Four of the Best Walks To Do in Perthshire
It’s the time of year when we all want to get out, feel the warmth of spring sunshine on our faces, let the soft breeze blow the winter cobwebs away, and rest our eyes on the fresh, zingy green of new leaves. Sounds blissful, doesn’t it?
Of course, spring walks do also occasionally come with the odd shower, muddy patch of path or newly hatched cloud of flies, but they are all part of the experience too! So, this month, why not try out these amazing walks from across Perthshire?
Deil’s Cauldron, Comrie
A spectacular waterfall walk that starts at the small car park signposted Glen Lednock, a narrow track takes you slowly towards the river, which you can hear getting closer and closer. Quite quickly you’ll come to the first waterfall, known as the Wee Cauldron. A viewing platform with a bench provides the perfect location for enjoying this spectacular, though small, waterfall. There’s also series of smaller waterfalls just above, which form a pleasingly even cascade of small pools. It’s the perfect place to stop, breathe deeply, and let the calm of nature seep in.
After this, the walk begins to get gradually more arduous, although you wouldn’t call it hard going, and it’s uphill but not steep. Soon you’ll arrive at the first wooden bridge, which marks the start of a series of steps and walkways that make the path accessible, and a viewing platform over the actual Deil’s Cauldron. It’s hard to describe this in any way other than spectacular.
When you finally tear yourselves away, you’ll need to climb the long wooden staircase to the road above. At this point you can continue and do the long circular walk that encompasses the monument if you want to, or return to the car park. If you do this the walk will probably take 1 1/2 to 2 hours, allowing for time spent watching the waterfalls. You do need quite good mobility to be able to do this walk, but you don’t need to be super fit, and the steps and walkways make it much easier than it would otherwise be.
The Hermitage, Dunkeld
The Hermitage is a rightly famous walk, so it’s provided with a large car park (don’t forget to bring some change though as it isn’t free), and there’s a reasonably flat or gently sloped path for much of the walk.
Benches are dotted throughout where you can sit and watch the water. Ossian’s Hall is also extremely special from both outside and inside, and the bridge over the fall is also an amazing viewpoint. Of course, a walk at the Hermitage must extend beyond Ossian’s Hall to the hermit’s cave itself. At this point the tall, straight evergreen firs really come into their own, and have something really peaceful about them.
Retracing your steps, there are moments you can diverge from the path to explore rocky outcrops, clearings and other areas you may have missed on the way up if your mobility allows.
Black Spout, Pitlochry
This is a steep but short walk from the town of Pitlochry up to a lovely viewpoint over a waterfall with an abundance of beautiful trees. It has some limited parking at its base, but on busy days it may be necessary to walk a bit further.
The waterfall itself is one of the best in the area—apparently it’s 60 metres high. Since it’s quite a short way up, it’s not a long sustained climb, but a short burst of energy is definitely needed. And if you wish to carry on the walk afterwards up to Moulin, then do expect to keep climbing.
If you’re only going to the waterfall, then you can expect the walk uphill to take about 20 minutes to half an hour or so, depending on your mobility and fitness, and much shorter on the way down!
Den o’ Alyth, Alyth
Just a brief drive outside the small town of Alyth, this walk has a convenient car park and well-kept path, though it can be muddy in places. After a short slope downwards, past a children’s play park and grassy area, the path flattens and takes you along the Alyth Burn, the same one that also runs through the town itself.
As you walk down into the ‘Den’, it’s almost like entering another world. The deepest part of the river gorge is almost always out of reach of the sun, leading to a luscious, mossy, mysterious atmosphere, accentuated by the sound of burbling water and the spicy smell of damp earth.
There’s benches dotted throughout this walk, and because there’s a couple of bridges over the burn, you can take a slightly different way back if you wish to see the other side of the river at any point, depending on if and where you decided to cross over previously. There are no wrong choices here, every path has something to offer!
