GLEN TILT WALKS

Relevant Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps: 386 Pitlochry & Loch Tummel 394 Atholl

Blair Castle/Old Blair/Croft Crombie Rifle Range/Ruigh-loisgte Wood/Gaw’s Bridge/Leathad Mor Wood/Fenderbridge/Old Bridge of Tilt/Bridge of Tilt: 9.3 miles/15.0 km, and 495 feet/150 m of combined ascent

There are numerous options for either linear or circular walks in Glen Tilt. How these are tackled depends mainly on your chosen start and end points which, in turn, depend on your means of transport from Pitlochry. If you go by train then your start and end points will obviously be Blair Atholl railway station (however, check the current timetable as not every train stops here). If you travel by car, there is a very convenient car park just opposite East Lodge near where the main estate road starts going up Glen Tilt. For the Struan/Calvine bus from and to Pitlochry, stops are situated in Bridge of Tilt, Blair Atholl and Blair Castle. Wherever you start and end, both the specified maps will be required to ensure you take your correct chosen route amongst the many present.

As it is not possible to cover all the variety of choices available in this short description, the focus here will be on the route from the bus stop at Blair Castle up the West side of Glen Tilt to Gaw’s Bridge with the return down the East side through Leathad Mor Wood, Fenderbridge and Old Bridge of Tilt to the bus stop in Bridge of Tilt. The main steep sections on this route are where the road climbs quite sharply out of Old Blair on the outward leg, and where the road drops steeply from Fenderbridge to Old Blair on the return leg. Routes with less steep sections are available. For example, a detour on the outbound leg can be made up the beginning of Glen Banvie, crossing the first bridge over the Banvie Burn to negotiate interweaving forest roadways and then a track over grassland towards Blairuachdar Wood. This adds 0.6 miles/1.0 km to the route described here. Alternatively, the gentlest way up Glen Tilt is on the main estate road starting at East Lodge opposite the aforementioned car park.

Starting from Blair Castle, you head up a wide tarmacked road between the Arboretum (on your right) and the deer park and pony trekking centre (on your left). This road then turns sharply right towards Old Blair. The road dips down to cross the main bridge over the Banvie Burn (just before this, an estate road off to the left provides access to the previously-mentioned detour). The road climbs up from the bridge and turns sharply left through Old Blair where it begins a long ascent into Blairauchdar Wood. As it enters this woodland (where many of the trees were felled in 2020), the road swings left and then right to become a rougher forest roadway. Some way beyond this, you will encounter the Croft Crombie Rifle Range. If this is in use, it will be indicated by red warning flags flying and a warning sign at the gate (there will also be a tape barrier at the far end near Gilbert’s Bridge; check www.westatholl.org.uk for planned dates for shooting).

Closure of the roadway means a detour around to the far end near Gilbert’s Bridge using a small footpath off to the left before you reach the gate to the Rifle Range. This descends quite rapidly backwards into Crombie Wood and continues for a considerable distance until it reaches the main estate road onto which you turn left and cross over the River Tilt at Cumhann-leum Bridge. This road proceeds on to Gilbert’s Bridge where you re-cross the River Tilt to pick up the route again. This detour adds 1.4 miles/2.3 km to your route. If the roadway is open, you go through the gate and simply follow it over the Rifle Range as it winds along and drops down towards Gilbert’s Bridge. Passing through another gate, you will see a deer fence and gate for a forest track on your left. This main gate may sometimes be locked but just before it is a small and rather unusual diamond-shaped walker’s entrance providing access to the track through Ruigh-loisgte Wood. The track now climbs steadily and then levels out. You can either continue straight on or take a smaller and quite boggy footpath down nearer the River Tilt. In either case, you pass by the remains of an abandoned croft and, shortly after the paths re-join, you begin to cross over fords on the small burns coming down from Meall Chlaonain.

The footpath becomes markedly narrower as it cuts into the lightly-wooded glenside. Whilst most of the burns you encounter are fairly small and easy to cross (sometimes by means of well-used stones), the Allt Mhairc is much more substantial and, accordingly, has very handy stone bridge. As you proceed, the footpath begins to emerge from the trees and enters grassland. After this, you join the main estate road onto which you turn right to cross Gaw’s Bridge and start your return journey. Although the estate road is generally quiet, it is used by motor vehicles and cyclists so you need to look and listen out for these. After you pass Marble Lodge, the road twists down Glen Tilt beside the River Tilt. Just before the farm gate for Auchgobhal, there is a waymark post where a grassy track splits off to the left. At this point, you can either continue along the estate road which eventually takes you back to East Lodge, or take this gently upward sloping grass track.

This track passes through a series of farm gates and over small burns as it heads above the farm at Auchgobhal and besides Dalginross Wood (where there is a stile and a marked footpath you can use, if you wish, to re-join the estate road or access Gilbert’s Bridge). The track continues on a fairly level course over more small burns and above the cottage at Croftmore before it enters Leathad Mor Wood via another farm gate. The track becomes wetter in the woodland and there are other, more overgrown tracks off to the right for access to Cumhann-leum Bridge or an alternative route to Fenderbridge beside the Falls of Fender.

Staying with the more level main track, you exit Leathad Mor Wood by a farm gate and then pick up the farm lane from Kincraigie by means of another gate. Where this lane joins the relatively quiet road to Tirinie, you turn right and head down towards Fenderbridge which you reach after the road bends left and then right (listening and watching out for any traffic). Bending left with the road, at the corner where the alternative track comes in from the Falls of Fender, you cross the bridge over the Fender Burn and turn right at the junction onto the initially-steep road down through Middlebridge to Old Bridge of Tilt. As this road becomes more twisty with a little more traffic, suitable caution is needed. After passing the junction on the right at Old Bridge of Tilt (for the road to East Lodge and Blair Castle), you will find a small gate on the righthand side which leads to a pleasant wooded footpath alongside the River Tilt and its rapids, emerging via steps onto the main road next to the Blair Atholl bridge. Crossing this road with care and turning left onto the pavement, you continue into Bridge of Tilt where the bus stop and shelter is opposite the local convenience store.

Croft Crombie Rifle Range Track through Ruigh-loisgte Glen Tilt near Gaw’s Bridge Wood

Glen Tilt Estate Road at Gaw’s Bridge

Looking back to Auchgobhal

Track through Leathad Mor Wood