Black Wood of Rannoch, Perthshire
Grade: Easy off-road route
Distance: 10 miles/16km
Time: 1-1½ hours
BLACK WOOD is an evocative name, stirring up visions of another age when bears and wolves were to be found in such old Caledonian Pine Forests. Today the most exotic thing you’re likely to see is the latest John Deere timber felling machine, but don’t despair, large parts of this woodland are preserved and it’s there, particularly in the latter miles of this route, that you’ll experience the grandeur of a genuine ancient pinewood.
I left my vehicle in a lay-by near Blackwood Cottage on the south shore of Loch Rannoch and turned left onto a track just after the road crossed the bridge over the Allt Camghoura (558563). The track passes a rather grand looking stone and timber house and starts to climb almost immediately. There’s little time for a warm-up on this route before you have to start working. It’s not terribly steep, just sustained, but make sure you don’t miss the falls and tumultuous course of the river just below you on your left.
The route climbs steadily and soon you’ll reach a gate. Unfortunately the main gate is often padlocked but there is a kissing gate on the left which will involve some contortions with your bike to get it through. Such things were sent to try us, and test our ability to squeeze camels through the eyes of needles. There are two or three more gates on this route but they are not padlocked.
Beyond the gate the track continues to rise, but more gently now, and soon breaks free of the forest. A footpath runs off to the right towards Loch Monaghan and Loch Finnart and the hills of Breadalbane rise before you, leading to the Lochan Daimh Munro Meall Buidhe and the Corbett Cam Chreag. There is a lovely sense of openness here, a pocket of land that was obviously once well populated. There are ruckles of stone scattered everywhere, the remains of low walls that would once held the thatched or turfed roofs of houses.
Occasional solitary Scots pines offer a hint of things to come but first you have to cross the river again by a good bridge, go through another gate, and start climbing again. This is a steeper climb but the incline doesn’t last long. At the top of the hill the grassy track turns into a gravel track and a turning to the right heads off in the direction of Cross Craigs, a steep looking bluff that leads eventually to Cam Chreag, a Corbett that’s usually climbed from Glen Lyon in the south.
Ignore this turn-off to the right unless you want a wee diversion. Stick with the main track heading roughly east below the forested summit of Cnoc Eoghainn. There has been a lot of clear fell hereabouts and while it is ugly to look at it does clear the area for more distance views, north to the hills of the Talladh-a-Bheith deer forest. Continue on the main track, ignoring any turn-offs and as the route gently veers north you’ll soon leave the clear fell behind and enter the stately groves of the Black Wood of Rannoch. At a T-junction turn right and descend through the ranks of the ancient pines, as solid and straight as the masts of schooners and blood red. The undergrowth is rich in blaeberry and juniper and birches and rowans add to the variety. You can’t help compare the natural order of this native woodland with the serried rows of commercial conifers you previously passed through.
Soon you’ll turn right onto tarmac and over a stone bridge over the cascading waters of the Dall Burn. The road curves to the left avoiding the rather extravagant spires of Dall House and returns you to the lochside road. Turn left and in about 3km you’ll arrive back at your starting point.
Map: OS 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 51 (Loch Tay & Glen Dochart)
Distance: 10 miles/16km
Time: 1-1½ hours
Start/Finish: Lay-by near Blackwood Cottage on the south shore road of Loch Rannoch (GR: NN558564)
Coffee & Cake: Bridge of Gaur or Kinloch Rannoch Link to digital map: https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/route/5887635/30-C15-Black-Wood-of-Rannoch © Crown copyright 2020 Ordnance Survey. Media 059/20.
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