The Linn of Quoich – the Punch Bowl Walk and Lunch in Braemar
A few hours.
The route
The Linn of Quoich is one of the loveliest corners of the Mar Lodge Estate, west of Braemar, where the Quoich Water rushes through channels in flat slabs of rock under old Scots pines.
A two-hour loop takes you past the Punch Bowl and over two footbridges, then it's into Braemar for soup and a sausage roll at Gordon's Tea Room, where dogs are welcome too.
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, 14 miles away.
The day
Braemar
A morning walk through heather and old pines beside the Quoich Water, with the dog, then lunch in Braemar.
About three and a half hoursAbout 3.5 miles on foot
Linn of Quoich
An attraction
The National Trust for Scotland's car park is where the public road ends on the north bank of the Dee, past Mar Lodge, and the way in is over the bridge at the Linn of Dee. It's pay and display, free to Trust members, and there are no toilets. The loop is about three miles and takes about two hours, with some climbing. It goes up through heather and young pines to the Quoich Water and along the river to the Punch Bowl, a round hole worn deep into the flat rock. Cross the footbridge, where Queen Victoria's little picnic lodge has been restored. The path then climbs on steps above the river to a second footbridge, and you come back down an estate track through old pines. Keep your dog on a lead by the water, where the rock is slippery and the river runs fast through its channels, and near grazing animals.
18 min by car
The Gordon’s Tearoom Braemar
Lunch
Braemar is 18 minutes' drive back over the bridge at the Linn of Dee. Park at the Balnellan Road car park, free, with a voluntary payment by phone. Gordon's Tea Room, run by the Fife Arms, is over the bridge on Mar Road. Dogs are welcome and there's no need to book. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, with soup from noon, sausage rolls, scones and cakes. On a Monday or Tuesday, or if it's full, the Flying Stag at the Fife Arms serves lunch from noon and welcomes dogs too.
If it rains
In heavy rain the Quoich runs high and the rock by the Punch Bowl is slippery: look from the footbridge, keep to the track and paths, and turn back the way you came if the river is over the path. Lunch is indoors at Gordon's.
Worth a detour
- Linn of Dee
You cross the bridge at the Linn of Dee on the way in, where the Dee pours through a narrow gorge of rock below the road. The National Trust for Scotland's car park is just over the bridge, and the stop adds barely a minute of driving: allow ten minutes at the gorge. Keep the dog on a lead by the edge.
