The Abbey Craig Walk – Cambuskenneth, Wallace and a Spa Town
A day on foot, from Stirling station to Bridge of Allan station.
The route
The Wallace Monument stands on its crag above the Forth, in sight from all over Stirling, and this is the day that walks there.
It starts at Stirling station and follows the river to the footbridge over to Cambuskenneth. There the bell tower of an abbey founded around 1140 stands in the fields, and James III lies buried. A farm road over the fields and the streets of Causewayhead lead on to the foot of the Abbey Craig. The Wallace Way climbs through the woods to the Monument, for 246 steps and a view of the castle and the loop of the Forth. After lunch below the crag, the walk goes round Airthrey Loch in the university's grounds. Then it drops into Bridge of Allan, the Victorian spa town, for its park, Henderson Street and the Allan Water, and the train home. It's about 7 miles on foot, with one steep climb.
Before you go
Book the National Wallace Monument
Online before you set off, for a time slot that suits your day.
The day
Abbey Craig
A day on foot out of Stirling, over the Forth to Cambuskenneth's abbey and up the Abbey Craig to the Wallace Monument. The afternoon comes back down the crag and goes on round Airthrey Loch, into the old spa streets of Bridge of Allan and over the Allan Water to the train home. Set off from Stirling station a little after nine.
Cambuskenneth Abbey
An attraction
It's a 21-minute walk from Stirling station, over the railway and through the streets to the footbridge. Across it, Cambuskenneth sits in a loop of the river, the abbey's bell tower over the field. David, King of Scots, founded the abbey around 1140, Robert the Bruce held a parliament here in 1314, and James III lies in a tomb Queen Victoria paid to restore. The abbey is open from April to September; from October to March, see the tower from the footbridge.
40 min on foot
The National Wallace Monument
An attraction
The walk to the tower takes 40 minutes, through Causewayhead by the roads to the car park, never the rough paths up the crag's south side. The Wallace Way climbs steeply past its carvings, taking up to 20 minutes. Inside, 246 narrow steps with no handrail pass the sword said to be Wallace's on the way up to the Crown, the open top, above the loop of the Forth and the Old Bridge, near where Wallace won the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.
30 min on foot
Airthrey Loch and the University of Stirling
An attraction
It's a 30-minute walk from the Monument: down the Wallace Way to Legends café for lunch, then through Causewayhead and over Spittal Hill into the University of Stirling. Airthrey Loch was made for Airthrey Castle, built in 1791 to a design by Robert Adam and still standing at the loch's east end, with the Ochils behind. Follow the water west to the Pathfoot Building, where the university's art is free to see on weekdays, and look for the sculpture in the grounds.
23 min on foot
Bridge of Allan
Twenty-five minutes on past the Pathfoot Building and down Old Sheriffmuir Road is Bridge of Allan, the spa town of stone villas laid out after 1850. You come in at the Pullar Memorial Park. Henderson Street, the main street, runs west past its cafés and, from Tuesday to Friday, the Fotheringham Gallery's Scottish painting, to the Allan Water, the river the town is named for. The station is a 23-minute walk from the park, just over the river, with trains to Stirling in four minutes.
If it rains
Under a roof: the Monument's three halls (only the Crown at the top is open to the weather) and Legends at its foot, every day; the Pathfoot Building's art on weekdays; and the Fotheringham Gallery from Tuesday to Friday. At the weekend both galleries are shut, so in steady rain take longer over the Monument and lunch, see Airthrey Loch from the Causeway, and finish in the cafés on Henderson Street. The abbey's field is muddy after rain, so wear strong shoes. After heavy rain or a very high tide, Abbey Road and the lanes through Cambuskenneth can flood: if SEPA has a flood warning out for Riverside and Cambuskenneth, leave the abbey for another day and walk to Causewayhead by the Old Bridge. For tired legs, the UL bus runs back to Stirling from outside the Monument's car park and from the university.
Where to eat
Legends at the Monument, a café in Stirling.
Photograph by John Dinsmore via Google