Before looking at the loch from the hill, examine the hill itself from the loch shore. Then get the Loch Tay view all of a sudden, sneaking up the northern side by Moirlanich Longhouse and an equally old path above it. I take it to be a peat road, used for dragging down winter fuel from the bogs above.
After crossing the Bridge of Dochart at the south end of Killin, continue 800 metres to a road bend, and keep ahead to a car park. Start through a gate at its back right corner onto a gravelled railway track. Follow this over River Lochay, then turn right through a kissing-gate.
A path (sometimes underwater) runs along the riverbank to Loch Tay, then turns left along the loch shore. The shoreline path follows a sandbar, and it’s clear that the loch once flowed right to the doorsteps of what is now Killin. A gate leads back onto the railbed alongside Pier Road. Turn left along the railbed path for 600 metres under trees. Just before the road bends away right move across to join it, and follow it past Killin Cemetery to the A827 at Coach House Hotel.
Looking down to Loch Tay from Sron a’ Chlachain
Turn right on the pavement for 500 metres, then left in the lane signposted for Moirlanich Longhouse. Pass the complex electricity substation with transformers for all the hydroelectricity off Ben Lawers, to the red-roofed Longhouse.
Moirlanich Longhouse is a traditional dwelling for people and their livestock, last occupied in 1968 and now managed by the National Trust for Scotland. It is open on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons in summer.
The original foot of the old track (a bit further on) is blocked by an 8ft electrified fence. So start through the gate opposite the Longhouse, and slant to right up a field. At the field top, a gate is between the foot of a birchwood (to left) and the top of a plantation (to right).
Beyond this, the old path appears as a sunken grassy groove, sometimes waterlogged but mostly surprisingly good. It slants to the right, heading for the summit of Meall Clachach far above. The path crosses a stream, and then a fence crosses the path – there’s no gate and the fence must be stepped over. The path, little used but still clear, zigzags up fairly steep ground. As the hillslope turns from grass to heather, the path contours to the right. Over on the left at a slightly higher level is the wall leading to the summit of Sron a’ Chlachain – you could short-cut directly across to it.
The path turns up alongside a stream to a damp hollow (perhaps peat cuttings) at 480m. It continues up south, to left of the stream as a groove in the deep heather, but it’s easier to follow the stream itself. At the stream top, turn up right. Low heather and moss lead to the small cairn on Meall Clachach. (Meall Clachach means stony hump, but there aren’t any stones.)
Turn just south of east over a nearby knoll. Down behind it you’ll find a line of old iron fence posts. A path is forming along the old posts. There’s a 50-metre stretch on soft ground, with drier ground down to the right. The fence posts eventually turn away south, but keep ahead for another 400 metres to the lopsided cairn of Sron a’ Chlachain (called Creag Bhuidhe on some maps). A small path forms for the last 50 metres or so.
The small path continues down east, along with a broken wall, to another lopsided cairn. (Coming uphill from Killin, this cairn appears to be the summit.) The path continues down steeply beside the broken wall, then dodges on rocky steps down a break in a low crag. Below, there’s a slight rise over a knoll, and a very steep descent where the path is carving itself deep into the hill – a random diversion into the bracken will help prevent further erosion.
Pass under two power lines (to remind you that this is hydroelectric Scotland, not the fussily preserved Lakes). The path runs down in an oakwood to a ladder stile just above Killin. At the village edge, a few steps to the right take you to Fingal’s Stone, a small standing stone repaired with mythic cement that looks a bit like ordinary Portland. The main path runs out through the decorative gates of Breadalbane Recreation Park to arrive on Killin’s main street at a red phone box.
Turn left (north) for 100 metres and bear right to the car park.
ROUTE 10
Cam Chreag and Ben Challum
| Start/finish | Car park between road and river east of Kenknock NN476367 |
| Distance | 27km/17 miles |
| Ascent | 1200m/4000ft |
| Approx time | 9hr |
| Max altitude | Ben Challum 1025m |
| Terrain | Tracks; pathless grassy ridges, occasionally steep |
| Note | Bicycle to Allt Challuim intake, 8km each way, saves 2½hr |
Up Glen Lochay’s upper track, and back down the track of the valley floor, gives a track walk of 15km and 250m of ascent (9.5 miles/800ft) – about 3½hr. The scenery is almost unchanging, but it lets you examine five Munros and two Corbetts as well as the big hydro pipe.
The pathless side of Ben Challum might not be enough to justify the 9km walk in along Glen Lochay. So grab the impressive Corbett Cam Chreag at the same time.
Start at a new car park 1km east of Kenknock (the traditional parking place west of the farm is now discouraged by signs and blocked by schist boulders). Walk west along the road for 1.2km, passing below Kenknock. Follow the private road as it turns right, uphill, passing through a gate. The potholed road zigzags up the north side of the glen. Just below where it bends back right for the second time, take a track ahead.
The track crosses over the top of a massive hydro pipe, then contours along the glen side, passing in and out of deer-fenced woodlands being planted in 2012. After 4km, it crosses a stream above Badour cottage. In another 1.5km, it runs briefly downhill, then crosses another stream above Badvaim (or Batavaime) cottage. In 200 metres, a track turns down left at a spoil heap.
Glen Lochay track, to Ben Challum
For the Lochay tracks walk, turn down this track to the valley floor, and return alongside River Lochay.
The track enters a final woodland plantation, then ends at a gate out of the enclosed land just below the intake dam of Allt Challuim. Head up to right of the stream, just below the deer fence. At the 500m contour the deer fence turns away across the face of Cam Chreag. Head directly up the grassy slope, northwest, to reach the ridgeline above its lower outcrop.
The ridge above rises in grass and rocky outcrops. With more grass than outcrops, it’s fairly easy to gain the plateau above. One way is to keep to left of the lowest outcrops, up steep grass, then slant out right at the top corner of the grass. On the grassy terrace above, slant back left to gain the plateau just above.
Head gently uphill, west, to the first knoll (875m). The bumpy ridgeline now runs northwest, with notable drops on the right, to reach the small cairn at Cam Chreag summit.
Return along the knolly ridge. At its end, the ridge broadens into a small plateau with peat pools. Turn right to descend from the southwest corner. In mist, make sure you’re descending southwest, rather than south (too far left) or west (too far right). A short way down the slope is the top of an old fence and wall. Follow the fence down the steep grass spur, and across the broad col Bealach Ghlas Leathaid at 575m. Old fence posts down left are an escape route via Allt Challum.
Follow fence posts up the spur ahead. They end against a slabby outcrop. Scramblers can tackle