.
We enjoyed our walk down Glen Banvie, marvelling at the patterns of ice in the frozen puddles and feeling on our skin the weak, late winter sun. The track here is an ancient route known as Comyn's Road. The road linked Comyn's Tower which pre-dated Blair Castle, with Ruthven Barracks to the north. You can somehow always tell when you are walking on an old route. There is something about its general construction that makes it sympathetic to foot travellers and perhaps there is an aura of the past as well that lingers today.
The track brought us down to Old Blair where we made a short detour to the Whim folly. It sits high on the hillside and affords a stunning view of the valley below which is dominated by Ben Vrackie, the pointed hill above Pitlochry. The woods here are also quite beautiful, set around a deep gorge and featuring many different species.
Just after Old Blair we made another detour along a lovely woodland path that connects to Glen Tilt via two interesting finds in the woods. The first of these is Tom na Croiche, the Hangman's Knoll. The pillar here was built in 1755 to mark the spot of the last public hanging in Atholl in 1630.
The second interesting find was a bird hide built in the shape of a yurt but out of wood. It had an open view to the adjacent fields where greylag geese grazed and beyond to woods and mountains. There were lots of different bird feeders hanging in the trees and the hide was an excellent spot to feed ourselves with a picnic lunch before catching the train home.
More photos on Flickr
Start/finish: Blair Atholl
Public transport: Inverness-Edinburgh/Glasgow train to Blair Atholl
Route: Used the Tilt riverside footpath to the Glen Tilt car park then walked the dead end back road to Old Blair. At the crossroads, turned left down Minigaig Street and followed the road round to the right. At the next T junction, turned right onto dirt track. After approx 3km, a junction of tracks is reached. Turned right uphill then left at the next junction. After another approx. 3km the diversion to the Falls of Bruar is signed. Original track turned north through Glen Banvie Wood then after approx 3km it turns southeast down Glen Banvie and back to Old Blair. The path to Tom na Croiche goes up a flight a stairs at a gap on the wall on the road between Old Blair and the Glen Tilt car park. The path eventually links to Glen Tilt and where it does, turned right to the Glen Tilt car park to then rejoin the outward along the riverside path to Blair Atholl.