Harvey’s excellent British Mountain Map: Schiehallion at 1:40,000 scale covers about half this book, south of Lochs Tummel and Rannoch, and west of Aberfeldy – so Schiehallion is in the top right corner. The map is beautifully clear and legible, marks paths where they actually exist on the ground, and does not disintegrate when damp. Harvey also cover Ben Lawers in their 1:25,000 Superwalker format.
The 1:50,000 Landranger mapping, as used in this book, covers this area on sheets 42 (Glen Garry & Loch Rannoch), 43 (Braemar & Blair Atholl), 50 (Glen Orchy & Loch Etive), 51 (Loch Tay & Glen Donart), 52 (Pitlochry & Crieff), 57 (Stirling & The Trossachs) and 58 (Perth & Alloa).
The Harvey maps mark fences and walls on the open hill, but not on the lower ground; Landranger doesn’t mark them at all. So if you’re planning complicated valley walks, you’ll prefer the OS Explorer maps, also at 1:25,000 scale. They are bulkier and less robust than the Harvey ones, and the contour lines are less legible. But if Harvey hadn’t done it better, they’d be excellent maps. Sheets 368 (Crieff, Comrie & Glen Artney), 369 (Perth & Kinross, one walk), 378 (Ben Lawers & Glen Lyon), 379 (Dunkeld, Aberfeldy & Glen Almond), 385 (Rannoch Moor & Ben Alder), 386 (Pitlochry & Loch Tummel) and 394 (Atholl) cover the ground.
From Farragon Hill summit to Beinn a’ Ghlo (Route 38)
Compass and GPS
A compass is a very useful aid in mist, even if your skills only extend to ‘northwest, southeast’ rather than precision bearings. Magnetic deviation is now about 4° West; check your map for future years. To convert a map bearing to a compass one, add 4. GPS receivers should be set to the British National Grid (known variously as British Grid, Ord Srvy GB, BNG, or OSGB GRB36). Smartphones have limited battery life and squinty little map extracts, and aren’t really waterproof; mountain rescue teams are getting fed up with people relying on them for going up hills.
Using this guide
Basic planning information is provided at the start of each route. See Type of walk for an explanation of the icons. The difficulty and timing squares are explained in the box below. Times are based on 1 hour for 4 horizontal kilometres or for 500m of height gained, with extra time where the ground is particularly steep or rough. They’ll be about right, including brief snack stops, for a moderately paced party. Where a bus or train can be used to link the two ends of a linear route, this is also noted. Other public transport information is given in Appendix C.
Yellow boxes under the route information boxes make suggestions for extensions, shortcuts and route combinations elaborated in the route description which follows if necessary.
In old numbers, 600ft was a vertical distance, while 200yd was horizontal. I’ve used a similar convention, so that 600m is an altitude or height gain, while 600 metres (with ‘etres’) is along the ground. ‘Track’ (rather than ‘path’) is used for a way wide enough for a tractor or Landrover.
Finally, the ‘standard route’ up a hill is the convenient and well trodden one featured in guidebooks like Steve Kew’s Walking the Munros (Vol 1). It’s usually the shortest, and because it’s so well used, also the easiest. Sometimes it is also the best and most interesting. But to avoid 90 per cent of other hillgoers, simply stay off the standard route.
Perthshire’s lumpy schist is rich in brown slime and rare alpine plantlife, poor in climbing possibilities. There are only two scrambling routes in this book – and being on Ben Alder, they’re not even in Perthshire. Craig a Barns at Dunkeld is the area’s most notable climbing crag. It dries quickly but can be covered in pine needles; its schist is tricky even when clean and dry.
When it comes to climbs and scrambles, Perthshire may not compare with other parts of the Highlands. But when it comes to walks, here are big Ben Lawers and Crieff’s little Knock; Rannoch Moor and the banks of the Tay. For green mountains, for broad snowy ridges, for woodland paths, wide riverbanks, and long-striding tracks across the empty moors – Perthshire is the place.
Rannoch Station (Route 59)
PART ONE
COMRIE AND CRIEFF
Stuc na Cabaig, on the west ridge of Beinn Dearg (Route 2)
The Scots word ‘couthie’ means civilised, pleasant and friendly. It’s altogether applicable to Crieff and Comrie, the last villages of the Lowlands along the Highland line. Well-laid, smooth-surfaced village paths venture boldly into the harsh heather, re-emerging along a wide river back to a Georgian main street. The wonders of Crieff include the monumental Hydro hotel, from the time when an exciting holiday consisted of drinking nasty-tasting healthy water. Comrie, meanwhile, boasts a white-painted church, and an encampment of historic Nissen huts, some of them listed for conservation.
But above the tea shops and hotels loom the first Munros, the schisty crags, and the heather.
ROUTE 1
Meal na Fearna to Ben Vorlich
| Start/finish | Glenartney church car park NN711161 |
| Distance | 26km/16.5 miles |
| Ascent | 1300m/4400ft |
| Approx time | 9hr |
| Max altitude | Ben Vorlich 985m |
| Terrain | Grassy slopes, steep onto Ben Vorlich; some peat hags on Carn Labhruinn; small riverside paths and tracks |
Omitting Ben Vorlich gives a walk of 23.5km and 900m ascent (15 miles/3000ft) – about 7½hr. Ben Vorlich can also be bagged on its own, by a long walk in up Gleann an Dubh Choirein: similar distance and ascent.
Meall na Fearna is a typical Perthshire Corbett. Once the peat hags are passed, it’s a high grassy ramble. Ben Vorlich then rises steep-sided and rather rocky, an intimidating hill from this angle. In this particular case, the Munro is indeed much more than the Corbett. You plunge into the steepness of the eastern slope, avoid almost all of the trodden highway rising from Loch Earn, and earn yourself a delightful grassy ridgeline for the descent.
The riverside path from Dubh Choirein is an ancient right of way. Today just enough people walk it to keep it clear and followable for the 6km from the hill base back to Glen Artney.
See map for Route 2 for the route start. Start along the road up-valley, to cross its bridge over Allt an Dubh Choirein. Keep ahead to a white gate with a walkers’ gate alongside.
Keep ahead (northwest) on the track past farm buildings. Pass below a plantation (which conceals Glenartney Lodge). In another 500 metres pass below a smaller and newer plantation. Now turn off left up rough grassland. The slope steepens to the plateau of Carn Labhruinn.
Turn northwest on grass and peat hags, across Carn Labhruinn and the wide col behind it. Best is to keep along the tops of the east-falling steep slopes. Stuc Gharbh is pleasant grassy going, and this continues along the 701m ridge and Stob Chalum Mhic Griogair. From the northern and main top, drop south to cross a peaty col at its highest point, then southwest up to the grassy top of Meall na Fearna.