5 Walks in Highlands Perthshire You Must Do

The Hermitage, a beautiful short walk from Dunkeld in Perthshire.

• This is a short, steady hike that leaves you on top of the outcrop called King’s Seat. There are fantastic views of both mountains and gentle farmland.  Down below are the villages of Birnam and Dunkeld.
• Starting from Birnam, this route is well sign-posted but take care to descend in the right direction. Once heading downhill it’s a gentle walk through woodland, steep in places, with a mixture of pine and broadleaf trees.
• For the fitter, this is also a popular spot for mountain bikers, strong legs required!
• After your walk, the many tearooms and pubs of Dunkeld are a welcome sight. Birnam has the Birnam Arts Centre: a combination of café, library and arts space with a Beatrix Potter Exhibition and Garden.
• Although the creator of ‘Peter Rabbit’ is associated more with England’s Lake District, she spent many summers near Birnam as a child while her father fished for salmon. It was here that her interest in the natural world grew and where she began painting.

Tip: The Arts Centre does good lunches.

Looking over Loch Tay to Ben Lawers, Perthshire. Photo credit: Visit Scotland

Ben Lawers itself is a prominent landmark, a mountain standing almost in the centre of southern Scotland but this walk takes in it’s three closest neighbouring peaks to the east.

• If you are looking for a route for fit, hardy hillwalkers – this is it.
• Starting from the Lawers Hotel on the shore of Loch Tay, this hike leads up through woodland to moorland above.
• Hikers usually do this route anti-clockwise for two reasons: the hills to the east are hard to reach by road and so are best done earlier in the day while your legs have enough energy. Also, the east face of one of the mountains called An Stuc is steep, with lots of loose rock and a short section of scrambling. The steepness means it’s easier to see where you’re going heading up instead of down.
• This is a long walk over rough ground, but the views are wonderful, whether north to the hills in the next glen, west to further mountains, and southwards to Loch Tay (a large freshwater loch). Tucked in, close to the mountains, is the small Lochan nan Cat, only seen from this vantage point.
• If you are looking for a route for fit, hardy hillwalkers – this is it.
• Starting from the Lawers Hotel on the shore of Loch Tay, this hike leads up through woodland to moorland above.
• Hikers usually do this route anti-clockwise for two reasons: the hills to the east are hard to reach by road and so are best done earlier in the day while your legs have enough energy. Also, the east face of one of the mountains called An Stuc is steep, with lots of loose rock and a short section of scrambling. The steepness means it’s easier to see where you’re going heading up instead of down.
• This is a long walk over rough ground, but the views are wonderful, whether north to the hills in the next glen, west to further mountains, and southwards to Loch Tay (a large freshwater loch). Tucked in, close to the mountains, is the small Lochan nan Cat, only seen from this vantage point.

Lochan Nan Cat

• A lochan is a small loch, while cat is the only word that’s the same in both Gaelic and English. From the mountain-side, it does look like the outline of a sitting cat. Trout live in the small burn (stream) that flows into Loch Tay.
• Ben Lawers itself is known to have the largest variety of alpine plants in Scotland, so spring and summer are ideal times to visit. Autumn is good as well because the heather is in bloom giving a gentle purple glow to the mountainsides.
• The nearby town of Killin is always of interest, being the traditional burial place of the chiefs of Clan MacNab.