Cateran Trail
A 64-mile circuit of the glens north of Blairgowrie, following the old drove roads of the Perthshire cattle country
Indicative — sampled from open terrain data along the simplified route.
The Cateran Trail is a circular route, which makes it unusual among Scotland’s long walks. It begins and ends at Blairgowrie in Perthshire and loops north for 64 miles through Strathardle, Glenshee and Glen Isla, over moorland, farm track and quiet minor road, before returning down through Angus. Because it is a loop with no fixed start, it can be joined at any of the villages along the way — Kirkmichael, Spittal of Glenshee, Alyth — and walked in either direction, usually over five days.
The name comes from the caterans, bands of Highlanders who raided these glens for cattle between the Middle Ages and the 17th century. Much of the path follows the drove roads they and the later drovers used to move animals through the hills, so there is a genuine historical thread to the route rather than a modern one laid over the map.
The walking is moderate. There is nothing technical and no summit to speak of, but the middle of the trail crosses open, exposed country where you can go a long way between houses, and the section over the hills into Glen Isla is the most remote. It makes a good introduction to Scottish hill walking for anyone not yet ready for the West Highland Way.
Blairgowrie is reached by bus from Perth and Dundee, both on the rail network, though the trail itself passes no station. The scenery is Highland-edge rather than high mountain — heather moor, forestry, the ski road climbing Glenshee — and in late summer the surrounding fields are given over to raspberries, the crop Blairgowrie has grown commercially for well over a century.
