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ADVENTURE OF THE MONTH—APRIL, 2003

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.

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.

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.

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 18^th 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.

HILL WALKING THE DROVERS' ROUTE
        But today staunch hill walkers have discovered the old drovers’ route to be safe, easy and uncommonly beautiful, and an 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.

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.

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.                                                         photo © Home at First

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.

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."
 
photo © Home at First

TO LOCH VOIL AND BALQUHIDDER
        Now, unless your driver has agreed to meet you here after 4 hours of walking to Ballimore, you have another 1.5 hours back to Balquhidder, following the 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.

NECESSITIES
        The walk is not difficult (rated 3½ on a scale of 5), but it is long and can become confusing in fog and mist. Be sure to bring a compass and stout hill-walking shoes, as well as raingear. And, because it takes 4-6 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. Don’t talk to anyone you may find there wearing a red coat.

NOTE: This is one of many walks available to Home at First guests traveling to Scotland’s Central Highlands. The walks and many other suggestions for what to see and do at this special destination are listed in our exclusive 100-page "Scotland Activities Guide", provided only to Home at First guests in Scotland.

You can hike Rob Roy country as part of your trip to Scotland's
Central Highlands with Home at First. Our exclusive Activity Guides
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