Bruar Circuit

A circular walk around the Atholl Estate moorland culminating in a wander around the picturesque Falls of Bruar.

This route takes you through some remote moorland countryside and includes an unbridged river crossing. However, the route is entirely on tracks and paths and is easy to follow.

  • Distance: 16 km / 10 miles
  • Ascent: 400 m / 1350 feet
  • Terrain: Landrover tracks and paths
  • Start / finish: House of Bruar, Calvine, PH18 5TW. Parking, refreshments, toilets available.

Route Map

Route map for Bruar Circular

The route starts from the river on the north side of the House of Bruar where you follow a signpost for the Falls of Bruar. An underpass takes you under the railway line and a further sign confirms that you are heading towards the Falls of Bruar.

Soon after this sign and the donation point, pick up a not too obvious path on your left partly hidden by an old wall. This lovely path takes you through tall Larch trees to join a wider forest track. Keep on the track passing through a tall deer gate and into open countryside with views across Glen Garry. A second gate is also located on this section where there has been some recent tree felling. The forest track then joins the estate track leading up into Glen Bruar. Turn right onto the estate road so that you are heading north.

The next part of the walk is 6km on the rough estate road reaching a height of 460m. There are open views across the surrounding countryside to your left and young forest planting to your right. When the road starts to go downhill there are panoramic views ahead of you down to the river and high up into Glen Bruar.

The road reaches the small estate bothy at Cuilltemhuc where you turn right on to an unsurfaced track past the cottage and down to the river. The river needs to be forded as there is no longer a bridge at this point. The best crossing place may not be where the vehicle track crosses! Once on the other side a track starts to go uphill to reach the ruin of Ruichlachrie where some shelter can be obtained. After the ruin there is 1.2km on the track to reach the pine trees of Glen Banvie Wood.

Once into the woods turn right at the track junction where a marker post with a small red arrow can be found. This section of the walk is on the waymarked Atholl Estates Glen Banvie route. Follow the forest track southwards for 3.5km until you reach a track junction with a further red arrow marker. At this point turn right, away from the direction of the arrow (the arrow will take you to Blair Atholl). You should now be walking west towards the river and will very soon reach a bench seat and the Falls of Bruar path.

The quickest route back to the start point from here is to turn left and follow the path down the east side of the river to the lower bridge. However, it is well worth turning right and walking up to the upper bridge and crossing there. Follow the path back down the west side of the burn to the lower bridge and then back to your start point. The Falls of Bruar are spectacular and a lovely finish to the walk.