Strathdon community paths leaflet

Wel­come to Strath­don Strath­don boasts stun­ning scenery, an abund­ance of wild­life and is steeped in his­tory. A deep-rooted sense of com­munity and self-reli­ance is to be found with­in its settlements.

A net­work of paths and tracks explore the area, provid­ing a vari­ety of routes to enjoy with fine views, a rich loc­al his­tory and abund­ant wild­life. You can also join paths and minor roads togeth­er to make your own, longer routes.

If you enjoyed explor­ing the paths around Strath­don, look out for oth­er path leaf­lets in this series to help you explore more of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

Pick up a leaf­let loc­ally or down­load from cairngorms​.co​.uk

Snow Roads 195 Nation­al Cycle Route A939 Lecht Ski Centre Strath­don A97 R.Don Cock Bridge A939 A944 A97 Paths around Strath­don Where rivers meet A93 Crath­ie Deeside Way 195 Bal­later R.Dee Lon­ach Gath­er­ing The nor­mally quiet Strath­don comes to life on the fourth Sat­urday of August for the Lon­ach High­land Gath­er­ing – argu­ably one of the most fam­ous high­land games in Scot­land. The Gath­er­ing keeps alive the tra­di­tions, music and High­land dress of the district.

Explore the SnowRoads, a 90-mile road trip, one of the best driv­ing routes in the Scot­tish Highlands.

Vis­it­or inform­a­tion is avail­able at vis​it​cairngorms​.com

Pro­duced by the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity in asso­ci­ation with the Strath­don Com­munity Devel­op­ment Trust.

Cov­er image: River Don France Den­er­ley. Pol­dul­lie Bridge Char­lotte Mil­burn. Strath­don, Bellabeg, the Doune Frances Den­er­ley. Lon­ach gath­er­ing Isla Gordon

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

A heart of water The River Don winds its way through Strath­don, fed by waters from the sur­round­ing glens. It both nour­ishes and divides the strath, present­ing a chal­lenge for trav­el­lers. You’ll cross many bridges while explor­ing the area!

The single arch stone Pol­dul­lie Bridge, one of the old­est, was built in 1715 and spans Poll Doille, ​‘powl dol-ye’, the Gael­ic for ​‘pool of blackness’.

His­tory and her­it­age The Strath­don area has a rich his­tory, with evid­ence of human hab­it­a­tion dat­ing as far back as 2000 ВС.

The Doune of Inver­nochty is one of the finest examples of Nor­man earth­works in Scot­land. The motte and bailey castle was built on the site of a much earli­er Pic­tish fort­ress. This was the strong­hold of the mormaers of the ancient Scot­tish king­dom of Mar. Mormaer is from the Gael­ic mor (‘great’) and maer or maor (‘stew­ard’) and was a region­al ruler in medi­ev­al Scotland.

Field and forest The area of Strath­don is one of con­trast. The land­scape changes from low-lying fer­tile farm­land to dra­mat­ic wood­land, lead­ing up into the wilder, more rugged moor­land and hills. The area is bound by the Deeside Hills to the south and the Lad­der Hills to the north, includ­ing the moun­tain road to the Lecht ski centre.

Pol­dul­lie Bridge The main set­tle­ment of Bellabeg sits where the Water of Nochty flows into the River Don, and was ori­gin­ally known as Invernochty.

Doune Memori­al Walk. 2005 The Doune of Inver­nochty. A View over Strath­don View over Bellabeg Keep an eye out along the rivers for the rich ripari­an wild­life – dip­pers, otters and vis­it­ing osprey are often spot­ted. The Doune of Inver­nochty Although the fort became redund­ant in the 13^th cen­tury, the bailey church remained the loc­al place of wor­ship until the mid-17^th cen­tury, when it was moved to the south bank of the River Don.

Farm­ing has been the main­stay of the loc­al eco­nomy since the 18^th cen­tury. The scattered ruins and rem­nants of many small farms and crofts are still vis­ible through­out Strath­don. Dur­ing the 19^th cen­tury the land­scape changed with the plant­ing of large con­ifer forests, the earli­est of which were in 1815. As the trees are felled for tim­ber the land­scape con­tin­ues to change, often reveal­ing stun­ning views.

Paths around Strath­don We hope you enjoy explor­ing the trails around Strath­don, but please do so respons­ibly. The Nation­al Park is a spe­cial place with rare wild­life, some of which is sens­it­ive to dis­turb­ance. You can help pro­tect the loc­al wild­life by fol­low­ing all signs and keep­ing dogs close by (on a lead where requested).

SCOT­TISH OUT­DOOR ACCESS CODE outdooraccess-scotland.scot

Rough­park path A var­ied walk from Bellabeg to Rough­park tak­ing in a memori­al aven­ue of lime trees, the impress­ive Doune of Inver­nochty, wild­life ponds, forest and farm­land. Lovely views over Strathdon.

Mix­ture of firm, gravel and grassy paths. Long, mod­er­ate slopes. 2 miles 3.2km Allow Ben Newe An inter­est­ing hill walk with superb views. Climb up through the forest before reach­ing open hill and a rocky out­crop at the sum­mit, which incor­por­ates a medi­ev­al well and trig point. Well worth the effort!

Forest tracks with fairly steep long 21½ miles 4km climbs, can be Allow easy ¹¹⁄₂ hours muddy. Rough, strenu­ous ²¹⁄₂ hours uneven steep path to sum­mit. Distance/​time is there and back

half mile one kilo­metre NORTH Dis­tance / time is there and back Ben Newe Water of Nochty Lost Rough­park The Doune Pol­dul­lie Bridge Bellabeg Plant­a­tion Bellabeg For­be­stown Lon­ach field Strath­don Lon­ach hall road cross­ing P Coull of Newe River Don Mill of Newe Cot­town Tom a’ Char­raighl Water­side River Don House of Newe Heugh-head Coulick Hill road toi­lets track P car park path viewpoint

Pol­dul­lie Bridge An explor­a­tion of the ​‘back­streets’ of Strath­don. The route passes Strath­don Kirk, around Kirk Hill and onto the pic­tur­esque Pol­dul­lie Bridge over the River Don.

Minor roads with 2 miles long, mod­er­ate 3.2km slopes. No verge / Allow easy ¹¹⁄₄ hour foot­way in places. Dis­tance / time is there and back

Bunzeach trail A forest walk around Tom a’ Char­raigh offer­ing lovely views over Strath­don. A worth­while side path leads to a view­point on Kirk Hill.

Minor roads to reach forest. Firm and grassy forest tracks and rough, unsur­faced paths. Long, mod­er­ate climbs and sev­er­al gates. 4 miles 6.5km Allow mod­er­ate ²¹⁄₂ hours

Lon­ach loop From Bellabeg this route rises behind For­be­stown, offer­ing lovely views across the River Don before reach­ing Lon­ach Hall. The route con­tin­ues across the road, through farm­land and across the River Don before return­ing along the minor road to Bellabeg.

2 miles 3.2km Uneven, rough grassy paths with mod­er­ate slopes, rough firm forestry Allow mod­er­ate ¹¹⁄₂ hours track and minor roads. Nar­row in places with gates. Based on Ord­nance Sur­vey map­ping with the per­mis­sion of the Con­trol­ler of HMSO © Crown Copy­right 2023. All rights reserved. Ord­nance Sur­vey licence num­ber 100040965. Map and text © Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 2024.