Walk 3

Saturday 4th October

Meigle - Coupar Angus Railway Walk

Easy

Distance:  10km/6miles, 25m ascent
Start:  Royal Hotel, Blairgowrie. 10:00

Finish:  Red House Hotel, Coupar Angus.  Bus leaves for Blairgowrie.  13:45
Limit: 25
Notes: Easy. Stout walking shoes and appropriate outer clothing, picnic snack optional.

Maps: Landranger 53, Explorer 381

 About the walk:  

Meigle is sometimes called the oldest village in Scotland. It certainly has more than its share of antiquities; with a famous collection of Pictish stones and nearby Roman camp.

At first the walk passes through the pleasant grounds of 18th Century Belmont Castle but the main aim, however, is to follow the route of the Perth to Forfar railway line to Coupar Angus. The line was closed to all traffic in 1982 so you will be in no danger! On either side, between the meandering River Isla and the Sidlaw Hills, is the fertile agricultural land of  Strathmore where countless generations of humans have lived, farmed and left 6000 years worth of archaeology.

Coupar Angus (which like the rest of the walk is actually in Perthshire!) lies at an important crossroads but really owes its existence to the mediaeval Coupar Abbey, which once owned and farmed much of the fertile land in the area.

 

 

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The old railway line at Camno
© Nick Cole