Dunkeld
is an excellent location for walking much of Perthshire with
eight local Dunkeld walks, ranging from 3 to nearly 7 miles,
total 36 miles in all. Each walk has its own distinct character
and each gives a unique insight into the landscape, flora and
fauna of Perthshire.
LARCH
WALK
3 miles / 4 ¾ km
Starting Point - North Car Park, Dunkeld.
For those with little time or unable to undertake the longer
walks this delightful ramble offers in miniature many of the
sights to be enjoyed on a larger scale elsewhere. There is a
hill top view point at King's Seat, riverside and woodland paths,
beautiful trees and many different animals and plants. The signs
along the paths suggest the most pleasant direction to take
but the choice is yours.
INVER
WALK
5 miles / 8 km
Starting points - The Hermitage or Newton Craig car parks. This
is a low level walk through Craigvinean Forest and along the
south bank of the River Tay which is the longest river in Scotland.
Trees provide shelter from wind and rain, making the walk suitable
for all seasons. The line of the walk crosses the very dangerous
A9 road and railway but these hazards can be safely negotiated
by using the specially provided pedestrian underpasses.
INCHEWAN
WALK
5 miles / 8 km
Starting points - Birnam or the Inver car park. The walk follows
the Inchewan Burn up Birnam Glen to the northern end of Glen
Garr, offering attractive views of the surrounding hills and
straths from the high moorland and from open clearings in the
Ladywell Plantation. An easily recognisable bird is the Curlew,
inhabiting the higher moorland around Balhomish and Tomgarrow.
FUNGARTH
WALK
4 ¾ miles / 7 ½ km
Starting Point - Cally Car Park or North Car Park, Dunkeld.
The tracks passing Fungarth and Haughend which lead out from
Dunkeld to Loch of Lowes were once old highways and the way
the tracks pass through open country, offering pleasant walking
and views of Loch of Lowes and the surrounding hills.
BRAAN
WALK
3 ¾ miles / 6 km
Starting points - The Hermitage, Rumbling Bridge or Inver car
parks. This is a walk through lovely Strathbraan, again in sheltered
woodland. It also passes through The Hermitage but this time
turns west to more waterfalls higher up the River Braan at Rumbling
Bridge. These upper falls and the height of the road bridge
above the deep chasm below the falls provide views possibly
more spectacular than those at The Hermitage. Rumbling Bridge
is in Millais countryside.
BIRNAM
HILL WALK
4 ¼ miles / 6 ¾ km
Starting points - Birnam or the Quarry car park. Of all the
walks, this is certainly the most strenuous as it climbs over
1000 feet to King's Seat at the top of Birnam Hill. However,
the effort is well rewarded. The views in all directions are
quite spectacular, particularly looking south towards Perth
from Stair Bridge or north across Dunkeld and Birnam from the
crag at the top of the steep descent back down to the village.
BIRNAM
WALK
3 ½ / 5 ½ km
Starting point - centre of Birnam. Part of the shortest and
easiest of the walks follows the Tay riverside path downstream
from the mouth of the River Braan. This section offers interesting
views of Dunkeld and its cathedral across on the north bank
and runs under the historic Dunkeld Bridge which was completed
in 1808 to the design of the great Scottish engineer Thomas
Telford and financed, in the main, by the fourth Duke of Atholl.
ATHOLL
WOODS WALK
6 ¾ miles / 10 ¾ km
Starting Point - Cally Car Park. Atholl Woods stretch over many
acres of hill country to the north of Dunkeld and this longest
walk circles around these vast conifer plantations. The trees
are regularly harvested and the cleared areas provide many interesting
views from the forest tracks, particularly looking north up
Strath Tay or south west from near Birkenburn down across the
lochs of Craiglush, Lowes and Butterstone.
