The Linn of Dee – the Gorge, the Old Bridge and Lunch
A few hours.
The route
The Linn of Dee, up the glen west of Braemar, is where the young River Dee squeezes through a narrow gorge of rock under a bridge that Queen Victoria opened in 1857.
Look down into the gorge, follow the path along it under the pines, then drive down the glen to Braemar for lunch at the Bothy, a friendly café above the Clunie Water. It's an easy outing for families and dog walkers.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Darroch Learg in Ballater, 13 miles away.
The day
Braemar
Watch the Dee pour through its gorge among the Scots pines, then drive down the glen to Braemar for soup, a hot lunch or cake by the river.
About three hoursAbout 0.5 miles on foot
Linn of Dee
An attraction
Cross the bridge at the Linn and park in the National Trust for Scotland's car park just beyond it: pay and display, free to Trust members, with toilets from Easter to October. Walk back to the bridge, which Queen Victoria opened in 1857. Below it the river is squeezed into a channel of rock about 300 metres long, and the Trust's path along the gorge takes about 15 minutes. An hour here is plenty. Keep children and dogs well back from the edge, as the water is deep and fast and the rocks are slippery, and when the river is high, look from the bridge.
12 min by car
The Bothy Braemar
Lunch
Braemar is 12 minutes' drive down the road. Park at the Balnellan Road car park, free, with a voluntary payment by phone, and the Bothy is a couple of minutes' walk away on Invercauld Road, above the Clunie Water. It's a licensed café, open every day from 8.30am, serving breakfasts, brunch, lunch and homemade cakes. It's dog-friendly, with seats outside over the river. If it's full, Gordon's Tea Room, across the bridge on Mar Road, does soup and sausage rolls from Wednesday to Sunday.
If it rains
Rain does the Linn no harm: the river runs bigger and louder. Look from the bridge rather than the rocks, keep the walk short, and let lunch run long indoors at the Bothy.
Worth a detour
- Linn of Quoich
From the Linn of Dee the road carries on over the bridge and back east along the north bank of the Dee, past Mar Lodge, to the Linn of Quoich car park where the public road ends. From there it's about 15 minutes' walk through the heather to the Punch Bowl, a round hole worn into the flat rock of the Quoich Water, and the footbridge over the falls. Going there adds about a quarter of an hour at the wheel, plus the walk. The car park is the Trust's pay and display.
