Dunkeld Walks

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.

This information is courtesy Perth and Kinross Council and is from the Dunkeld & Birnam Walks brochure, available from many shops, foyers and information centres.