The Pass of Killiecrankie

Tuesday 4th June 2013

I didn’t sleep well before this walk, which was a shame as I was really in need of a good night’s sleep after walking all around the Cairngorms carrying a very heavy and uncomfortable rucksack. I was really tired, but throughout this holiday when I was in my tent I slept very badly and I wasn’t recovering when staying in youth hostels. I had not walking up Beinn A’ Ghlo (the Munro that I camped below) the previous day hoping that I would be refreshed enough the next day to climb it, but that failed to be the case so ultimately I had to give the mountain a thoroughly disappointing miss. Once I’d decided that I would not be going up Beinn A’ Ghlo I packed up and set off down Glen Tilt, and had a really pleasurable walk. The river in Glen Tilt is very picturesque as it passes over many rocky cascades, and the valley itself improved immensely after Gilbert's Bridge as the valley-bottom track passed into a lovely wood filled with wild flowers as the river meanders over many cascades on its way downstream.

The day had started rather overcast, but it wasn’t long before the clouds broke leaving a bright sunny day that would have made for a great day to be walking, but instead of climbing a mountain I was enjoying a gloriously slow descent down Glen Tilt to the small town of Blair Atholl. When I reached the road at the Old Bridge of Tilt I found a delightful path between the road and the river through a woodland floor that was covered with strongly scented, white flowered wild garlic. It was a wonderful sight, the highlight of the walk, to see the flowers completely covering the river bank. This short path soon led me to the Bridge of Tilt and the town of Blair Atholl that marks the end of my Great Trail through the Cairngorms. My walk had started a week earlier in Aviemore, and seven days and more than a hundred miles later after passing all the most significant mountains in the area (but only going to the top of one of them) it had ended at the foot of Glen Tilt near the southern tip of the Cairngorms National Park.

Since it was only midday I decided to take up the suggestion of the couple who’d provided me with a lift the previous day to the Linn of Dee, and walk through the Pass of Killiecrankie to Pitlochry. This turned out to be a brilliant suggestion all the way through as I walked along a wonderful flower-filled path between the River Garry and A9 trunk road. After passing under the A9 I joined a quarry road, which was less interesting, that led to the village of Killiecrankie. After a quick visit to a visitor centre, I started to walk through the deep, wooded gorge of the Pass of Killiecrankie that I found to be an absolutely magical place. To me this long gorge, that is an important link between the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, is a great place worthy of all the attention it has simply because of the natural beauty of the gorge. However, historians look at the place differently, an important battle was fought here between the Jacobites and government troops in 1689, and that the Jacobites won is an example of the advantage gained from having the higher ground.

Ignoring the historical aspect, I really enjoyed my walk through a thickly wooded gorge that is filled with many wild flowers including wild garlic, stitchwort and wood anemone. I continued to walk beside the river beyond the pass, after the junction with the River Tummel, on a pleasant path that led me through a variety of scenes, along the water’s edge and through natural woodland all the way to the town of Pitlochry. I was generally just taking it easy on this walk, trying to regain my energy after exhausting myself so completely while walking through the Cairngorms. Although I didn’t climb any hills on this walk and never ventured far from civilisation I still had a thoroughly enjoyable day as I walked through the woodland at the bottom of these valleys. This was a very different sort of walking to what I used to do in Scotland when I would have climbed at least twenty Munros in less than two weeks, but this was much more relaxing and I liked it.

I had pushed myself too hard on my Great Trail through the Cairngorms, especially because I had been carrying a very heavy rucksack that was cutting into my hip and collar bones. By the end of the trail I was not only very tired and weary, but aching all over from having to carry such a heavy load in such an old rucksack. On this holiday I was beginning to realise just how important rest days are, for anyone, no matter how old they are. I have had problems with fatigue on most of my Scottish holidays, not just this one, but it’s been taking me a long time to learn how to overcome it. Taking it easy in the first week may be the answer. Although I did take it easy at first on this holiday, by the middle of the first week I had dived into doing long mountain walks every day while carrying a heavy rucksack with no rest for many days, so it was about time I took it easy and although on this day I still walked quite a long way, richly-flowered wooded valleys were just the rest I needed.