This fine circular walk from Blairgowrie takes in fertile countryside, a couple of attractive lochs and a wood which is carpeted with bluebells in early summer. The last part of the walk heads through housing to return to the centre of Blairgowrie.
Marked paths, tracks and minor roads.
Blairgowrie is well served by buses.
Riverside car park, Blairgowrie.
The walk begins from the Wellmeadow at the heart of Blairgowrie; park at the Riverside car park just to the north. At the centre of the Wellmeadow is a war memorial and a good display of flowers in the summer. There are also toilets and a tourist information on the western side. Leave the Wellmeadow by the top end and head straight up Allen Street, lined with shops. Further up turn left to head along High Street and follow this for nearly 400m past more shops until you reach Newton Street (a little after the pig butcher's shop sign). Turn right up Newton Street passing a number of attractive houses as you climb.
Continue until you see Newton Terrace going off to the right. Turn left opposite this, signed for Ardblair Trail, heading along Adams Bank and then Gallowbank. This is so named because executions used to take place here. The track soon narrows to a path between fields and then turns sharp left at a bench to head downhill to the road. Here turn right and follow the pavement briefly. Watch out for a sign indicating where you need to turn to cross the road and head down a track on the opposite side of the road.
The route passes to the right of some farm buildings and then bears right. Eventually this emerges at a grassy track with two pine trees opposite - bear left along this. The track soon narrows to become a path, lined with attractive hedges. Go through a gate and cross a road, taking the track opposite. This soon enters the edge of Ardblair wood. Over a hundred years ago there was a thriving weaving community of about 20 houses at this spot. At the next junction turn right to begin the loop out to Bluebell Woods (signed) and Fingask Loch. Continue on the track ignoring another track to the right and passing a small barn.
The track eventually approaches a farmyard - turn right along the signposted fenced path which skirts a number of fields as it wends its way to Bluebell Woods. The wood is actually called Darroch Wood, after the Gaelic for oak, and most of the first trees are oak and then birch, elder and rowan. A stile leads into the wood and then turn right along the main path and follow it as it follows the edge of this pretty wood. In the late spring the floor is carpeted with bluebells. In the 18th and 19th centuries this wood was coppiced and the timber used for building material, charcoal and also the bark would have been used for tanning leather. Today it is a good habitat for wildlife.
At the far corner of the wood turn left to follow a broader path back along the far edge. Leave the wood at a gate and follow a path between fields towards a farm. Pass to the right of the farm buildings and at the road junction turn right to detour to view Fingask Loch. Retrace your steps and follow the track until a signed path turns to the left.
Follow this over a wooden bridge and around White Loch where swans, coots and moorhens can often be seen - as well as obvious signs of the beavers that make this place their home. Leaving the loch, the path continues through the woods. When it forks keep right, alongside a wire fence, and the route eventually emerges onto the Perth Road. Turn left here until you reach Ardblair Road where you turn left and then immediately right to go along the back of some houses and past a play area. Follow a path into the woods again until a cross paths - turn right here through a gate (no waymarker pointing this way) through a wooden gate to follow a straight path through Ardblair Woods. Pass through another gate and across a field ahead until the A923 is reached which you cross. Turn left and follow the road for a very short distance until you take a signed lane ('Ardblair Trail') on the right.
Follow this past buildings as it narrows to a path and then passes the back of a new housing estate on a wiggly path. Cross the next road and continue straight on along the path. Turn left when this emerges onto a residential road. Keep following the blue arrows and turn left onto Cedar Avenue, and then right on Paterson Drive and then take the next left. Follow the signs along an alleyway ahead and then turn left along the road. Cross it and turn right onto Blairgowrie House Road at a mini-roundabout. This track heads to some old farm buildings, passing left of these and then zig-zagging down to eventually reach the main road. Turn left here to pass the Wellton Industrial Estate and a Tesco before forking right along Tannage Street. Go straight across at the A93 to follow a riverside path back to the car park.
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