(185) Moulin-Pitlochry Dam-Edradour Circuit (Perthshire)

Route Summary
A varied walk with wonderful rural and mountain views throughout, taking in some of Pitlochry’s key attractions in the natural and man-made environment. The ascent back to Moulin from the River Tummel is gentle and undemanding.

Duration: 3 hours.

Route Overview
Duration: 3 hours.
Transport/Parking: Pitlochry has good rail and bus links. Check timetables. There is free parking at the walk start/end point outside Moulin Hall.
Length: 10.1 km / 6.28 mi Height Gain/Loss: 189 meter.
Max Height: 196 meter. Min Height: 75 meter.
Surface: Moderate. Tarred surfaces, good tracks and paths. Not suitable for off-road mobility scooters due to a number of kissing gates.
Difficulty: Easy.
Child Friendly: Yes, if children are used to walks of this distance and overall ascent.
Dog Friendly: Yes, but keep dogs on lead on public roads and near farm animals.
Refreshments: There are options in Moulin and Pitlochry (Moulin Hotel recommended).

Description
This route is a good introduction to walking in and around the famously scenic Perthshire resort town of Pitochry. The walk starts and finishes in the pretty little conservation hamlet of Moulin, now effectively connected to Pitlochry on its northern boundary. As the initial section of the route heads west towards the town’s golf course, a wide-open vista opens up to the surrounding hills and forests, with the sharp peak of the hugely impressive Ben Vrackie dominating, above you. After descending on a grassy golf course perimeter path, we reach the delightful Cuilc Pond, before dropping further to meet the tranquil wooded shores of Loch Faskally, created by the Pitlochry Dam. The Dam is then crossed, offering superb views of the loch and the River Tummel. Passing the celebrated, and much visited, fish ladder at the Dam, our next stop is the Pitlochry Festival Theatre at Port-na-Craig, before crossing the old iron suspension footbridge that replaced the former ferry boat. After a wooded section, we arrive at Pitlochry town centre at the eye-catching Memorial Garden. After heading out the Perth Road for a stretch, the route then wends uphill through mature woodland to the Black Spout waterfall, its 60m drop particularly impressive after heavy rainfall. Open views to the surrounding hills once again open up on the path to the attractive white-washed former farm buildings at Edradour Distillery. The smallest traditional whisky distillery in Scotland, it still uses pre-modern methods and equipment. As at July 2022, the visitor centre is currently closed. In the final section of the route, more open walking with tremendous views leads us past the ruins of the Black Castle of Moulin, destroyed more than 500 years ago during a wave of the Bubonic Plague (Black Death). Pitlochry is largely a Victorian town, which developed into a Highland tourist resort with the arrival of the railway in 1863. It is a popular centre for sight-seeing, hill-walking, and mountain-biking.

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

Advertisement