Loch Kinord – An Evening Walk and Pizza in Dinnet
A few hours.
The route
Loch Kinord sits among the birches of the Muir of Dinnet, a few miles east of Ballater, with a crannog and a castle island out on the water and a carved Pictish cross on its shore.
Walk out to the cross as the light softens at the end of the day, then drive the few minutes into Dinnet for wood-fired pizza at Kite in the old village post office. Dogs are welcome on the walk and at Kite.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Dinnet
A walk through the birches of the Muir of Dinnet to the shore of Loch Kinord as the day fades, and supper by the wood-fired oven in Dinnet.
About three hoursAbout 2 miles on foot
Loch Kinord
An attraction
The Burn o' Vat car park in the Muir of Dinnet nature reserve is on the B9119, just off the A93 a little west of Dinnet. The reserve asks for a voluntary contribution to park, by card or RingGo, and the toilets by the visitor centre are open all year. The Little Ord trail runs from across the road through the birches and over low ridges of glacial gravel, with glimpses of Loch Kinord through the trees.
25 min on foot
Kinord Cross Pictish Stone
An attraction
It's about 25 minutes' walk to the north shore of the loch, on narrow paths with tree roots that get muddy after rain. The Kinord Cross stands a few steps back from the water inside a low fence, its face carved with an interlaced cross more than a thousand years ago. Out on the loch, the larger wooded island once held a castle and the smaller is a crannog, an Iron Age island home. Walk back the same way while there's light: from November to February the sun is down by about 4pm, so come earlier in the afternoon.
7 min by car
Kite
Supper
Drive 7 minutes back down to the A93 and east into Dinnet for supper at Kite, in the old village post office. The walls are lined with salvaged timber, and the pizzas are Neapolitan, from dough made on site every day. It opens on Thursdays from 4pm, and Friday to Monday from 12.30pm, with last orders at 8pm, and it's shut on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There are no bookings: walk in. Dogs are welcome, and there are deli shelves to browse on the way out. If it's full, the Ghillies Bar at the Balmoral Arms, west along the A93 in Ballater, serves supper from 5pm to 8pm every day.
If it rains
In rain the birch paths turn muddy and the walk is short of views: go straight to Kite, which is indoors and warm, and save the loch for a dry evening.
Photograph by KITE via Google