Backmuir Wood – Half an Hour on Gravel to the Big Beech
About 1.2 miles on foot.
Backmuir Wood lies between the villages of Muirhead and Liff, on the north-west edge of Dundee.
The Woodland Trust owns it and has waymarked a short, gentle walk through it to a great beech tree that is the heart of the wood. The path is firm gravel, the walk is 2 km, and it takes about half an hour.
- Time
- About half an hour: a waymarked loop of 2 km (a mile and a quarter) on a firm, wide gravel path, gentle with one moderately steep section.
- The path
- A firm, wide gravel path, generally gentle with one moderately steep section. The entrances are pedestrian gates or gaps at least 1.2 metres wide.
- Where to start
- The Woodland Trust's free car park at the southern end of the wood, about 1 km down Liff Road from the A923 at Muirhead. It holds around 12 cars and has a height barrier of 2.1 metres.
- When to go
- All year in daylight. The gravel path stays firm from mid October to March, when the other paths in the wood are muddy; the leaves colour in autumn.
- Dogs
- Welcome.
- Children
- Short, gentle and on gravel.
- Toilets
- None at the wood. The nearest, with an accessible toilet, are at Camperdown Country Park, about 3 km towards Dundee.
- Before you set out
- The other paths in the wood are unsurfaced.
The walk
Backmuir Wood sits between the villages of Muirhead and Liff, on the edge of Dundee. A waymarked walk, signed with yellow arrows, makes a gentle loop through it on a firm, wide gravel path. The walk is 2 km, a mile and a quarter, and takes about half an hour.
There is one moderately steep stretch, and the rest is easy going. The thing to look for is the big beech, a great old tree that the whole wood seems to gather round. It is a good place to stop with a flask or a picnic.
The wood is a mix of old broadleaved trees, conifers and open glades, and red squirrels live in it. If half an hour is not enough, there are more than 8 km of paths here in all, and some join the wider network of paths in the Sidlaws. Those are rougher underfoot than the gravel loop.
If it rains
The gravel loop drains well and the trees keep off a shower, so it is a fair walk for a damp day.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
For further reading, before you go.
Photograph by malcolm scott via Google