Corrour to Dalwhinnie on the Thieves Road
Date(s) walked: 8-9 June 2026
Please note: the GPX track is for illustrative purposes only - I take no responsibility for its accuracy!
Scotland has a great many “thieves roads” all across the country, named so for being the routes taken by the cattle thieves that once roamed the region. Historically, cattle have been one of the most expensive possessions a person could have and in a lawless, clan-based society they were naturally targets for anyone looking to better their station in life. A. R. B. Haldane in The Drove Roads of Scotland writes: “It almost seems that cattle raiding was in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries the chief occupation of the people of Scotland”. The people of Speyside were particularly keen on the thieving, driving the cattle through Dalwhinnie to Fort William to be sold. I was not aware of the history of the route beforehand, I’d just spotted what looked like a nice stretch on OS maps between two locations easily accessed by public transport. The cattle drovers would mostly have travelled in the opposite direction, starting in Dalwhinnie and passing through Corrour, but due to the bigger hassle of getting to Corrour, I decided to start there.
Day 1: Corrour to the northern slopes of Ben Alder | 19.24 km
And so it was that I was forcing myself awake before 6 am on a Monday morning to start the train journey to Corrour. I’d decided to get the slightly earlier train from Edinburgh to Glasgow to (a) leave time for any train issues (I really didn’t want to miss the Glasgow-Corrour train), and (b) pick up some breakfast in Glasgow. I made it to Glasgow without issues so in my half an hour in between trains I picked up a pastry and the summer’s first iced coffee from Starbucks. I don’t generally like Starbucks coffee but their iced lattes are my weak point. The train to Corrour (pronounced kuh-ROW-er, not kor-OOER, even though all the train announcements use the latter one… big pet peeve!) was not too busy, I was able to have a 4-seat table to myself. The journey itself is such a treat with magnificent views of the Highlands. Most others on the train appeared to be tourists, many staying on the train to Glenfinnan, the “Harry Potter train location”. My biggest anxiety on this train route always occurs at Crianlarich where the train splits into 2, one part going to Oban and the other to Mallaig and you better make sure you are in the right carriage! I’ve never managed to get it wrong but almost every time someone is madly scrambling to get their stuff together because they realise they are not where they are supposed to be.
I alighted the train at Corrour at 11:20 along with a big Duke of Edinburgh group.
The first part of the walk is a trek along Loch Ossian on vehicle tracks. The tracks go along both sides of the loch but the southern side is more pleasant - the north side is covered by more planted forest. At the southern shore of the loch is Loch Ossian Youth Hostel, an eco-hostel operating entirely off the grid.
I was making my way towards the hostel when I heard someone come up behind me. “Hello!” came a cheery man’s voice. “Hello!” I replied. As he passed me I saw that he was naked from the waist down, only dressed in a red windbreaker. I had a little chuckle to myself, thinking the locals here really do seem to live very freely.
I continued along the track, enjoying the views of the loch.
Rounding a corner about halfway along the loch I come face to face with two naked men, this time entirely sans clothes. I manage a straight-faced hello, glad to be wearing my sunglasses. Encountering three naked people in a span of about half an hour, I should have suspected that there was perhaps a meeting of some kind going on but I was just thinking that the locals must be free spirits. After sharing my encounters with the naked people of Corrour with some colleagues, they found evidence on the internet that there had indeed been a naturist gathering at Corrour when I was there, explaining my interesting experience.
At the other end of the loch is Corrour Lodge.
Photo © John Mann (cc-by-sa/2.0)
Corrour Shooting Lodge, Saturday, 10 November, 2007
Photo available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence.
The new owners (Swedish!) built this interesting interpretation of a Highland shooting lodge in 2003 to replace an old lodge that had burnt down. The lodge grounds are very big with many cottages rented out for visitors. The estate seems to be very walker-friendly and has put efforts into conservation of the ecosystem in the area (but they still make a big profit from deer stalking…).
Turning east from the lodge gets you onto a new and ugly hydro scheme access track.
There are nice views into Amar Strath Ossian to the left, though.
The estate has built a nice new bridge for crossing the Uisge Labhair to facilitate access to a new hydro powerhouse.
I vaguely remembered reading about an Uisge Labhair bothy on walkhighlands at some point and thought maybe people had used the work-in-progress building as shelter before the estate finished and locked it up - turns out the “bothy” being referred to was some big hydro scheme pipes on the ground before they were dug down!
The access track came to an end at a bridge not far from the hydro powerhouse.
It was an abrupt transition from wide access track to non-existent path in a bog. OS maps shows a path following the Uisge Labhair north but this is another instance of path hallucination on their part. At times there were traces of a path visible but it never lasted for more than about 50 metres before disappearing into bog. After experiencing bog-soaked shoes and socks on my last trip, I’d brought waterproof socks with me this time. I’d never really tried them before so this was to be their first test. I was pleasantly surprised! I’ve heard very mixed reviews on whether people like them or not but they worked great for me! I’d feel the coolness of the bog around my feet but without my feet getting soaked. I can see them being a problem on longer treks and in very hot weather (sweat getting trapped) but for this trip they were great. I squelched my way along the river for several hours, it was not enjoyable but I survived. I think my last bog excursion definitely hardened me to the experience. I later learned that people online have referred to this section as "soul-destroying" and as the "Worst Path in Scotland"…
At the end of the glen you had to find your own way up to the stalker’s path running around Ben Alder. I crossed the Uisge Labhair which wasn’t too bad and then did a pretty much vertical climb to the path. That path was so wonderful to be on after hours of bog-whacking! It’s such a clear, well-maintained path that it can be seen all the way from Corrour as it goes up Bealach Dubh (“dark/hidden pass” - not a particularly apt name this one in my opinion!).
The walk up to Bealach Dubh was so nice.
The weather was lovely with a slight breeze and I was just so appreciative of the good path. The highest point of the Bealach Dubh is at 722 metres but the climb had been so gradual I never felt the elevation much.
At the top of the bealach right by the path there are some remains from an RAF airplane that crashed into Geal-Chàrn, the peak to the north of the pass in 1942.
The plane had taken off from Lossiemouth on a navigation exercise, somehow veered really badly off course, possibly due to a blizzard, and crashed into the hill. The crazy part is that one person survived and walked all the way back to Corrour Lodge - exactly the path that I had just walked - in a very injured state to get help (in the winter, in a snowstorm). The wreckage was cleared away by pack mules the next year (the bodies were recovered earlier on) but for whatever reason parts have been left behind here and further up the hill. I definitely got the chills standing there by the remains of the plane.
On from there the views open up to the north and what nice views they are!
That’s Ben Alder hiding off to the right of the picture. I walked down the bealach on a fairly steep section until I came to flatter part by the Allt a Bhealaich Dhuibh. It took a bit of heather-hopping and bog-traversing but I found some great flat ground to camp on for the night.
The wind picked up and the rain came in later that evening but the Lanshan held up so well. I’m really impressed with this tent, I think the shape just really helps with shedding any rain or especially wind. Because it’s made of silnylon it does absorb water which is a bit of a pain when packing away a wet tent but that’s a minor gripe.
Day 2: Northern slopes of Ben Alder to Dalwhinnie | 21.74 km
Woke up to glorious sunshine - the opposite to the forecast. Now forecasts are always unreliable, especially in Scotland, but I don’t get how they can be so wrong so often on my hiking trips. This is even (and particularly!) the Garmin inReach off-grid forecast that is supposed to use a better model for remote areas. This time at least it was a pleasant surprise - sunshine instead of rain.
I packed up and picked up the fantastic stalker’s path from the previous day.
I was having such a good time following the path gently downhill. There were a few bigger stream crossings that required navigating and getting your feet wet but nothing gnarly.
The path follows the river downstream with nice views of Ben Alder proper when looking back.
The path then passes Culra Lodge, a luxury accommodation with a sauna and supposedly Britain’s highest altitude hot tub.
Next to the lodge are the foundation remains of Culra Bothy.
This was one of Scotland’s most popular bothies until asbestos was discovered in 2014 and the bothy was eventually demolished in 2025. A new one is supposedly being built this year but I saw no signs of that happening yet.
I took a snack break by the river to enjoy the views before continuing on.
I find that I need at least one, sometimes two, proper snack breaks in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner when hiking. I know some people just do bigger meals but my stomach is not good at digesting when I’m walking all day. I think all-day grazing instead of meals would be ideal, actually, but that limits the food options plus it’s probably very bad for your teeth…
I crossed the bridge signposted very clearly, for some reason that sign made me laugh. Maybe because on my usual walks I very rarely encounter any signs, let alone one one that says “bridge” with said bridge being clearly in view (off the picture to the right).
From here onwards the path gets worse as it crosses flat wetlands for a while. There were horses grazing on the riverbanks - I saw no cows or sheep the whole walk (unusual!). Neither did I see any deer although Ben Alder has a very dense deer population.
I bypassed Loch Pattack and followed estate tracks to Ben Alder Lodge on the shores of Loch Ericht. The estate has built a series of very fancy houses across the property, what is merely the gate lodge pictured below!
They seem to be oddly obsessed with turrets (as am I to be fair!) - every house was riddled with them!
I stopped for lunch by the track, basking in the sunshine.
I’d been dreading the walk from here to Dalwhinnie a bit because I knew I would just be following the straight loch on estate tracks for about 8 km. People on walkhighlands have called it an absolute slog. In the end, it wasn’t bad at all. There was quite a lot of traffic on the “road” (sandy track that blew into a cloud with every vehicle) that kept me entertained. They had also recently cut down quite a lot of trees that opened up the views and certainly reduced the slog-factor.
About halfway into the slog I got hit by hail from a massive cloud that had crept up on me from behind. It was quite sore, actually! Then came some rain that lasted about 10 minutes but managed to drench me quite thoroughly.
By this point I was speedwalking a bit to make it to my planned bus at 16:40 but I still had to stop to admire the passing ScotRail train.
I crossed a dam and then followed the A889 to where it joins the A9. It was not pleasant walking on the side of the road with cars moving so fast but it was only for about 1 km. Also not pleasant was all the rubbish on the sides of that road… Again got me thinking of how litter far out in nature gets people so angry (me too!) but then it’s just considered normal on the roadside. Hmm.
Had to cross the A9 to get to the bus stop - another unpleasant must. Managed to hail the wrong Ember as it was just in front of my actual bus but it was going to Glasgow and wasn’t scheduled to stop there so on it went and embarrassed I felt. Second try was a success, though, and I was greeted by a very friendly driver. Got significantly delayed on the way back due to an accident on the M90 but on the plus side that meant a free bus ride as Ember automatically refunds your ticket if you’re more than 30 minutes late arriving. Was home before 9pm, feeling like I’d been away for ages!
Concluding remarks
Trip highlight: definitely the wonderfully maintained stalker’s paths around Ben Alder. It’s a shame that the region is kind of tedious to walk to (a bike could make it feasible) because I would love to go back and walk some more of those paths there. I don’t want Scotland to become like the US with their trail systems but at the same time it’s not enjoyable walking in endless bog…
Trip lowlight: that slog along the Uisge Labhair… it was so boggy that it made it difficult to enjoy the views, let alone the walking. I also had some pain in my Achilles tendon flare during that section and I was blaming the bog hopping for it (the pain thankfully disappeared later). There were constant annoying river/stream crossings and parts where the “path” eroded into the river. Just unpleasant.
I once again saw no one the whole trip on the section between the naked people of Corrour and a Land Rover driver at Ben Alder Lodge. I was quite enjoying having the hills to myself but it was surprising given how popular the region is with Munro baggers. Maybe the absence of Culra Bothy has reduced traffic?
Zero midges, zero ticks, mostly great weather… Can’t ask for much more than that!
Trail talk
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