Autumn in Big Tree Country: a Week in Highland Perthshire, Part One

I don’t think there’s anywhere that does Autumn quite as spectacularly as Highland Perthshire. It’s sometimes referred to as ‘Big Tree Country’, which is accurate in both the literal and the metaphorical sense. More than 200,000 acres of woodland sprawl across Perthshire, with some of Britain’s tallest trees, and the area is chock full of fantastic woodland walks. Come Autumn, the fiery display of the turning leaves simply cannot be topped. I’d been desperate to visit Perthshire in Autumn for years and first attempted to catch it last year: unfortunately we just missed Autumn and got the beginning of Winter. Happily, we had a great time anyway, and it was a perfect excuse to go back and try again this year!

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Comrie and the Deil’s Cauldron

When we set off from Yorkshire on the Friday afternoon, it looked like the entire trip was going to be a bit of a washout. Five out of the seven days were forecast to be non-stop heavy rain, and I must confess I was feeling a bit sad about the weather, although that’s the risk you run booking a trip to Scotland at the end of October! We therefore decided to be flexible with our plans and to just decide where to go at the last minute, based on the weather forecast at the time.

The Saturday morning dawned wet and dreich, to use a Scottish term. We had a steady morning with much tea and TV, made much more enjoyable by watching the red squirrel who lived next to our cottage scampering up and down on the lawn. At about 11 o’clock, a break in the rain appeared over in Comrie, so we set off to make the most of it with a 7.5km, two hour walk from our Pocket Mountains guide, taking in Comrie’s two main attractions: the Deil’s Cauldron and the Melville Monument.

There is a small, free car park in Comrie near the start of the walk. After a short section of road walking along pavement, we were immediately plunged into an autumnal wonderland of beech woodland, with no green in sight: just various shades of red, orange and yellow. This was a theme of the week, with every walk being absolutely stunning. I quickly learned how hard it is to take photographs which show the colours in all their glory!

Following a clear trail through the woods, we soon arrived at the Deil’s Cauldron, which is reached via a wooden walkway and viewing platform. It was quite a sight to behold, especially after all the rain Scotland’s had recently. The waterfall was thundering through the ravine and it was all very atmospheric. Even with the walkway being set back quite some distance, we were still getting misted with the spray from the river.

Soon after leaving the Deil’s Cauldron, the path climbs up out of the woods to begin a short but steep climb up to the Melville Monument. It’s possible to skip out this ascent by walking along a quiet road for a short way, but it’s more than worth the effort for the lovely views you’ll gain as you climb. From the top you can see the Ochils, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’ Chroin, and we were even treated to a bit of sunshine! The monument is a great place to stop for lunch or a snack, before dropping back down to the riverside paths via the aptly named ‘Shaky Bridge’ (which Sam loved, and I was less keen on).

The final section of the walk took us back into the woods, still a riot of colour, passing along the Laggan Woodland trails. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the paths: they were all clear and easy to follow, with only a few soggy sections despite the recent heavy rain. The walk doesn’t feel overly strenuous, but there is plenty of up and down to give your legs a good stretch.

Dog friendly rating: 5/5. This is a fantastic dog walk: lots of woodland riverside trails where you can let your dog have a run off the lead, although you might need to keep an eye on how strong the current is if your dog likes to swim. Make sure to respect the signs on some sections of the walk asking for dogs to be kept on leads. We didn’t see any livestock when we were on the moorland section of the walk, but do keep your eyes peeled for sheep or deer and keep your dog close by just in case, and always on a lead when instructed to use one by signage. There was one stile to cross, but this had a dog gate, so shouldn’t present an issue for most dogs.

Glen Banvie and the Whim

Our Pocket Mountains guide includes a few of the way marked Atholl Estate walks, which start from the large car park at Old Bridge of Tilt (honesty box parking). Last year we enjoyed a lovely walk through Glen Tilt, so this year we headed back to do another of the trails. This time, we walked along Glen Banvie to the Whim, an interesting folly which was originally designed to be a focal point when viewed from Blair Castle.

This was a nice circular route of around three miles, plus a short detour up to the Whim, again with resplendent autumn colours. There’s an opportunity to shorten the walk if you wish, by crossing over at the ‘short cut’ bridge rather than continuing on to the end of the glen. Mostly, the attraction was the autumnal foliage, although the Whim was a very cool diversion and itself has good views back over Blair Castle and the surrounding countryside. The paths were all pretty good and mostly dry, and this walk has very gentle gradients all of the way around.

Dog friendly rating – 3.5/5. While this is a woodland walk, for much of the route there is a steep drop off to the left hidden by the trees, so to be safe we kept leads on for the majority of the route. Another thing to bear in mind is that the Atholl Estate is a nesting place for the rare Capercaille, so they ask that dogs are kept under close control so as not to disturb the birds. On the plus side, the trees provide plenty of cover from the sun on warm days, there are no stiles and we saw absolutely no other people on this walk.

Killiecrankie

Originally, a photo of the Pass of Killiecrankie on the front cover of Countryfile magazine is what made me want to visit Perthshire in Autumn. It was almost our first stop on our trip last year, but to my dismay Autumn had been and gone by the time we arrived in the last week of November. Therefore, we squeezed in a return visit to Killiecrankie on our way home from Glen Banvie, and walked down from the visitor centre to the Garry Bridge.

We didn’t follow a route for this, just an out and back stroll along the river from the visitor centre car park. Parking here is pay and display, or free for National Trust members. As National Trust for Scotland sites don’t yet seem to have the QR code scanner on the ticket machine that most English sites have, we tend to just leave our cards on the dashboard of the car and we’ve not encountered any problems yet.

After descending down several flights of steps the walk was mostly flat, on a good riverside path. Aside from a few view points (one by the steps, another a slight detour off to Soldier’s Leap) there’s not much to see – although keep your eyes peeled for red squirrels, which we’ve had more success spotting in Perthshire than anywhere else in the UK.

Once we got down to the Garry Bridge, we spent a while waiting to see if anyone was going to do the Bungee Jump – we didn’t see anyone jumping, but we did hear a few screams as we were walking back! Killiecrankie is famous for its Autumn colours and therefore we did see more people here than almost anywhere else during the week.

Dog friendly rating – 3.5/5. Dogs are welcome on the trails at Killiecrankie, although there are signs up asking for dogs to be kept on a lead. We followed this guidance, but it seemed like the majority of dog owners we saw (and there were a fair few of them!) were ignoring it. I suppose it’s very tempting as it’s a lovely dog walk along the river with no obstacles like stiles, but keeping dogs on leads where asked is an important part of responsible dog ownership to me. It’s not all bad though – the Jacobite cafe is dog friendly and has a good selection of cakes and hot drinks.

Ben Vrackie

Last year, I spent every waking minute of our trip watching the weather forecast to see if we’d get the opportunity to climb Ben Vrackie. At 841 metres, it’s not a Munro, but its position towering over the town of Pitlochry and proximity to the A9 makes it a popular hill walk. In the end, we didn’t get a chance to summit Ben Vrackie (or any other hills) last year, but this time around we were lucky to have fantastic weather on the Monday of our trip.

We followed the route set out in our Pocket Mountains guide, which is mainly a linear with an optional detour around a loch on the way down. As the weather has been so wet recently we chose not to do the extension, as the guide notes that it can be boggy underfoot, and the lovely path up to the summit meant that we both had dry feet for the whole route! There are two small car parks off the road leading to the start of the walk, one right at the bottom of the path and one a hundred metres or so down the road.

Navigation is straightforward, mainly following a clear path up hill or down hill, depending on whether you’re on your way up or down. The path is mostly pitched stone, with one short muddy section which is currently in the process of being repaired after heavy rain washed the path away in 2021. Where there’s room for interpretation, there are small green arrows pointing you in the right direction. The walk starts off through a pretty mixed woodland, climbing steadily to reach open moorland. The gradient is uphill but steady, and this combination of gradient and straightforward navigation makes Ben Vrackie a good option for those looking to gain confidence with an easier hill walk.

That being said, the last climb up to the trig is a slog. For me it was very much a case of just thinking about the next step one at a time! It’s over relatively quickly though (at least, it would’ve been if Merry hadn’t dropped his ball and I hadn’t had to retrace my steps for a hundred paces (I counted) to retrieve it from where it finally stopped rolling).

Once I’d dragged my sweaty self up to the trig, I was so glad we’d saved it for a clear day. The views in all directions are fab, with Beinn a Ghlo and the Cairngorms providing a cracking backdrop. We didn’t hang around for too long, as the wind (which had until this point been non-existent) was fairly chilly up there, especially after I’d got so warm on the walk up!

While we’d only seen a few other people on the way up, on the way down it we started to see a few more people, ranging in age from about six to seventy. It’s a popular hill, even mid week in Autumn. Quite often they were sitting on one of the benches scattered along the route, enjoying the view – and why wouldn’t you!

Dog friendly rating – 4/5. In terms of hill walks, this is a good option for dog owners. We didn’t see any livestock (but make sure to keep your dog under close control, or on a lead if recall isn’t solid), and there were no stiles. Both of ours appreciated the feeder streams and the opportunity to have a drink, as well as having a paddle in the loch – and I expect this would be even more welcome on a hot day.

The Birks of Aberfeldy

Having this walk at the bottom of this blog feels all wrong – it feels like it should be at the top, with flashing neon letters saying ‘I loved this walk!’. This was one of my favourite walks of the week, as it was just absolutely beautiful from start to finish. Although, I do think it was extra spectacular due to the Autumn colours, which were very vivid and bright we when stopped here.

We whizzed up and down Ben Vrackie in 4 hours, so that we could do the Birks of Aberfeldy walk from our Pocket Mountains guide in the afternoon. The description of this two mile circular route starts with ‘this popular short walk’, so I just assumed it would be an easy walk. Turns out I was wrong, as while not technically challenging, there are lots of steps – although maybe if we hadn’t climbed a hill in the morning we wouldn’t have found it as hard work!

Parking is free in a large car park at the start of the walk – when we arrived it was fairly full, although I imagine the walk is especially popular at this time of year. Navigation is easy, crossing a bridge near the car park and then following a clear path to a waterfall at the end of the ravine, traversing another bridge here to return along the other side of the river.

Some woodland walks are pretty only due to the colours – this is not the case here. Yes, the woodland is idyllic and the colours were stunning, but there’s more to it here. Numerous waterfalls cascade throughout the route, the highlight being the Falls of Moness at the far end of the walk. After admiring this waterfall from a viewpoint, the path leads to a bridge crossing directly over the top of the falls – if you’re brave enough, look over the side to see all of the fallen trees which have been swept along by the power of the falls.

This walk is justifiably popular, and although we did see plenty of other people, it never felt crowded or busy like it did at times when we did the Ingleton Waterfall trail. And it’s not just recent, post-Covid interest in the outdoors which has drawn people here: the Birks of Aberfeldy has been a popular walk for centuries, with Robert Burns visiting in 1787, when he was inspired to pen the ballad ‘The Birks O’ Aberfeldy’. We walked past ‘Burns’ Seat’, where he is purported to have sat to take in his surroundings. When we visited it was dripping water, so we just walked past rather than sitting there ourselves!

Dog friendly rating – 3/5. While the area near the car park is great for dogs, with easy access to the river and the chance to have a run off lead, once you get into the trail proper the river plummets away quickly, with steep drops meaning leads should definitely be on. We did see plenty of dogs and sensibly, they were all on the lead once the path started to gain elevation. Happily, this is another walk with no stiles, road walking or obstacles to worry about.

I’ve covered a lot so far, so I’ll leave it there for this week. I hope I’ve managed to convey at least some sense of how amazing Perthshire is in its full Autumn glory – make sure to come back next week for part two!

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