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A walk to Ryvoan Bothy by the Green Lochan
A walk · Aviemore

Ryvoan Bothy – Past the Green Lochan to the Thieves' Road

About 5 miles on foot.

The Glenmore Visitor CentreStartRyvoan BothyWhere you turn

Ryvoan Bothy is a one-room stone bothy with a rusty red tin roof, standing on its own at the head of the Ryvoan Pass above Glenmore, on the old Thieves' Road north to Nethy Bridge.

The way there runs through ancient pine and birch forest and past the Green Lochan, and lunch is back at the start in the Allt Mor Café. It suits anyone happy on forest tracks for a morning.

Time
About three and a half hours, with time at the lochan and in the bothy.
The path
Gravel forest road and track, with some short, fairly steep slopes on the forest part.
Where to start
The Glenmore Visitor Centre car park, on the ski road just past Loch Morlich, PH22 1QU. The community trust runs it and charges; Forestry and Land Scotland passes are not valid there.
When to go
All year.
Dogs
Under close control, and on a lead from 1 April to 31 August where signs ask, for the birds that nest on the ground; the bothy stands on an RSPB reserve, where restrictions can apply at nesting time.
Children
For children used to a walk on forest tracks. There is open water at the lochan: keep children close at its edge.
Toilets
In the visitor centre while its café is open; toilets open at all hours a minute's walk away, near the bus stop in Glenmore village. None on the walk.
Before you set out
Wear boots and bring waterproofs and warm layers. Fires and barbecues are not allowed in Glenmore Forest Park.

The walk

This walk starts and ends at the Glenmore Visitor Centre and runs through the forest to An Lochan Uaine, the Green Lochan, then on through the Ryvoan Pass to Ryvoan Bothy and back the same way: 7.9 km in all. Allow about three and a half hours, with time at the lochan and in the bothy. The trail's own page has a route card with a map as far as the lochan.

Outside the visitor centre stands a memorial to Kompani Linge, the Norwegian resistance fighters who trained in these forests in the Second World War. The pinewood beyond is one of the best places to look for crested tits and Scottish crossbills.

An Lochan Uaine lies under a slope of grey scree, its water a startling green; the old story is that the fairies wash their clothes in it. Just over a kilometre on, the trees thin out in the Ryvoan Pass, a channel cut by glacial meltwater, and the bothy stands on the open heather at its head. Ryvoan was a farm until 1877, when it was abandoned, and the Mountain Bothies Association renovated it in 1967. Inside is a whitewashed room with a stove and a sleeping platform, and by tradition a copy of A. M. Lawrence's poem about the night train north from Euston is kept on the door.

The walk turns at the bothy: in October a section of the way on to Nethy Bridge was closed beyond it while work went on, and Forestry and Land Scotland's Glenmore page has the latest. Trees damaged by the July 2026 wildfire still stand in places, so keep to the forest roads and waymarked trails, above all on a windy day. In winter, set off with three hours of daylight in hand.

If it rains

Rain does the gravel tracks little harm, and the bothy is a dry place to stop at the far end.

Afterwards

  1. Allt Mor Café

    Allt Mor Café

    Lunch

    Lunch is back at the start, in the Allt Mor Café inside the Glenmore Visitor Centre, a few steps from the car. The community trust has owned the centre and its café since November 2024, and the refurbished room serves coffee, cakes, breakfast rolls and lunches seven days a week; the visitor centre's website gives the day's hours. Dogs are welcome inside, and there's no need to book.

    More about Allt Mor Café

Before you go

  1. Book accommodation nearby

    If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.

    The nearest of ours is Park Cottage in Kincraig, 9 miles away. Sleeps 6; next free Fri 30 Oct to Sun 1 Nov.

    Then The Hayloft, 13 miles away. Sleeps 2.

Make it a weekend

Days that start near Allt Mor Café.

CairngormsMeall a' Bhuachaille and lunch at the Winking Owl.CairngormsThe Green Lochan with the dog and lunch at Route 7.CairngormsA walk to the Green Lochan on the Ryvoan Trail.
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.

Photograph by charlie just charlie via Google

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