Route Summary
This is a short and easy walk, with very limited overall ascent, in the scenic Mid-Deeside countryside. The intriguing Glassel Stone Circle is a memorable feature of a varied and pleasant route, that takes in fine open views, a newly created wetland, mature woodland, and a mixed farming landscape.
Duration: 2 hrs.
Route Overview
Duration: 2 hours.
Transport/Parking: There is a free car-park at the Torphins Wetlands just outside Torphins. See Waypoint 1 in our PDF guide for directions. Stagecoach bus services from Banchory. Check timetables.
Length: 5.35 km / 3.32 mi. Height Gain/Loss: 36 meter.
Max Height: 134 meter. Min Height: 110 meter.
Surface: Moderate. A mix of tarred surfaces, hard-surfaced and rough paths. The circuit is not immediately suitable for off-road mobility scooters due to rough and narrow sections on the woodland path from Waypoint 2 to Waypoint 5. See alternative route to connect to Waypoint 5 in the note and map at Waypoint 2 in our PDF guide.
Difficulty: Easy.
Child Friendly: Yes, if children are used to walks of this distance.
Dog Friendly: Yes, but keep dogs on lead on public roads and near farm animals.
Refreshments: Options in Torphins and Banchory.
Description
In recent years a section of the Beltie Burn, near Torphins, has been “de-canalised” to create a meandering area of pools and boggy wetlands, returning the land to the way it probably was before the agricultural improvements in the 18th and 19th centuries. “The burn and surrounding wetlands have really come into their own since the site was restored … with a host of habitats and species now thriving here” [Dee Catchment Partnership]. Additionally, the Torphins Paths Group have been instrumental in obtaining an “Improving Public Access” Scottish Government grant to help create an impressive hard-surfaced 2km “multi-user” path, with interesting information panels, which runs eastwards, close to the wetlands and the Burn, before entering Dam Wood, and reaching the minor road to Glassel. There are plans to continue developing the path as part of a proposed 10km route between Torphins and Banchory. A significant section of our outward route utilizes this new track, before diverting to the Glassell Stone Circle, and reaching the minor Glassel road by a different woodland path. In a little clearing, on the edge of a natural embankment, the stone circle is in a fairly tight oval setting of five granite pillars, with the stones all under 1 meter in height. This setting has been compared with the similar small circle at Image Wood in Aboyne, and may be from a transitional phase between Neolithic recumbent stone circles and Bronze Age “four-poster” circles. After a short section on the minor public road, passing the striking red-painted Glassel Public Hall building, close to where the Deeside railway station once stood, the return section, on good roads and tracks, passes through gently rolling farmland, with marvelous open views over the rural scene and to the surrounding hills, finishing with a pleasant descent from Easter Beltie to overlook the Wetlands. See the Torphins Paths Group website here: https://www.torphinspathsgroup.org/
Links:
Photos from walk
Download Route Guide (PDF with illustrated Waypoints)
Download GPX file (GPS Exchange Format)
Access Walk on OutdoorActive
Access Walk on OSMaps
Access Walk on Alltrails
Access Walk on Wikiloc
The Mack Walks 