THE STORY

A weekend in Crieff – and selecting a route

Setting out

Meeting a squirrel

Into Narnia

Up to the Melville Monument

No earthquakes to report!

A meeting beside the Deil’s Cauldron

Returning to Comrie

Panoramic view of Glen Lednock

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A weekend in Crieff – and selecting a route

During a weekend in January, my wife Maggie and I were fortunate to have a weekend away in Crieff.  Although the Crieff Hydro Hotel where we were staying had plenty of leisure facilities, we were keen to enjoy the outdoors if possible.  There were plenty of walking routes to choose from.  Luckily Saturday dawned dry and fairly bright, although it was chilly and the sunshine never really made it through the clouds.  There was a covering of snow visible on the higher summits, and we hadn’t brought the gear for mountain hiking, so a gentle low level walk would suit us just fine.  It was planned as a relaxing weekend after all, and we wanted to be back in time to make use of the leisure facilities before dinner.

After taking our time over breakfast, we asked at the hotel reception, but they didn’t have any information on walks in the locality.  We were directed to the tourist information centre in the town centre, and this turned out to be a good move as there was a wide selection of walking literature to choose from.  We picked up a range of walks leaflets covering the area.  Loch Earn was one possibility, but it’s not so easy to find a short circular route. Glen Lednock Circular Walk looked like the best option, starting from Comrie which was just 10 minutes’ drive away.  There was a choice of short walks around Crieff as well, and we decided to do one of those on Sunday if the weather was still fine. 

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Setting out

We set off on the short drive to Comrie around 11.30 a.m.  There’s a large car park conveniently situated just before the bridge on the way into Comrie on the A85, on the right-hand side.  This is the Laggan Car Park, with playing fields on the other side of the access road and the golf club house further up the road.  The start of the walk is clearly signposted from the far end of the car park, and we started walking.  The early section of the route was low down in the valley, through woods close to the River Lednock, then began to climb up the side of the valley.  This stretch had been mostly cleared of trees, with just a few groups of tall deciduous trees left standing.  The final section of the climb was steeper, with wooden steps and handrails, and a natural grid of tree roots to cross at the top.  To the right, a path led to a little hilltop with open views over the valley and down towards Strathearn. 

Instead of spending time at the hilltop, we headed left from the top of the steps, along the main path into the forest.  The valley below us to the left didn’t look particularly appealing, with the dull winter greys and browns of the treetops and no sunshine to brighten them up.  The trail led into denser woodland, then turned to the left along the right-hand side of a subsidiary valley.  This section was enlivened by the tall trees along the left side of the path, and the view across to the hilltop surmounteWd by the Melville Monument which we would be climbing later on.

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Meeting a squirrel

The trees closed in again on both sides of the trail, and suddenly I spotted a movement at the bottom of one of the conifers to the right.  I thought it was probably a red squirrel, so we stopped and watched, but there was no sign of anything moving.  It seemed to be hiding on the other side of the tree, and could have climbed higher up.  Maggie walked on, to encourage it to break cover.  I edged around to see the other side of the tree, and spotted the squirrel just as it saw me; it darted upwards.  After more to-ing and fro-ing, I managed to see it quite clearly for a moment, halfway up the tree, looking like it had a nutshell in its mouth.  I got a couple of pictures, but it was difficult to zoom in and get a good angle on it.  Then it was away again.

This brief encounter was quite exciting – you don’t often see red squirrels, although they are still hanging on in various parts of Scotland.  I’ve caught sight of them before in Camperdown Park, Dundee, and in Mabie Forest, Dumfries. (The UK Government has just announced – January 2006 – a policy of culling grey squirrels in England to try to reduce the pressure on the falling population of reds - see this article in the Guardian).

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Into Narnia

I hurried on to catch up with Maggie, down the slope towards an opening through the trees with a view of the open countryside, then swinging left, and out of the forest.  Maggie was just ahead, and we walked along close to the river again through an area of bracken.  She remarked that it was like coming out into Narnia – another world, beyond the forest.  There were hills ahead and to the side of us, and the sight of a couple of cars indicated the minor road not far away on the other side of the river.

A group of three walkers came towards us, and then we saw a couple of others when we turned left along a section of the trail that followed the river across the bottom of the valley (the route was well signposted all the way).  We arrived at a timber bridge raised up above the river on our left – this was named Shaky Bridge on the map, but it looked as though it was solid and fairly new.  There was just a narrow timber walkway with rails on either side, but it provided a firm route across.

On the far side, the trail climbed a little to a seat, where we sat and looking out over Narnia.  There was nothing spectacular in the view, but it was tranquil and relaxing – more like Narnia after the White Witch had been defeated (see panoramic view below).  Further up the valley was Loch Lednock, but it was out of sight.  Snowy hilltops rose beyond. 

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Up to the Melville Monument

We resumed the walk, and the route here was along a wide track, which then joined the minor road coming up the west side of the valley.  We approached the wooded slopes of Dunmore, where a tractor was parked.  As we came closer, we could see it had been vandalised – burnt out – a sad reflection on the state of society.

A little further along the road, we reached a signpost pointing through an opening into the forest, to the Melville Monument.  This was yet another world, of dense conifer forest, with a wide forest track overshadowed by the dark branches.  It was a steady climb, muddy in places but easy enough to walk on.  There were a couple of bends, to the left then the right, and the trees thinned out with the conifers giving way to mixed woodland.  Some sections of the trail were more uneven and awkward to climb, but without any serious difficulties, then we turned left again as we approached the ridge.  A middle-aged couple were walking down towards us, and promised us that we were nearly at the top, where we would be rewarded with an excellent view.

The path climbed unevenly over some small rocky sections and we could see the tower ahead of us.  An alternative more level track appeared, taking a more winding route up to the top,  Once there we were above the treetops and it really was splendid all-round view.  The village of Comrie was laid out below, with the wooded slopes overlooking Strathearn, and the low hills on the far side.  Looking west we could see the higher mountains, and from a wooden seat we could look north up Glen Lednock into the snowy hills.  We were at 256m (839ft), and a viewpoint indicator marked out the hilltops.  It looked like there was a route to the higher – and craggier - Crappich Hill, to the north-west, but we were going back down the way we had come up.

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No earthquakes to report!

Before heading off, I reflected on the fact that Comrie is the place with the greatest amount of seismic activity in Britain – although none of the periodic earth tremors seems to cause any damage.  One of the easier walks in the valley is called the “Earthquake Walk”, taking in the Earthquake House where the world’s first seismometer was set up in 1840 (being replaced by the present one in 1869).  Needless to say, we didn’t notice any tremors during our hike.

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A meeting beside the Deil’s Cauldron

On the way down, we passed a family on their way up, and offered them the same encouragement we had received during our climb.  Back down at the road, we turned right, on a path which was built along the left side of the road, at the top of the wooded slope of the valley.  The path took a left turn, down a section with timber rails and onto a timber walkway, reaching a viewing platform.  There, down to the left, was the waterfall entering the Deil’s Cauldron.  There was another platform further down, looking onto the Cauldron itself – very impressive.  There was plenty of water coming down, and the scene wasn’t blocked by leaves.  The photo can’t really capture the full impression of the force and the incessant sound of the water smashing its way down through the narrow fissure in the rocks, then plunging into the pool below.

Climbing back up, we met another couple out for a walk, and stopped to chat.  They were from Dunfermline, and often came walking here, at different times of year.  It was a short drive for them, and they had other favourite walks elsewhere in the hills above Strathearn.  We talked a bit about the relative merits of these hills compared with the Ochils, which are closer to Dunfermline.  And I told them about Walking Stories, but didn’t have any business cards handy.  Fortunately Maggie had some in her bag, and we told them they should see the walk appearing on the site within a fortnight!  It was about 1.30 pm now, and they were on their way to have their lunch at the Melville Monument – we were still being sustained by the three-course breakfast!

The timber walkway now took us to the left, away from the route we had walked down, heading further down the valley.  It struck me that this was very like a section of the Qingcheng Hou Shan walkway in China that I’d walked with Catriona and Owen in June, except that the Chinese version was made of concrete painted to look like timber, and was about 20 times as long!

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Returning to Comrie

There was still more than a mile to go (about 2 km) down to Comrie, and it was an excellent trail, taking us along the wooded banks of the river.  There was one more section of timber walkways and a viewing platform, for the Wee Cauldron, which was an attractive but less impressive set of small falls further down.  We passed a few more people, in groups of 2 or 3, but it was quiet and relaxing, and there was nothing to worry about with the route itself.  The valley opened out as we approached the village, and the houses could be seen beyond a grassy field.  The track emerged between gateposts onto a road.  There was space for parking here as well, and the start of the route was signposted, for anyone wanting to follow the route in the other direction or just have a shorter walk to the Cauldron.

A straight road ran into the centre of the village, with the White Church facing us at the end.  One of the line of cottages was picked out as the Deil’s Cauldron restaurant and bar.  Archways between the cottages allowed views through to the gardens and yards at the back.  Again, it was a little reminiscent of the scenes through open doorways along an old street in China – but I suppose there must be streets with this basic design all over the world! 

At the church, we turned left along the main street of Comrie, passing shops selling a wide variety of speciality items.  It’s one of those interesting places to browse around after you’ve enjoyed a walk.  However, we weren’t enticed into any tea shops, although we passed a couple of hotels where we might have gone for refreshment.  Then we crossed the bridge at the far side of the village, and turned to the left into the car park which we had set out from about two and a half hours earlier.

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Contributed by Andrew Llanwarne