By this time of year, summer feels like a vague and distant memory. Sometimes I find myself questioning if summer even exists, with the days seeming endlessly dark and wet with no end in sight. I therefore thought it would be nice to share a walk we did all the way back at the end of August on our last trip to the Cairngorms, when we took a visit to Glen Tanar to explore the woods there. Behold, sunlight!
We tagged a visit to Glen Tanar onto the end of a day after we’d walked around Loch Muick, which isn’t too far away. The estate has a small visitor centre, car park and a few different way marked trails to choose from. As we were arriving late in the day, we decided on doing the shorter Knockie Viewpoint trail, which climbs gently through woodland to a viewpoint overlooking the surrounding forest. Initially we’d thought about doing a longer trail deeper into the woods, but unfortunately we didn’t quite have enough time.
The trail is well signposted, and we managed to navigate around without getting lost at all – a novelty without an OS maps route downloaded! We did deviate from the route a little to visit the old church and graveyard next to the path, before returning to the trail to climb to the viewpoint (not steep). While the views are pretty tame compared to some of the more dramatic walks in the area, this is a lovely peaceful walk where we saw only one other group – a small family, who Merry was delighted we bumped into as the toddler with them surreptitiously fed him a cheese sandwich.
For the most part the trails are very well surfaced, with just a few sections where it’s grassy or the trail becomes more uneven. There were quite a few cars in the car park so it’s obviously a popular spot, and we did start to see quite a few local dog walkers as we headed back to the car. What a place to have on your doorstep!
Dog friendly rating – 4/5. Dogs are welcome to join you on the Glen Tanar estate, but do make sure to respect signs asking for them to be kept on a lead during the breeding season of the rare Capercaillie, which can be found in the woods here. Other than this though there is no livestock to worry about and no stiles or other dog obstacles, and water loving dogs can enjoy a splash in the river.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog today, subscribe below so that you never miss a post:
