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Photos
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LOOKING NORTHWEST ACROSS GLEN
FINGLAS RESERVOIR.
Rob Roy MacGregor may have rustled cattle through these hills.
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THIS ARTICLE
FIRST APPEARED IN APRIL, 2003. EXPANDED & UPDATED: OCTOBER 2010. |
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VOCABULARY LESSON
Reivers, drovers, and black mail. High roads
and low. Highlanders and King’s men. Lochs, burns, straths, and bens. This is the
vocabulary lesson of the rustling route of
Rob Roy. And at the
end of the day all this will be chased with a wee dram. |
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Hikes in Rob
Roy Country: Scotland's Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park.
Map
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BLACK MAIL ON THE LOW
ROAD
Stealing cattle can’t be too easy. The
beasts cry out, and have to be moved quickly to the slaughter or somehow disguised so
their owners cannot recognize them. The most famous Scottish cattle rustler,
Balquhidder’s own Rob Roy MacGregor, had more than
sheriffs’ posses to elude — he had to circumvent the hated King’s men, the
redcoats of His Majesty’s Army. After all, it was the King’s cattle Rob Roy had
the audacity to pilfer, and English monarchs never looked kindly on outlaw Highlanders
reiving their black beasties. |
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Looking north
from the pass through Glen Buckie. The trail traverses the flank of Ben
Vane in the right FOREGROUND
of the picture about 1/4 of the way up from (and parallel to) the stream
(burn) in the bottom of the valley.
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REDCOATS ON THE HIGH
ROAD
But Rob Roy MacGregor had an advantage over the
foreign soldiers — he knew the territory so well that he could cross passes between the
glens at night, and so he did. And, while the redcoats were hoisting tankards of ale down
at the King’s House on the High Road to Callander, Rob Roy would be driving the
King’s cattle due south from Balquhidder through Glen Buckie to Ballimore and across
the low pass to Glen Finglas and its outlet at Brig o’ Turk. |
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THE HIGHLANDS AND THE
LOWLANDS
The broad open range of these near wilderness
expanses would be ideal places to hide a heisted herd. It would be unlikely that the
British Army of the early 18th century would forsake the comfort of the hearth
to pursue bovine phantoms amid the wild Highland moors. Even though England and Scotland
officially combined as the United Kingdom in 1707 and a Stuart — Queen Anne — sat on
the throne, the Highlands were no safe place for the English Army. Not all Scots — and
especially not all Highland Scots — were convinced that their fair land hadn’t
been hijacked — blackmailed like the cattle they reived — by Lowland Protestant
English-sympathizers. To many a Scot the question had not yet been settled. Indeed, their
champion, James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender, was holding court in first
France, then Italy awaiting the call to claim the thrones of England and of Scotland held
by his father, his uncle, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather. No, the redcoats
couldn’t have been too confident to walk the Highland hills at night. |
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HILL
WALKING THE DROVERS' ROUTE
But today staunch hill walkers have discovered the old drovers route to
be |
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safe, easy and uncommonly beautiful, and an |
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At the point
where the northbound
Drovers' Route leaves the forestry road
a sign points along a barely discernable
trail towards Balquhidder. A compass
can be very useful on this hike.
Photo
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ideal
combination of Scottish history and legend, which, like the veiled wonders of the misty
glens themselves, tantalize hikers with images both real and imagined.
Start by having someone drive you south through
Strathyre on the A84 high road almost to Callander. At the hamlet of Kilmahog, turn right
on the A821. Drive 8.5 miles to the village of Brig o’ Turk. Turn right at the sign
for the school, and drive up the road as far as the turn-around. The walk home to
Balquhidder begins here. Your driver is free to day-trip, shop in Callander, or, like the
old Redcoats, spend the next 6 hours in the King’s House by the Balquhidder turn-off. |
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THROUGH GLEN FINGLAS
Walkers start with a steady uphill on the
service road that hugs the escarpment on the northeast side of the Glen Finglas Reservoir.
The construction of this crescent-shaped lake drowned the old outlet of the Glen Finglas
royal hunting forest that Rob Roy knew, and drew much criticism from conservationists and
farmers. Regardless of its environmental and economic impacts, the Glen Finglas Reservoir
is a beautiful wilderness lake. |
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NORTH TO THE PASS
Follow the road even after it becomes a dirt
farm lane, staying relatively close to the lakeshore. After a couple of miles the shore
road intersects with a jeep track that leads steadily uphill to an obvious pass between
the ridges. A sign at this intersection points to Ballimore and Balquhidder.
Continue up this ramp, turning occasionally to
enjoy the changing views of Glen Finglas and its man-made lake. Near the pass, the jeep
track becomes steep, and serpentines to gain altitude. |
Nearing the
pass between
Glen Finglas and Glen Buckie.
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ON BEN VANE'S SHOULDER
When you reach the pass, so that you can see to the north and the south, look for the
unmarked footpath that diverges due north (while the jeep road swings west—left)
towards the distant mountains unmarked from the lane. This path descends at first sharply
through the heather and bracken into broad Glen Buckie, looking not unlike
Colorado/Wyoming/Montana ranch country on the Continental Divide of North America. Stay
with the path, which follows an ever-growing burn below and to the left of the path, which
hugs the flank of imposing Ben Vane ("white hill"), the bald knob of a dominant
mountain on your right. |
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The cattle
gate above Ballimore at the
northern exit of the trail from Glen Buckie.
Note the green direction sign on the gate.
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GLEN BUCKIE AND BALLIMORE
Eventually the path and the stream bend
northeast (clockwise) around Ben Vane, and comes to the fields of the large farm at
Ballimore. Here you find the northern trailhead of the route at the end of the road from
Balquhidder marked with a sign proclaiming: "Footpath to Brig o’ Turk via Glen
Finglas, 8 miles."
TO LOCH VOIL AND
BALQUHIDDER
Now, unless your driver has agreed to meet you
here after 4 hours of walking to Ballimore, you |
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have another 1.5 hours back to Balquhidder, |
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gravel, then paved road along the burn past farms and through forests
due north to the River Balvaig bridge to Balquhidder at the turn for
Stronvar Farm at Loch Voil. |
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Trail's end
at Balquhidder by Loch Voil, with trail sign pointing south for
Ballimore and Brig o' Turk.
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NECESSITIES
The walk is not difficult (we rate it
a 3½ on a scale
of 5), but it is long and can become confusing in fog and mist. Bring a good
map: Ordnance Survey Explorer Map "The Trossachs" Sheet 365 covers the
territory in detail. Be sure to bring a compass and stout hill-walking
shoes, as well as raingear. Bring a companion, and be sure to tell
someone of your specific plans. Especially useful in an emergency are a
cell phone and a GPS. And, because the walk requires 4-8 hours, take
along a picnic lunch and something to drink.
PLEASANTRIES
Speaking of drink, a wee dram of something warm
awaits you at the Rob Roy Pub at the King’s House 3 miles east of
Balquhidder village. Don’t talk to anyone you may
find there wearing a red coat.
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LEARN ABOUT
HOME AT
FIRST TRAVEL TO SCOTLAND.
Day-hiking in
Balquhidder Glen and throughout the National Park
is
possible
from HOME AT FIRSTs lodgings in
CENTRAL SCOTLAND.
A full menu of walks
is listed among dozens of activities suggested
in HOME AT FIRSTs "SCOTLAND
ACTIVITY GUIDE
provided exclusively to HOME AT FIRST
guests to Scotland.
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YOUR DREAM TRIP BEGINS BY CONTACTING
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