The Balmoral Cairns Walk – Albert's Pyramid and Tarmachan Café
Across the Dee from Crathie, in the wooded hills behind Balmoral Castle, stand the cairns Queen Victoria raised for her family.
The estate's cairns walk passes eight of them: one for the buying of the estate in 1852, six for her children's marriages, and a great granite pyramid for Prince Albert. The day starts at Crathie, about eight miles west of Ballater and nine east of Braemar. It crosses the suspension bridge and climbs through the pines from cairn to cairn, with the pyramid as the high point and a view over Deeside. It's a full walk, about six miles with a steady climb. Then it's back down the hill to the Tarmachan Café at Crathie, a local favourite for good coffee, home baking and light lunches.
- Time
- Twenty minutes at the top. On its own, about two hours from Crathie and back.
- The path
- A steep, rough path through the pines, very muddy after rain.
- Where to start
- The estate's car park by the A93 at Crathie: £6, cash or card at the machines.
- Dogs
- On a lead from April to July, when birds nest on the ground.
- Children
- A steep last climb, and no bench at the top, only rocks to sit on.
- Before you set out
- The path to the pyramid stays open all year, in August and September too, when the rest of the cairns walk is closed.
The walk
The walk starts from the Balmoral estate's car park at Crathie, beside the A93. Most of the estate's cairns were raised in Queen Victoria's reign, for family events, and this circuit climbs to eight of them: about 9.5 km with some 370 metres of climbing, so allow three to four hours.
The paths aren't waymarked and are very muddy in places, and the phone signal is poor: wear boots and carry a map, food and drink. The estate shuts the full circuit in August and September, when only the path to Prince Albert's pyramid stays open.
If it rains
In steady rain the woodland paths turn to mud, the climb to the pyramid gets slippery and the views vanish in low cloud, so keep the cairns for a dry day. Crathie Kirk, where the Royal Family worship when at Balmoral, stands beside the car park and is open to visitors Monday to Saturday from April to October, 10am to 4pm, shut for lunch from 12.30 to 1pm. Royal Lochnagar Distillery is a short drive over the Balmoral Bridge and up Distillery Brae to its own car park, or 25 minutes' walk by the suspension bridge, and its tours are best booked ahead. Then lunch at the Tarmachan.
Along the way
50 min on foot
The Purchase Cairn
It's about 50 minutes' walk, 3.2 km, climbing steadily once over the river. A lane drops from the car park past the old kirkyard, where John Brown lies, to the suspension bridge. Along the road, turn up Distillery Brae for Royal Lochnagar, right over a small bridge, then left up the private road past the cottages. Princess Helena's cairn is up a rough path on the left; Louise's sits on a rocky knoll. The Purchase Cairn, for the buying of Balmoral in 1852, is a short detour to the right.
1 hr 15 min on foot
Prince Albert's Pyramid
It's about 75 minutes' walk on, 4.3 km, up and down between the cairns, then the day's steepest climb. A spur leads to Prince Leopold's cairn, straight above the castle, then a faint path on the right to Prince Arthur's and on through the pines to Princess Alice's. A steep path climbs to the pyramid on Creag an Lurachain, dressed granite begun in August 1862, the year after Albert died, by his "broken hearted widow", as its inscription says. It looks out over the pines and along Deeside.
15 min on foot
The Tarmachan Café
Walk 35 minutes back down past Princess Beatrice's cairn of 1885, through a metal gate onto the road you came up. Over the bridge, take the lane straight up to the A93 by the Highlanders Bakehouse, then walk five minutes east along the road, which has no pavement, to Quarry Studios. The Tarmachan serves speciality coffee, home baking and light lunches among the birches of an old quarry. The car is about 15 minutes' walk back afterwards.
Where to eat
The Highlanders Bakehouse, a café in Crathie, near Ballater.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Aberdeenshire.
For further reading, before you go.