NSC Outdoor Adventures

Activities    Activity Breaks

Spittal of Glenshee - Kirkton of Glenisla

(Cateran Trail section 3)

Distance: 23km/14miles. 550m ascent.

Walk Duration: 8hrs
Spaces: Maximum 10, minimum 3.

Notes: Extremely Strenuous. Hillwalking gear required. Packed lunch and snacks required.

Maps: Landranger 43 & 44, Explorer 381, 387 & 388

Spittal is an old Scots word meaning a refuge for travellers. Somewhere they could find hospitality before or after they crossed the mountains. Glen Shee was a main route for Cateran raiding parties taking their herds of stolen cattle back into the more remote highland areas.  It was also, in those days, more heavily populated. The trail passes through the remains of many ferm touns (communal farming settlements) as it winds along the north-east of the glen before climbing over into Glen Beanie and from there to Glen Isla.  What else?  Three lochs, a castle, the ‘tomb’ of  a great Fingalian warrior, most likely some red deer and hopefully ‘hospitality’ at the end in the small village of Kirkton of  Glenisla.

Cateran Trail