Black Wood of Rannoch, Perthshire: Best walking route

Grade: Moderate walk on good paths and tracks

Distance: 10 miles/16km

Time: 4-6 hours

IT’S an evocative name, the Black Wood, stirring up emotions of another age when bears and wolves were to be found in such old Caledonian Pine forests. Today the most exotic thing you’ll see is likely to be the latest John Deere timber felling machine, but don’t despair, large parts of this woodland are preserved and it’s there, particularly in the latter part of this walk, that you’ll experience the grandeur of a genuine ancient pinewood.

From the start I turned left onto a track just after the road crossed the bridge over the Allt Camghourain. There’s little time for a warm-up because the track starts to climb almost immediately. It’s not terribly steep, just sustained, but make sure you don’t miss the falls and tumultuous course of the river below you on your left.

The route climbs steadily and goes through a gate. The track continues to rise, but more gently now, and soon breaks free of the forest. A footpath runs off to the right towards Loch Monaghan and Loch Finnart, and the hills of Breadalbane rise before you, leading to the Lochan Daimh Munro Meall Buidhe and the Corbett Cam Chreag. There is a lovely sense of openness here, a pocket of land that was obviously once well populated. There are rickles of stone scattered everywhere, the remains of low walls that once held the thatched or turfed roofs of houses.

Occasional solitary Scots pines offer a hint of things to come but first you have to cross the river again by a good bridge, go through another gate, and start climbing again. This is a steeper climb but the incline doesn’t last long. At the top of the hill the track turns from grass to gravel. Ignore a turn-off to the right. Stick with the main track heading roughly east below the forested summit of Cnoc Eoaghainn. There has been a lot of clear felling hereabouts and while it is ugly to look at it does open up more distant views, north to the hills of the Talla Bheith deer forest. Continue on the main track, ignoring any turn-offs and as the route veers north you’ll leave the clear fell behind and enter the stately groves of the Black Wood of Rannoch. At a T-junction turn right and descend through the rows of the ancient pines, as solid and straight as the masts of schooners and blood red. The understorey is rich in blaeberry and juniper, and birches and rowans add to the variety. You can’t help compare the natural order of this native woodland with the serried ranks of commercial conifers you previously passed through.

You may notice large ditches here and there in the forest. These are the remains of canals, built in the early 1800s by the York Building Company to carry felled timber down to Loch Rannoch. The logs were then rafted down the Tummel and Tay to reach Perth and Dundee. The scheme wasn’t a success and was soon abandoned. There were enormous log jams on the fast flowing Tummel and many of the logs that did make it to Dundee floated out to sea and were lost.

Continue downhill until you teach a broad junction identified by a large pile of black rubble. Turn left here and after a hundred metres or so, as the main path bends to the left, continue straight ahead on a grassy path. Follow this path gently downhill for about 500m, ignoring a path that goes off to the right, and reach another T-junction. Turn left and follow the path as it takes a big dog-leg down to Blackwood Lodge. As you descend you’ll pass a small sign below a fine ancient pine - a memorial to Gunnar Godwin who inspired the designation of the Black Wood as a Forest Reserve in 1975. Once you reach the road turn left and follow it back to your starting point.

Map: OS 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 42 (Glen Garry & Loch Rannoch)
Distance: 10 miles/16km
Time: 4-6 hours
Start/Finish: Lay-by just east of Wester Camghourain on the south shore of Loch Rannoch (GR: NN551564).
Transport: None to the start.
Information: Pitlochry TIC, 01796 472215, www.forestryandland.gov.scot Refreshments: Seasonal tearoom at Rannoch Station open March-October (07557 271880).

Route: Turn L on a track just after the road crosses the Allt Camghourain. Climb steadily, go through a kissing gate and continue to the forest edge. Ignore footpath going R and continue straight ahead to a bridge. Cross and go through another gate. At top of hill the track turns from grass to gravel. Stick with main track heading roughly E and as it gently veers N you’ll enter the Black Wood. At T-junction turn R, descend to a broad junction identified by a large pile of black rubble. Turn L here and after a hundred metres or so, as main path bends L, continue ahead on a grassy path. Follow this path downhill for about 500m, ignoring path on R, to another T-junction. Turn L and follow path as it takes a big dog-leg down to Blackwood Lodge on the South Loch Rannoch road. Turn L on road and follow it back to the start.

Link to digital map: https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/route/4373481/SW34-Rannoch © Crown copyright 2020 Ordnance Survey. Media 059/20.