Glen Sherup circular

[U059361]

Drove up Glen Devon and parked car at Glen Sherup car park. Had a look at the reservoir walks and possible routes and decided to do a circular of Glen Sherup.
This meant a walk to Glen Sherup reservoir, a climb up to Innerdownie, then walking to Whitewisp, Tarmangie Hills before dropping down to other side of the glen and returning to reservoir and car park.
So my wife and I got kitted up and followed the sign pointing up the glen towards the reservoir. Its a well made forest track and the trees are pretty mature. Not much to see till a gap showed the reservoir dam after 3/4 mile.

The gap in the trees showing Glen Sherup reservoir and Tarmangie Hill in background.

Sign post for reservoir walks at end of the dam. We followed the one for Glen Quey. It continues up the forest track, which is surfaced with compacted rock and rough walking. There are views over Glen Devon and wind farm.
Ignore a track off to the right as it goes up Glen Sherup at low level and keep climbing till another waymarker directs you through the trees. Going through a gate you go from pine forest to newly planted deciduous trees of Woodland Trust.
Views open up across Clackmannanshire to Lomond Hills etc. We sat at the dyke and had our lunch after a late start.
The walk continues down into Glen Quey or as we did, right turn and walk along side the fence and forestry up Innerdownie hill. The track is grass and only flattened by quad bikes or the like.

Path up to Innerdownie Hill once you come out of the forest.

Once at the top of innerdownie you have great views of Loch Leven and down into Glen Quey. You can also clearly see the path to Whitewisp and Tarmangie. This continues to follow the fence / dyke all the way along.

Tarmangie Hill from Innerdownie.

It is good walking with few boggy bits. We decided to cut out Whitewisp and took a gate through a deer fence and followed the dyke instead half way over.

Looking back to Innerdownie after covering walk to Whitewisp and cutting the corner.

Tarmangie can be reached walking either side of the dyke. We crossed over for simplicity but there is a gate much closer to Tarmangie that you can go through if you don't cross the dyke here.

The length of Glen Sherup and reservoir from Tarmangie.

At the top of tarmangie it becomes very apparent that its north slope is very steep and there is scree on that side.
Simply follow the path further west and it drops down still following the dyke. It reaches a gated style at the bottom of the hill where the watershed for Glen Sherup ends. Keep to the right, crossing a boggy area and continue on the path across to Scad hill and down towards Ben Shee. It is still a grassy track and once more you are walking through deciduous trees only a few years old.

The view down to Ben Shee with track just visible in part.

You can see two more reservoirs, upper and lower Glendeveon to the north. As you walk down, Ben Shee becomes more prominent. Make sure you pick up a path going right and down into Glen Sherup. It gets steeper as you go and heads straight down the slope at one part.

At the bottom of the descent below Ben Shee looking back to Tarmangie.

It does eventually level out and continues down the glen and past the reservoir to the dam. Its a bit wetter down here, but no major problems. Walk past the boat hire for fishing and cross the dam itself following the reservoir path sign. At the other end of the dam, walk up a short steep path to rejoin the forest track you walked up and simply follow it back to the car park. There is a sign post here in case you forgot the route. 3/4 mile and car park is reached.

[ChrisW]

Looks a nice walk, love the 'The length of Glen Sherup and reservoir from Tarmangie' photie

[Graeme D]

Hm, interesting reading. I've been researching routes around these Ochil Donalds for a wee while now, still none the wiser though about the best starting/finishing points and exact routes e.t.c. This gives me some good further food for though though.

[U059361]

Are you doing them all in one go?
King's Seat is next hill to Tarmangie but we walked up from Dollar to do King's Seat.
I would reckon to do all three to start from Dollar, do King's Seat, then Tarmangie, Innerdownie, then drop down to Glen Quey and walk back to Dollar. A nice circuit too.

[hendytheneeb]

Just as a footnote I recently walked up the low-level forestry road on the south side of the reservoir. The road ends in a small clearing and the remains of a path continue up the glen. The path is vague and very overgrown, with boggy sections that will require gaiters. After about a quarter of a mile the path drops you out of the forest and you can proceed to the head of the glen through the rough ground around the burn. Not a great walk but a quicker way to get to the watershed where various paths lead to Tarmangie, Ben Shee, or south towards the direction of Skythorn Hill.

[TRG318]

Prompted by your report, my wife and I did this walk yesterday and found your description of the going to be spot-on. I should, however, point out that your figures are quite understated: the turning point at the watershed is more than 5km from the car park as the crow flies so the actual distance covered is quite a bit more than 9.5km. We recorded 14.5km, including Whitewisp. Similarly, the total ascent is nearer 600m than 400m: there are quite a few ups and downs and Tarmangie itself is more than 400m higher than the car park. However we still managed to complete the circuit within the five hours, including lunch.

It was a good walk and we thank you for highlighting it to us.