Blair Atholl to Braemar via Glen Tilt
Date(s) walked: 2-3 July 2026
Apart from the Lairig Ghru, this might be the route that has been on my bucket list the longest. One of my first ever wild camping trips was a walk up Glen Tilt. I walked up to The Falls of Tarf, camped for the night and walked back the next day.
I was aware that you could continue along the glen all the way to Braemar but I had read that there were some tricky river crossings plus it was really far, way out of my league at the time.
Now with more experience under my belt, I was fairly confident I could handle it. With some good weather forecast for the western Cairngorms, I decided to go for it.
Day 1: Blair Atholl to near Loch Tilt | 25.5 km | 589 m ascent
It was a luxury not to wake up ridiculously early: the train to Blair Atholl takes only two hours so I left around 9 and arrived just after 11am. I hadn’t actually been to Blair Atholl since my trip two years earlier but nothing had changed, really. I took a slightly different route into the glen, following the east side of the River Tilt and then crossing over at the Old Bridge of Tilt. I think I preferred the west side that I took last time, but there were nice views down to the torrents from the east side as well.
The walk to the Cumhann-leum Bridge is a bit of a slog. They had cut down a lot of trees since the last time, opening up the views, but it still feels a bit of a boring walk on the wide sand road.
The walk after the bridge is more wooded. Nothing much to see except a nice refreshing waterfall.
At Gilberts Bridge I took an early lunch break.
Some showers arrived and I kept walking. The views were pleasant enough but for some reason I wasn’t really enjoying myself.
Past Gaw’s Bridge there are some old settlements that I remember really struck me last time.
The bothy in the picture above is Balaneasie, now in a semi-ruined state but it was used as a shelter by a mountaineering group in the 1960s. All around it up and down the glen are remnants of crofts and shielings that were cleared by the Duke of Atholl starting in the early 1700s - the Glen Tilt area was one of the first in Scotland to have experienced large-scale clearing. There are some smaller farms remaining now but a lot of activity in the glen seems to center around stalking and other less gun-involved tourism.
Like last time, I made a detour to the footbridge near Clachghlas to enjoy the River Tilt crashing its way through the rocks below.
The next part involves crossing the grounds of Forest Lodge, which was occupied this time in contrast to looking very abandoned last time. After the lodge, the river widens out a bit and it was very green everywhere.
The main track then turns left up the hill and I continued on the narrowing path along the river.
I knew some people had been crossing the Tilt to access Glen Loch (where the funny-named Loch Loch is situated) but scouting for possible river crossing places for future trips, it seemed rather treacherous… I’ll have to approach a different way.
Approaching the Falls of Tarf, the path suddenly gets very narrow and rocky.
The descent to the falls was as nice as I remembered.
Although last time I’d had the extra beauty of the heather in bloom.
Some pictures of the Bedford Bridge and the falls:
Glen Tilt has a colourful history not only for its clearances but also as the site of a famous right of access battle. The “Battle of Glen Tilt” in 1847 involved an encounter between a group of University of Edinburgh botany students on a field trip and the Duke of Atholl and his ghillies, the latter who blocked the former from travelling through the glen on the way from Braemar to Blair Atholl. This started a lengthy legal battle, ultimately establishing the route as one of the first official rights of way in Scotland.
I had a quick snack break by the bridge and then picked up the narrow hillside path to the place where I had camped on my previous trip.
I remember feeling very nervous walking here in 2024. It was my first time being so far away from people and civilisation and I kept thinking about what would happen if I fell - how long would it be until anyone found me? This time I was much more comfortable with my abilities but I also now always carry my Garmin InReach which does help alleviate those fears of being unable to get help in case something did happen.
It was also funny to see the stream by the campsite that you need to cross if you want to carry on east - I had been too intimidated to even think of crossing it in 2024 and now looking at it it’s such a minor water crossing.
Now I was going into uncharted territory, carrying on beyond what I had last time. The path followed the hillside rather precariously - I felt comfortable walking but many people also cycle through here which I cannot fathom.
This is probably the nicest section of the walk, you get mostly good trail and truly a sense of following a gorge with how steep the hillsides are.
Once out of the steepest part, I had to cross a small stream and was suddenly faced with an adder!
I think we were both equally surprised, it reared its head and started to approach me - I retreated back into the stream and snapped a quick picture before crossing at a different point. I’ve seen plenty of adders in Finland but turns out they are rather rare in Scotland so I’ve later been told I should count myself lucky to ever have seen one here.
The terrain suddenly evens out and I passed a pitched tent whose occupants were hiding inside. I knew this would be the last flat ground for a while so I walked on for as far as possible and then put up my tent as well.
It was a nice uneventful evening - I had my dinner together with some deer grazing on the hill opposite to me.
Day 2: Near Loch Tilt to Braemar | 24.5 km | 194 m ascent
I had an acceptable sleep and got walking reasonably early to make sure I would be in time for the bus in Braemar. The path continued up and I got to see the full extent of the “great plains” below.
I got to walk on a nice path for a bit longer before it turned into a wider vehicle track.
The sun came out in force and then out of nowhere some RAF planes (?) flew past really low. I got it on video but no reasonable photos. The next point of interest was Bynack Lodge whose tree-lined location was visible a mile in advance.
It’s crazy how quickly buildings fall into ruin. On the cairngormwanderer’s website there are some old pictures of the the lodge while it was inhabited in the 1950s and looking mostly intact still in 1989. Compare that to the state of it today.
It is clearly actively being used as a campsite these days, as evidenced by the amount of rubbish and pee stench about the place… I don’t know how to feel about these “unofficial campsites”, there is value in concentrating human impact and I do like the thought of people re-inhabiting (temporarily, at least) these places that were once someone’s home but I’m not sure how much impact these sites can withstand.
Past Bynack Lodge comes the main obstacle of the route: crossing the Geldie Burn. There are actually a few smaller crossings right before the main one but I think they are less likely to cause trouble. I can imagine why people speak of the Geldie Burn in warning tones because it is certainly a wide river that I’m sure can swell with rain but after being intimidated by this crossing for several years it was a very tame crossing.
I took off my shoes and crossed in my crocs and the water never got past my ankles.
I decided I had a bit of time to spare so I detoured upstream to check out the Red House Bothy.
It’s a rare “new” bothy - obviously it has a long past but having fallen almost into ruin, it was taken on and fully renovated by the MBA after the covid lockdowns. It’s quite palatial compared to your average bothy with a brand new toilet building and fresh wood panelling.
I made myself some coffee and relaxed outside in the sun until I realised I really didn’t have much time to spare if I wanted to make the bus so I packed up and kept going. The walk from the bothy was on wide vehicle tracks but the scenery kept me entertained.
This part west of the Linn of Dee is full of old settlements, there are old ruins everywhere.
There is something about these that always makes me pause. I think it’s because it’s physical evidence that this used to be someone’s home. I’m very happy that people haven’t just removed the stones to be used for something else.
I really enjoyed the last miles into Linn of Dee because of the wonderful pine trees.
Not sure what was up with the clouds, looked to me like UFOs arriving…
Arriving into Linn of Dee I wish I had more time to explore because there were some lovely woods and riverbanks there.
I, however, was once again running late having overestimated my pace so I speed-walked the 11 km into Braemar. I never really enjoy that road walk into (or out of) Braemar but given how many times I’ve done it this year it’s obviously worth it for the rest of the journey. I took a single picture, of Victoria Bridge by Mar Lodge, so that’s what we’ll end on.
Closing thoughts
This was a nice trip to have done to show to myself how far I’ve come in my adventuring abilities. It was fun to revisit the site of what I count as my first “proper” wild camp and to be able to walk the route that I at the time thought was way too scary. It was also nice to find that I was able to enjoy myself on this trip after not having a very good time the previous time. That said, the route is not the most exciting - the central few kilometres are trail but the rest is all vehicle track or road which at least for me detracts from the experience. I’m still glad I’ve done the route, primarily for the nostalgia, but the Cairngorms also never really disappoint with the views.
Trail talk
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