(060) Auchterarder Circular (Perthshire)

Route Summary
This gentle circuit acquaints you with the small town of Auchterarder, famous for its very long High Street, and nearby golf courses. You will also appreciate the fine countryside views, particularly towards the Ochill Hills. Be aware, one section adjoins the busy A9 road.

Duration: 2 hours.

Route Overview
Duration: 2 hours.
Transport/Parking: Fairly frequent Stagecoach bus service (#19), from Perth. Check timetables. On and off-street parking available in the centre of Auchterarder.
Length: 6.870 km / 4.29 mi
Height Gain: 109 meter
Height Loss: 109 meter
Max Height: 58 meter
Min Height: 132 meter
Surface: Smooth. The route takes in a mix of paved surfaces and hard-surfaced paths.
Child Friendly: Yes, if used to walks of this distance and overall ascent.
Difficulty: Easy.
Dog Friendly: Yes, on lead on public roads and near farm animals.
Refreshments: There are a number of options in Auchterarder.

Description
This easy route leads us on a way-marked circuit of Auchterarder, a small town located north of the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinross, and home to the world famous Gleneagles Hotel and golf courses. At places during this very pleasant walk there are good views of the Grampian Mountains to the north and north-west, and a particularly fine view of Craig Rossie, in the Ochill Hills to the south and east. Auchterarder is an old weaving town, known as the “Lang Toun” because of the length of its High Street, which drops gently from west to east, and provides the opportunity to enjoy unusually good views of the surrounding countryside. It attracted world-wide attention and accompanying political protests in 2005 when the G8 summit was held at the 5 star Gleneagles Hotel and Golf complex. In medieval times, Auchterarder was known as ‘the town of 100 drawbridges’, arising from the narrow bridges leading from the main street across wide gutters to the doors of the houses. The name Auchterarder first appears in a royal charter of 1227. For a time, it was the most important settlement in Strathearn, and Auchterarder Castle, whose scant ruins lie to the north of the town, was used as a hunting lodge by Malcolm III in the latter half of the 11th C. A Jacobite army, under the Earl of Mar, burned the settlement to the ground in 1716, and from then, the town was always in the shadow of Crieff in terms of regional importance. However, it prospered again in a modest way due to the rise of the handloom industry in the later 18th C, and employment from textile mills in the 19th C. Golf tourism is now a major source of revenue for this very scenic area.