free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
I'd taken a look at this walk a few times as it is quite close by, but it always looked so tame on Google earth. The walker rating is high though!
Thursday afternoon was just getting hotter and sunnier and I was boiling sitting in the chair in front of the screen. Too late to make it to anything more adventurous, so off I went across the Kincardine Bridge and onto Tillicoultry.
I managed to park right up at the top of Upper Mill Street, a few metres from the start of the path, excellent! I wonder if I'm the only one, but it's interesting that even though the intention is to set off on a long and sometimes arduous walk a few hundred metres walked to the start if parking isn't nearby always seems a chore.
Anyway I met a walker coming down who said there had been landslips and rock falls on the path up through the gorge, and it was closed.
Oh well, the walker said that it still joined up later on, so I set off up the path to the east side, it is the path on the right of this fork with the steps you want.
It's not long before you get out of the trees and into the open again with the view back to Tillicoultry and up to the hills above which rise surprisingly steeply.
I was hoping to get a good view of the quarry and still got a pretty good idea from this vantage point.
On up for a short while and then the ground levels out before descending down into the junction of the two gorges.
I guess this is where the original path would come out if it were open
before crossing this new and modern bridge.
Up the other side and there are a couple of clambers over rocky steep bits, I wouldn’t even really class them as scrambles, before you are back on steep although very easy going mountain path towards this big landmark boulder in the middle of the path.
There are nice views back down to Tillicoultry from the boulder.
On up to the Law...
The landscape eastward is remarkably green and consistent for the most part.
After the Law the path dips for a few tens of metres before rising again to the corner and then a very gentle climb up to the summit where there is a trig point in a stone circle and one of those point of interest indicators.
It was still hot and sunny with beautiful hazy views all around and especially westward.
Had a bite to eat at the top which is my habit and headed back down the other side wondering how this was going to turn out as the path was closed.
Met up with the locals, but they either didn’t have any info or weren’t prepared to share it with me.
The river Fourth certainly has a meander around before turning into the Firth and the valley is pretty flat when viewed from up here.
On down and the path veers off to the left at the big pile of stones. It’s easily missed, I would say this as I missed it and carried on down the wider track for a few tens of metres before doubling back.
The correct path also doubles back on itself before zig zaging down into the gorge,
And this photo from the other side on the way up.
Down to the bridge and this very deep coloured Copper Beech tree. You can just see the steps on the left which I assume lead up to where the path comes out at the modern bridge . I didn't check it out, so don't take my word for it!
The barrier tape had been torn aside, so I decided to chance it and made my way warily across.
There was evidence of the destruction all the way down with bashed hand rails, fallen trees, some of which were lying across the bridges, I had to duck under them a couple of times; smashed paving and some impressive though concerning rock falls.
I continued down very very warily moving over the rock falls softly and quietly, sorry wasn’t stopping for photos on the more treacherous parts.
From the few photos I took on the way down its easy to see why this walk has such a high user rating; always something magical about crossing bridges.
The path at the very end was wet and it wasn't hard to image the volume of water that was putting pressure on the sides of the gorge.
All in all I had a very pleasant and interesting walk, although will give doing it again a miss until the authorities make the path safe and reopen it again.
I guess you could always just come back down the way you go up.
