"Looking between the branches of the ancient Caledonian forest to Loch Rannoch and Ben Alder."
Walk directions
From the pull-in, walk back along the road towards Kinloch Rannoch. A Scottish Rights of Way Society (SRWS) signpost points up a tarmac road to the right – this is an old and unused through route to Glen Lyon. Follow the tarred driveway past a few houses. Old tennis courts are on your right as you approach the buildings behind Dall House. Just before reaching them turn left at another SRWS signpost.
A sketchy path runs up under some fine birch trees. At an empty gateway in a decomposing fence it enters pine trees and becomes a narrow track that's a little damp in places. Avoid a lesser path turning off to the left; the main one becomes a pleasant green path contouring across the slope with glimpses of Loch Rannoch on the right. The path runs up to a wide forest road.
Ignore the path continuing opposite and turn right, contouring around the hill. Clearfelling has opened up views to Loch Rannoch and the remote hills beyond. The highest of these, with a steep right edge, is Ben Alder, the centre of the southern Highlands. This hill is glimpsed from many places, notably the A9 at Dalwhinnie, but isn't easily reached from anywhere. After 0.5 miles (800m), keep ahead where another track joins from the left. The joined tracks descend to a triangle junction. Turn left, gently uphill and, after 220yds (201m), bear right on to a little-used old track. This descends to a bridge over the Dall Burn.
Some 120yds (110m) after the bridge, the track bends left; here a path descends on the right. This is the Black Wood of Rannoch, now a forest reserve. The path runs under beautiful pines and birches. On the right, the Dall Burn is sometimes in sight and can always be heard. The path is quite rough, but unmistakable as it cuts through deep bilberry and heather.
After a mile (1.6km), the path bends left to a track. Turn right to leave the Caledonian Reserve at a notice board. At a T-junction, turn left, away from the bridge leading into the former school. The track improves as it runs back to the lochside road. Turn right, passing Dall House (the former Rannoch School), to reach the start of the walk.
The Black Wood of Rannoch gets its sombre name simply because it consists of pines, rather than more colourful birch or oak. None of its trees has been planted by human hand; surrounded by spruce plantations, and damaged by grazing deer, it still represents an existing remnant of the ancient... Caledonian forest. The great wood of Caledon As the ice retreated during the last Ice Age, the trees moved in. Once the climate had stabilised, Scotland was one forest almost to the mountain tops. In the warmer west, the tree-cover consisted of oak; in the northeastern valleys it was birch. But the slopes of the Grampians were clothed in magnificent Scots pine. A warm wet spell after the Ice Age, with the build-up of soggy inhospitable peat, contributed to the decline of the pine. But their main enemy has been humans. Forest that once stretched from Rannoch to Inverness was destroyed piece by piece for various reasons. In the 14th century, the Wolf of Badenoch (the brother of King Robert the Bruce) roamed and plundered this country, burning large areas of forest because they made it easier for his enemies to escape. In the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth of England prohibited iron smelting in parts of her kingdom, which drove the fuel-hungry smelters north into the Highlands. A hundred years later, forests were being destroyed around Rannoch to prevent their giving shelter to MacGregors, wolves and other undesirables. Nibbled to death After the Jacobite rebellions, English timber companies moved in, and as clan chieftains became absentee landlords, they needed timber cash to support their lavish new lifestyles. The felling of ancient pines continued through the two world wars. The coming of sheep meant that where ancient forest still stood, any seedlings would be nibbled to death. However, two centuries of nonregeneration aren't enough to extinguish a pine wood. Today such remnants are being fenced and protected, and are coming alive again with new growth. Proper forest and granny pines After crossing the Dall Burn and heading back north on this walk, your spirits should suddenly rise. You have passed from what the Forestry Commission calls a forest, where trees destined to become pulp for paper stand trunk to trunk in grey gloom, to emerge under a more open canopy, where views are wide and where sunlight reaches the pine-needle floor and brightens the undercover of bilberry and heather. The cheerful reddish bark complements the dark green of the foliage above. Here and there you'll come across an old pine that's too twisted to be of any use in shipbuilding, which has been spared – a so-called granny pine. The lifespan of a pine is 300 years or more, so these trees will have seen the last of the wolves pass by, and sheltered broken men after Bonnie Prince Charlie's failed rebellion in 1746.
Perth and Kinross, sheltered by the Grampian Mountains, is often regarded as the Heart of Scotland, and its mountains, lochs and glens yearn to be explored. Just outside the ancient city of Perth is Scone Palace, home of the mystical Stone of Destiny, on which 42 Scottish Kings were crowned.
"Looking between the branches of the ancient Caledonian forest to Loch Rannoch and Ben Alder."
Walk details
2hrs 30min
Difficulty:
Easy
Gradient:
Gentle
Distance:
3.75 miles (6kms)
Ascent:
450ft (137m)
Walk directions
From the pull-in, walk back along the road towards Kinloch Rannoch. A Scottish Rights of Way Society (SRWS) signpost points up a tarmac road to the right – this is an old and unused through route to Glen Lyon. Follow the tarred driveway past a few houses. Old tennis courts are on your right as you approach the buildings behind Dall House. Just before reaching them turn left at another SRWS signpost.
1 of 5
A sketchy path runs up under some fine birch trees. At an empty gateway in a decomposing fence it enters pine trees and becomes a narrow track that's a little damp in places. Avoid a lesser path turning off to the left; the main one becomes a pleasant green path contouring across the slope with glimpses of Loch Rannoch on the right. The path runs up to a wide forest road.
2 of 5
Ignore the path continuing opposite and turn right, contouring around the hill. Clearfelling has opened up views to Loch Rannoch and the remote hills beyond. The highest of these, with a steep right edge, is Ben Alder, the centre of the southern Highlands. This hill is glimpsed from many places, notably the A9 at Dalwhinnie, but isn't easily reached from anywhere. After 0.5 miles (800m), keep ahead where another track joins from the left. The joined tracks descend to a triangle junction. Turn left, gently uphill and, after 220yds (201m), bear right on to a little-used old track. This descends to a bridge over the Dall Burn.
3 of 5
Some 120yds (110m) after the bridge, the track bends left; here a path descends on the right. This is the Black Wood of Rannoch, now a forest reserve. The path runs under beautiful pines and birches. On the right, the Dall Burn is sometimes in sight and can always be heard. The path is quite rough, but unmistakable as it cuts through deep bilberry and heather.
4 of 5
After a mile (1.6km), the path bends left to a track. Turn right to leave the Caledonian Reserve at a notice board. At a T-junction, turn left, away from the bridge leading into the former school. The track improves as it runs back to the lochside road. Turn right, passing Dall House (the former Rannoch School), to reach the start of the walk.
The Black Wood of Rannoch gets its sombre name simply because it consists of pines, rather than more colourful birch or oak. None of its trees has been planted by human hand; surrounded by spruce plantations, and damaged by grazing deer, it still represents an existing remnant of the ancient... Caledonian forest. The great wood of Caledon As the ice retreated during the last Ice Age, the trees moved in. Once the climate had stabilised, Scotland was one forest almost to the mountain tops. In the warmer west, the tree-cover consisted of oak; in the northeastern valleys it was birch. But the slopes of the Grampians were clothed in magnificent Scots pine. A warm wet spell after the Ice Age, with the build-up of soggy inhospitable peat, contributed to the decline of the pine. But their main enemy has been humans. Forest that once stretched from Rannoch to Inverness was destroyed piece by piece for various reasons. In the 14th century, the Wolf of Badenoch (the brother of King Robert the Bruce) roamed and plundered this country, burning large areas of forest because they made it easier for his enemies to escape. In the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth of England prohibited iron smelting in parts of her kingdom, which drove the fuel-hungry smelters north into the Highlands. A hundred years later, forests were being destroyed around Rannoch to prevent their giving shelter to MacGregors, wolves and other undesirables. Nibbled to death After the Jacobite rebellions, English timber companies moved in, and as clan chieftains became absentee landlords, they needed timber cash to support their lavish new lifestyles. The felling of ancient pines continued through the two world wars. The coming of sheep meant that where ancient forest still stood, any seedlings would be nibbled to death. However, two centuries of nonregeneration aren't enough to extinguish a pine wood. Today such remnants are being fenced and protected, and are coming alive again with new growth. Proper forest and granny pines After crossing the Dall Burn and heading back north on this walk, your spirits should suddenly rise. You have passed from what the Forestry Commission calls a forest, where trees destined to become pulp for paper stand trunk to trunk in grey gloom, to emerge under a more open canopy, where views are wide and where sunlight reaches the pine-needle floor and brightens the undercover of bilberry and heather. The cheerful reddish bark complements the dark green of the foliage above. Here and there you'll come across an old pine that's too twisted to be of any use in shipbuilding, which has been spared – a so-called granny pine. The lifespan of a pine is 300 years or more, so these trees will have seen the last of the wolves pass by, and sheltered broken men after Bonnie Prince Charlie's failed rebellion in 1746.
Perth and Kinross, sheltered by the Grampian Mountains, is often regarded as the Heart of Scotland, and its mountains, lochs and glens yearn to be explored. Just outside the ancient city of Perth is Scone Palace, home of the mystical Stone of Destiny, on which 42 Scottish Kings were crowned.
