skip to main content
Menu
  • Blog
    • Art & design
    • Castles
    • Cycling
    • Edinburgh
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • Food & drink
    • General
    • History
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Walking
    • Whisky
    • Wildlife
  • Castles
    • Glossary
    • Mottes
    • Stay in a castle
    • Castle blog posts
    • Alphabetical list of castles
    • Castles divided by county
    • Photos of castles
    • Castles we've visited
  • History
    • Castles
    • Ancient history
      • barrows
      • brochs
      • cairns
      • caves
      • chambered cairns
      • cists
      • crannogs
      • cursus monuments
      • forts
      • henges
      • rock art
      • sacred sites
      • souterrains
      • standing stones
      • stone circles
    • Pictish history
      • Pictish stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Pictish placenames
    • Clans
      • Surnames
      • Trace your ancestors
      • Tartan
    • Trace your ancestors
  • Culture
    • Music
      • Bands & musicians
      • Music links
    • Film
    • Television
    • Placenames
      • Pictish placenames
  • Eat
  • Drink
    • Scottish beer
    • Scottish gin
    • Scottish vodka
  • Stay
  • Travel guide
    • City guides
    • Car hire
    • Airports
  • Walking
    • Munros
    • West Highland Way
  • Photos
    • ancient sites
      • Dark Age sites
      • megalithic sites
      • other carved stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Roman sites
    • buildings
    • miscellaneous
    • places in Scotland
  • Offers
  • Home
  • blog
Four seasons in one day in Glen Turret

The BBC‘s weather forecast yesterday was predicting clear skies today, while the Mountain Weather Information Service this morning suggested clear skies before lunch, with a chance of snow showers in the southern central Highlands this afternoon.

I set off via Stirling to Crieff, then twisted my way around the edge of Macrosty Park and out to the Glenturret Distillery, where I turned onto the steep road up to the dam at the end of Loch Turret. There were several other cars in the car park, and as I set off along the rough track on the east side of the loch I passed a few folk walking their dogs in the other direction.

The weather was glorious, with bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds, although it was looking a bit darker at the far end of the loch.

For the first few miles the route follows a rough vehicle track along the edge of the loch, with Ben Chonzie visible for most of the time, although it’s snowy peak was disappearing in and out of cloud as I made my way along the path.

Several burns cross the track – none of them particularly deep in spite of the melting snow – before tumbling their way down to the loch in a series of small waterfalls.

At the end of the loch the track starts to rise gradually as it approaches the headwall of the glen, offering good views back along the loch.

Where the Turret Burn flows into Loch Turret there are several prominent glacial moraine deposits, which today were being picked out by the low winter sun.

Around this point the sun retreated behind the clouds and cold rain started to fall as I left the track and squidged my way up the boggy slopes to the west of Lochan Uaine. When I had been here in October last year the weather was glorious but it was still very marshy at the bottom of the headwall, so rather than take that route I decided to go via Biorach a’ Mheannain again.

The rain didn’t last for long, and as I made my way around the edge of the hill dozens of mountain hare – resplendent in their white winter coats – were running about the hillside, keeping their distance from me, but getting close enough for me to take a few photos.

The further around Biorach a’ Mheannain I went, the more snow there was – unsurprising as I was moving north. Once past the rocky crags on the east side, I started to scramble up the hillside virtually on all fours due to the steepness and the slippy snow. It was worth it for the views, although the colour of the sky was changing quite significantly the higher I climbed.

Just a short time later the cloud had lifted again and I was at the summit of Biorach a’ Mheannain looking at a magnificent view of Loch Turret, framed by the snow-capped hills that form Glen Turret.

The view over to Ben Chonzie was also good, nice and clear and with no hint of what was about to come.

I stopped on Biorach a’ Mheannain for some lunch before tackling the neighbouring peak, since the weather and view were so good. Just as I perched myself on a rocky outcrop a blizzard blew in from Ben Chonzie – it must have been approaching just behind the summit as it seemed to come from nowhere. I decided to try and sit it out since I was sheltered from the worst of it by the rocks, but half an hour later it had only got worse.

Unfortunately I had left my waterproof trousers in the car by mistake, and within seconds of emerging from my lunchtime bolt-hole my trousers were wet through and my legs freezing. So with regret I thought it better to head back down rather than to continue to the summit of Ben Chonzie, still a considerable walk away. Rather than return via the steep slope I had climbed up, I walked a few hundred metres north before starting to descend to the east. The view north towards Glen Almond was quite a contrast, with a hint of blue sky visible above the snow and clouds.

It was a lot less steep going this way, and after scaring a few more hares I was soon squelching my way down the boggy section at the head of the glen to get back to the relative dryness of the track, which would take me back to the car.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Latest blog posts

The three castles of Tolibothwell
7th of April 2020 •
Where to buy beer in Scotland during the Coronavirus lockdown
26th of March 2020 •
Cherry blossom in Edinburgh
23rd of April 2019 •
A dreich day of Dumfriesshire castles
13th of March 2019 •
Tweed Valley walks and Elibank Castle
30th of April 2018 •
Red squirrels at Eskrigg Reserve (and some castles)
6th of April 2018 •
Old and new Comiston Houses
29th of March 2016 •
Quintinshill rail disaster parade
23rd of May 2015 •
Cycling along Silverknowes Esplanade in Edinburgh
5th of April 2015 •
Solar eclipse in Edinburgh
21st of March 2015 •
more blog posts....

Blog categories

art & design

15 posts

castles

87 posts

cycling

24 posts

Edinburgh

67 posts

Edinburgh Festival

7 posts

food & drink

4 posts

general

41 posts

history

142 posts

music

2 posts

sport

4 posts

walking

57 posts

whisky

1 posts

wildlife

41 posts

Follow us on bloglovin'

Stravaiging around Scotland Stravaiging around Scotland

Most popular posts

Yester Castle and the Goblin Ha’
19th of June 2011 •
West Highland Way 2006 – Day 1
16th of July 2006 •
Ancient sites on Lewis
15th of June 2006 •
Calton Hill and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
19th of May 2013 •
Loch Turret and Ben Chonzie
21st of October 2006 •
Standing stones in Edinburgh
28th of August 2010 •
Doors Open Day Edinburgh 2012
24th of September 2012 •
Castles and Pictish stones in the north of Scotland
13th of April 2013 •
Hot air ballooning over Scotland
2nd of April 2009 •
Walking around Gosford House and gardens
20th of June 2014 •
more blog posts....

Blogroll

Ailish Sinclair

BikELove Scotland

Edinburgh Drift

From Hill to Sea

isleofronalog

Jardine's Book of Martyrs

Kelsey Jackson Williams

Marc Calhoun

Scotland with The Wee White Dug

Scottish Crannogs

Senchus

The Hazel Tree

The History Girls Frae Scotland

The Urban Prehistorian

Walkhighlands

  • Beer Gifts from Beer Hawk
  • advertisement
  • advertisement
  • advertisement

Related pages

A trek to the top of Schiehallion
A trek to the top of Schiehallion
Walking in the woods above Pitlochry
Walking in the woods above Pitlochry
Stormy Portobello and birdlife on the River Tyne
Stormy Portobello and birdlife on the River Tyne
An underground adventure in southern Midlothian
An underground adventure in southern Midlothian
Baby squirrels at Callendar House
Baby squirrels at Callendar House
Exploring the Carmichael estate
Exploring the Carmichael estate
Published on the 4th of March 2007 at 10:03 pm. Updated on the 4th of June 2017 at 11:55 pm.

Leave a comment

back to the top of the page

Connect with us

Like us on Facebook

Receive our newsletter

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Stravaig_Aboot
  • advertisement

Quick links

Stay in a Scottish castle
Edinburgh Festival accommodation
Hotels in Scotland
Car hire in Scotland
Places to eat and drink in Scotland
Castles in Scotland
Trace your Scottish ancestors
Scottish clans
Standing stones in Scotland
The Picts
Pictish symbol stones
Pictish placenames
Scottish bands and musicians
Scottish films
Scottish TV shows
West Highland Way

About

Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

Stravaiging around Scotland is written, photographed and researched by Andy Sweet.
read more....

Cookies

To make this site work properly we use cookies to store information on your computer. Click here to read more.
© 2003 - 2021 Andy Sweet / Stravaiging around Scotland. Powered by WordPress. Hosted by Tsohost.
%d bloggers like this: