Loch Callater (March)

PLEASE NOTE: The GPX trace on this route is for use as a guide only, its accuracy may change depending on the scale of map you are using. Use in combination with judgement and a paper map. We have taken all reasonable steps to ensure these walks are safe and correctly described. However things do change and all outdoor activities involve a degree of risk. The publishers accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions or for any injuries or accidents that occur whilst following this walk. Trail magazine, Copyright Bauer Media Limited.


NO155882 The walk starts at Auchallater 3km south of Braemar where the estate has a car park. It’s pay and display, and overnight parking is allowed as this is the start point for several long walks including Jock’s Road, which takes you through to Glen Doll and Kirriemuir to the south-east. The car park has an interpretation board that tells the story of Jock’s Road, which is worth a thought as you walk to Loch Callater. Jock Winter fought the landowner in Victorian times for the right to walk this ancient drovers’ track, a battle that he won in 1888, but which bankrupted both theScottish Rights ofWay Society and the landowner. 

NO163862 It’s a beautiful glen that was definitely worth fighting for. Pausing here by the wooden bridge over the Callater Burn reveals a real Cairngorm atmosphere. You never climb very high on this route, but heather-clad slopes rise all around, rock tumbling in streaks from the rounded summits. The reclining crags of Creag na Dearcaige look coolly impressive to the north. 

NO166853 The whole walk is by the water, a pleasant and noisy companion as it rumbles past. Here a track branches over the river to your right and leads over the ridge to the A93 as a possible circular route for another day. But the dark mountain shapes loom on the horizon ahead, pulling us towards the still unseen loch along a long, almost level sweep of easy-going track. 

NO177844 Lochcallater Lodge and its bothy are currently in good repair, and in this wild and lonely place the bothy is as good a spot for sheltering for lunch as it is for getting a bed for the night. There were three horses here on my last visit, very friendly – but hang onto your snacks. The loch lies just beyond the buildings, a dark stretch of water with a string of Munros at its head. Cross the bridge and follow the track on the south side of the loch with Carn an Tuirc to your right and Tolmount blocking the way ahead. 

NO188835 The river at the head of the loch is wide and quite deep. There isa ford used by estate vehicles; but if it’s in spate or if you have any doubts about the crossing, return to the lodge on the south side of the loch. On the north side of the loch the track cuts right on its way south as Jock’s Road, and we turn left where the track flows through the heather, with gravelly beaches by the loch here and there. As you again reach Lochcallater Lodge look for a track rising to your right and remember it for another day:it’saback-doorwayto Lochnagar that bypasses the tourist route from the east. Follow the track back to Auchallater, and thank Jock and others like him for the freedom we have to do walks like this.