Creag an Tuirc – The Boar's Rock above Balquhidder
About 2.5 miles on foot.
Creag an Tuirc, the Boar's Rock, is the knoll above Balquhidder's kirk, or church, where the Clan MacLaren once gathered.
A short, steep path climbs from the kirkyard where Rob Roy is buried to a cairn and a bench with the whole glen and Loch Voil below. It's a short climb with a big view, with lunch in Strathyre on the way back to the main road.
- Time
- One to two hours: about 4 km (2.5 miles) from Balquhidder kirk to the Clan MacLaren cairn on Creag an Tuirc and back. A short, steep hill walk.
- The path
- A forest track, then a steep path to the knoll.
- Where to start
- Limited parking by Balquhidder kirk, below the church.
- When to go
- All year in daylight.
- Dogs
- On a lead near sheep and cattle in the glen.
- Children
- Steep in places: fine for children who walk steadily, not for a pushchair.
- Toilets
- None at the kirk; the nearest café toilets are at the Broch Café in Strathyre.
- Before you set out
- Steep overall, by the National Park's own words: wear boots.
The walk
Park by Balquhidder's kirk, below the church, where the National Park says parking is limited. Rob Roy MacGregor is buried in the kirkyard, beside the roofless old kirk. The National Park gives the climb to Creag an Tuirc as about 4 km, one to two hours, on a forest track and then a steep path, signed with green signposts and arrows.
The name means the Boar's Rock, and this grassy knoll above the village was the gathering place of the Clan MacLaren. At the top there's a memorial cairn and a bench, and the view runs west up the glen to Loch Voil, with the Braes of Balquhidder rising steeply above the water. It's steep overall, so wear boots and take your time coming down.
Keep dogs on a lead near sheep and cattle, and be quiet in the kirkyard if a service or a funeral is on.
If it rains
A short climb that is fine in light rain, but the view goes in low cloud and the steep path is slippery when wet: in poor weather see Rob Roy's grave in the kirkyard and go straight on to lunch.
Afterwards
About 5 min by car
The Broch Cafe
Lunch
Lunch is at the Broch Café on the main road through Strathyre, back out of the glen and a few miles south on the A84. It's a family-run café open from 10am to 4pm every day except Wednesday, with freshly made food, good coffee and cakes, and gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian choices. Dogs are welcome, and there are seats indoors and under cover outside, with a carved Highland cow at the door. It closes for a break in midwinter, so check its Facebook page from December. If you'd rather stay in the glen, Monachyle Mhor at the far end of Loch Voil serves a bar menu from noon every day.
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 Monachyle Mhor, 6 miles away.
Where to eat
The Broch Cafe, a café in Strathyre.
For further reading, before you go.
Photographs by Coconut Island Drones via Google; brochcafe