This route enjoys great views towards Loch Ness from the hilltop fort site of Craigmonie and then continues to visit the spectacular Divach Falls.
Waymarked forest footpaths, minor roads.
Buses to Drumnadrochit.
Tourist information car park, Drumnadrochit.
Park at the car park in the centre of Drumnadrochit where the Tourist Information and toilets are. Turn right out of the car park and follow the main road for approximately 300 metres until a crossroads - there is a footpath sign on a lamp post here for Craigmonie and Balmacaan. Turn right and follow Pitkerrald Road for another 200m where the road forks. Take the left hand lane (signed for Craigmonie Woodland walks). This soon becomes a track, climbing gently uphill with woodland on the right. Ignore a track coming in from the right, keeping straight ahead until the edge of the woods where there are two giant redwood trees. Turn right here, signed for the Affric Kintail Way. Keep right at each of two forks - signed for Milton and Craigmonie walks, waymarked red / green.
Another junction is reached just beyond a bench - take the right hand fork here onto the surfaced path, which slopes gently downhill. The path undulates through the silver birch trees - the forestry has been removed and native regeneration begun. The path follows the side of Glen Urquhart, giving views of the houses at Easter Milton and Allanmore. You may hear woodpeckers and spot red squirrels; pine martens are rare but also resident in the area. After crossing a small bridge the path swings left and begins to climb fairly steeply. There's a bench and views just off to the left, overlooking Milton down in the glen. The hamlet of Milton was named after its mills in the 1800s; these produced, amongst other things, the Glen Urquhart black and white check tweed.
Continue uphill, turning left at a path junction, until you eventually reach a crossroads of paths - three well-constructed paths, and one informal one straight ahead. Turn right here (red route), then soon fork left (red waymarker) onto a path that climbs to the top of Craigmonie crag. The crag is now a lovely viewpoint with a seat overlooking Drumnadrochit and Loch Ness. It was once an iron age fort and is named after a viking prince who retreated there after a battle. It was also an old execution site. Continue past the seat and onto an undulating path past huge boulders and scots pine. At a fork keep left, following the red markers, descending to join another path which runs along the inside edge of the woodland.
Bear left, keep the fence and open fields on your right as you continue through the inside edge of the woods. Ignore the red route when it goes off left; at the next junction, the blue route joins in from the left. Continue past an old waterworks. A couple of times the path forks, but the branches rejoin further on - as long as you don't stray too far from the woodland edge over to your right, you will be on track. Eventually a track is reached - go straight across this, continuing along the inside edge of the woods, soon joining white waymarkers. When a fork is reached bear Leave the waymarkers at a fork above a house, and bear right, aiming to the right of the house. Go through a gate, and then left along the track briefly and then right when it meets another track. At another junction, follow the track round to the left to drop down to meet the tarmac minor road. Turn right along the road next to the River Coiltie. Follow this road over a bridge and then zig-zagging steeply uphill. Go right at a junction, with fine views looking out towards Drumnadrochit on the right.
Continue until you reach the small car park for the Falls of Divach. A signed path off to the right descends through the woods to reach a fenced viewpoint for the falls, which are especially impressive after heavy rains swell the 30m cascade. To return, go all the way back along the road, eventually reaching the first houses of Drumnadrochit.
At a junction with the 30mph sign turn right; the road then soon swings left and continues past some attractive cottages in Lewiston. A sign for Drumnadrochit indicates where to turn left onto a track, then take a fenced path on the right. The path turns right and follows the edge of a field back to the main road. At the road turn left and return to the car park.
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