Birks of Aberfeldy walk

Work completely took over my life last week, but thank goodness for Facebook memories, reminding me of the trip we took last year at this time to Aberfeldy and inspiring me to look back even further to our March 2020 trip. It was a strange time – we knew that the world was starting to change, that restrictions were coming into place, and in fact it was while in a pub in Aberfeldy that we heard the pubs were closing – it was a sombre and disconcerting time, full of the unknown.

But, we had rented a self-catered cottage at Moness Resort, and were determined to make the most of it. Perhaps foolishly, we chose the Birks of Aberfeldy as our first walk of the weekend – the start of the walk is just across from the entrance to the resort, and so easily accessible from both Moness and Aberfeldy itself (officially, in fact, one can start the walk from Aberfeldy high street). And I should clarify – the foolishness was not in choosing to go for this walk, but instead to choose it as the first walk of the weekend, before we had time to warm up a little. The other half was struggling with his knee, and the description of the walk I read in one of my books indicated that it was not overly long. It is, however, incredibly steep – in many cases, the path is in fact a set of stairs, leading up the side of the gorge. Stunning views, and definitely good for the quads – if not, necessarily, sore knees.

The start of the trail is relatively gentle, following the Moness Burn as it rushes over rocks and smaller falls. The statue portrayed at the top of this post is in a lovely wide clearing, indicating where Robert Burns may have first been inspired to write; one can understand this inspiration!

The path continues on eventually into a narrowing gorge, and this is where the walk becomes both more beautiful and a touch more challenging. Well-build wooden walkways and steps make it possible to truly experience the beauty of the lower falls.

I am a total sucker for waterfalls of course, and wish only that I had had my fancier new camera to properly capture them. Instead, I allowed both the other half and I to take periodic breaks as we climbed, and took plenty of pictures on my phone. It really is a stunning walk, with bridges and gorgeous colours of copper and green, even in the early spring when we were there.

Staircases like the one above wind up the gorge and away from the burn, and at the top of one I was delighted to see the tree on the right, which reminded me of something out of Sleepy Hollow – I half expected it to come alive.

The return loop is higher up above the gorge and involves far fewer stairs, instead just a meandering descent. I quite enjoyed having both options available – near the water on the way up, but also views down into the gorge and across the treetops and hills towards Ben Vrackie in the distance.

All in all, a stunning walk and one I would most definitely do again – but with my knee brace and quads prepared!