Rejoicing in the right to roam

Glen Tilt, Blair Atholl, Perth and Kinross

Glen Tilt was the setting for one of the defining chapters in Scotland’s rights of way history, an event that paved the way for today’s right to roam. Walking through the valley in 1847, Edinburgh University professor of botany John Balfour and his students were stopped in their tracks by the Duke of Atholl and his ghillies.

The Duke was adamant that the party could not proceed over his land and the hostile hillside encounter that ensued prompted a lengthy legal battle that went all the way to the House of Lords.

Ultimately it led to the route being vindicated and established the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society (now known as Scotways) as the defender of access to the great outdoors.

With admittance ensured, the former drove road running through the valley between Blair Atholl and Braemar became an enduringly popular, if lengthy and challenging, outing for walkers and mountain bikers. But there are shorter hikes offering a taste of Glen Tilt’s rugged Highland character, too.

The one I was on would take me up the western side of the glen to Gilbert’s Bridge where I would cross the River Tilt before returning down the other side of the valley, passing through the hamlets of Fenderbridge and Old Bridge of Tilt.

The approach is initially quite strenuous, minor road and then track rising steadily past farms at Bailanloan and Blairuachdar before entering woodland. A shorter valley circuit branches right in the trees but I went on towards the Jubilee Rifle Range, where a viewpoint above a waterfall offers a fine vista up the glen towards the domed summit of Carn a’Chlamain.

The track crosses a stone bridge spanning the Croft Crombie Burn, its water cascading down through a steep and narrow wooded defile on the slope, before passing below the rifle range.

From April to October access to the range is restricted on days when longrange shooting is taking place. Dates are posted on the noticeboard in the car park, at the information centre in Blair Atholl and on the Atholl Estates website (see Information).

Dipping towards the river, I crossed the old stone arch of Gilbert’s Bridge and sat awhile amid moss-covered rocks by the tumbling torrent of the Tilt, enjoying the shelter of mature beeches.

Turning south, a brief spell on a robust estate track running above the exuberant river led me to a wee path that clambers up through a strip of woodland to join the original route of the once-contested right of way.

Skirting above Dalginross Wood, the grassy trail crosses the lower edge of pasture where sheep graze before entering airy birch woodland beyond a steading at Croftmore.

Here the old road – now overgrown and closed off – branches right, the way ahead forking left up through the trees before crossing farmland to meet a slender lane beyond Kincraigie Farm.

The tarmac weaves down through the hamlet of Fenderbridge to Old Bridge of Tilt, a historic crossing point replaced in the early 19th Century by a larger, threespan structure downstream in Blair Atholl. Green Scotways signs pointing back up the glen are a reminder of the great efforts made over the years to preserve long-established rights of way like the one through Glen Tilt and public access to the Scottish countryside.

ROUTE

1. Exit car park by main entrance, turn left and follow road 800m west.

2. Turn right and ascend minor road past Bailanloan, continuing ahead on track past Blairuachdar.

3. Cross stream and bear right at junction. Ignore two tracks branching left and continue ahead to viewpoint. Cross stone bridge and continue ahead on track.

4. Descend track, ignoring two tracks branching left (follow signs for Gilbert’s Bridge at both junctions).

5. Cross Gilbert’s Bridge, turn right (following ‘short cut’ sign) over cattle grid and follow track south through woodland.

6. Turn left at junction (signed ‘short cut’) and ascend path. Cross stile, turn right and follow path south.

7. Pass through gate below Kincraigie Farm and continue ahead on track to meet minor road.

8. Turn right and descend minor road through Fenderbridge.

9. At next junction, turn right, descending road to Old Bridge of Tilt. Turn right (signed Old Blair) to car park.