Blairgowrie Walks - KIRKMICHAEL TO LAIR

Scottish

Towns

Kirkmichael to Lair

Length: 5 miles (one way)
Height climbed: 590ft./179m
Grade: B
Parking: Very limited, road verge etc.
Toilet facilities: Kirkmichael

Kirkmichael is a small village situated in Strath Ardle, 12 miles north of Blairgowrie. The path to follow for this walk is signposted to one side of the Kirkmichael Hotel on the main street. At first this path is easily followed but it quickly becomes less clear, so you must make sure of reaching Glenshee by the most direct route.
After leaving Kirkmichael the path follows field boundaries until it reaches a small stand of conifers and crosses the last fence by a stile. There is now a wide stretch of grassland before you, on a gradual incline and with no obvious path in sight. To stay on route, look for the three stands of conifer trees at the top of the hill ahead. Set a course to pass just to the left of the right hand group. When you have reached the far end of this stand of trees you will see a farm track which cuts hard right brfore turning towards a number of buildings (including Ashintully Castle, a large house built around an original 16th century tower) in a group of trees. Ignore this track and head straight across the wide glen of Allt Menach before you, aiming to the left of the castle. If you look to your left here you will see the ruins of another old 16th century keep, Whitefield Castle, overlooking the glen.
Once beyond Ashintully you will join a farm track which passes to the left of two small lochans, before splitting in two. Follow the right-hand track, leading to a small hut on a hill above Coire a'Bhaile, the upper glen of the Ennoch Burn. Across the burn below there is a footbridge, with a stile over the fence beyond it.
Once you have crossed both of these, look up the slope and to the right where you will see a wooden post with a yellow top. This is one of the waymarks which will now lead you around the spur of the hill: across the watershed between Lamh Dearg and Cairn and down alongside the burn to Lair, joining the A93 through Glenshee. Be prepared to navigate yourself as these posts are occasionally uprooted, either by cattle or by the weather.
Blairgowrie is 13 miles south on the A93.