Low level walks around Craig Leek & Invercauld

The Keiloch car park at the foot of Craig Leek is an ideal start point for exploring some of the magnificent scenery of Deeside, within the UK’s largest National Park and premier area of high wilderness, as well as for accessing some of the remoter Cairngorm hills. A managed network of signed paths and tracks provide access on foot and by bicycle to the low ground, the ancient routes through the glens and out onto the open hill. Situated on Invercauld Estate, it is also close to the historic Brig O’Dee, an old 18th Century arched bridge built by General Wade, and the Ballochbuie Forest famous for its pinewoods.

Please Note – a full colour leaflet is available from outlets in and around Braemar with map and route descriptions of each of the following routes.

Distance 5 miles/8 km. Time 3 hours. Grade Moderate. Waymarked route.
With pinewoods, an abandoned village and unrivalled views over Ballochbuie to Lochnagar and the upper Strath of Dee, this circumnavigation of Craig Leek is perfect for those looking for a longer walk.

1. From the recently provided car park, follow the tarred road until just before Invercauld House and take the track off to the right. The track now follows the old drove road to Tomintoul and it’s worth stopping and looking back westwards to the impressive views of the meandering River Dee and mountains beyond Braemar.
2. After 1½ miles, the track leaves the drove road and veers off to the right, where it opens out to provide good open views east to Lochnagar.
3. Once through the gap in the stone wall ahead, have a look out for the old settlement which once stood here. The paragraph on the map will tell you more. Round this side of the hill, you’ll find the ruins of the settlement of Balloch. Surveys have shown there were once 46 post-medieval longhouses built here surrounding a village green, a mill and corn drying kilns. Clearly it was a settlement of some substance.
4. The track continues downhill (keep right at any junctions and follow the cairns) and passes under Craig Leek’s limestone cliffs. Craig Leek is an island – a limestone island encircled by granite, and just like an ocean island, the plants that grow on Craig Leek can’t grow in the surrounding ‘sea’ and are protected from browsing animals. On the cliffs above you, lime-loving rarities grow, like the delicate yellow Alpine Cinquefoil and the hardy Purple Saxifrage.
5. Return through the scattered pine forest to the car park.
   

2) Keiloch Crag Walk

Distance 3¼ miles /5½ km. Time 2 hours. Grade Easy. Waymarked route.
A pleasant ramble through an old pinewood, rising deceptively high above the River Dee to offer impressive views.

1. Pull out signs along the way will tell you more about the glen’s unusual features. The first section of the walk along a quiet tarmac road towards Invercauld House is ideal for pushchairs or wheelchairs.
2. From the recently provided car park, follow the tarred road until just before Invercauld House and take the track off to the right.
3. A short way up this track, turn right at a junction and follow the green waymarked signs leading upwards. Look out for the limekiln ahead. Set in the hillside to the left of the track, this old limekiln is a lasting reminder of Deeside’s agricultural past. A pull out sign on site will tell you more. A few zigzags further on you come to the old fog house where you can sit and admire the view across to Creag Clunie and the Lion’s Face.
4. The route then levels out and runs alongside the hill, offering fine views of Invercauld’s ‘Designed Landscape’, before dropping down into the pinewood below. But what exactly is a Designed Landscape? Find out once you reach this viewpoint.
5. Return through the scattered pines to the car park.