Walk along ridges and look at pools left behind by glaciers which moved across this landscape thousands of years ago. A good short walk to brush up on your geography and enjoy the wildlife of the pines and pools at Littlemill.
Summary
Clear waymarked paths, some short steep sections, narrow paths not suitable for baby buggies.
Terrain
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1. Start from the small Forestry Commission parking area (signed Littlemill) on the B851 a few km west of the A9 heading towards Farr. Walk past the vehicle barrier to an information board with a map. This route takes in all three routes but there are shorter waymarked walks you can follow. Start by heading uphill on the track and at the top branch left following the blue waymarkers. There is a good view over Strathnairn.
2. The path soon follows the top of a clear ridge. Known as an Esker ridge this is a mound of debris left behind by a river running underneath a huge glacier which once filled the Great Glen. The eskers here are between 13,000 and 20,000 years old.
3. Soon another feature of geography textbooks can be seen, a water-filled kettle hole, down on the left. This would have been formed when a large block of ice, left behind by a retreating glacier, was buried under rocks and sand. When eventually the ice block melts, the rock and sand would fall into the hole and the remainder would fill with water to leave the kettle hole seen today. Continue along the ridge until the quarry comes into view.
4. Follow the blue markers down the short hill and turn right along the edge of the quarry to follow the path through pine trees. At the junction turn left to follow the red waymaker along the edge of the plantation and up steps onto the next esker which has a good view over a larger lochan with a fishing hut.
5. Keep following the ridge which heads into the trees, the path turns back on itself at one point to climb up onto another ridge where it heads right on a larger path, take care to follow the marker posts as this path is easy to miss. Once on open ground the formation of the esker ridge is easy to make out and gives good views over the trees. Come off the esker to a gravel area where you follow a track to the right and eventually turn right again following the yellow waymarker. Keep left at the next junction to follow the path past another lochan on the right and soon rejoin the outward track where you turn left to head downhill back to the car park.
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