Scottish

Towns

Falls of Bruar

Length: 1.5 miles Height climbed: 400ft./120m Grade: C Parking: Car park at foot of walk Toilet facilities: Bruar car park (April-October) Bruar is a small group of houses some eight miles north-west of Pitlochry, just off the A9 to Inverness. Its most remarkable feature is that, in the Baluain Wood which clothes the hill behind it, there is a particularly beautiful river gorge, celebrated in poetry by Robert Burns in 1781. He went on to complain of the lack of trees along the river, but with this flaw now remedied the spot is surely as picturesque as the poet could have wished for! This is a relaxed walk around a truely picturesque spot. Parents of young children are advised to keep their charges under strict control due to the path, in places, running very close to the edge of steep cliffs. The car park is situated next to the Clan Donnachaidh Museum. This museum tells the history of the Robertsons - at one time a powerful clan in the district. The walk itself, clearly signposted, starts beside the museum, runs up under the railway line and on through mixed coniferous woods on the cliff edges which overhang the Bruar Water. Because the water passes over rock here, the water is surprisingly clear, not having the peaty colour usually seen in highland rivers. This enables you to see more clearly the complex patterns cut into the rock by the fast flowing water. There are two major falls on the river, both crossed by footbridges, with a small picnic area just above the upper falls. Do not be frustrated if the trees seem, at first, to obscure your view of the upper falls on the return journey; a short way down the east side of the glen there is a viewpoint which gives a splendid prospect of the major element of the falls - a 30ft direct drop with the stone footbridge balanced over it.

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