Glen Isla hills

North of Alyth and Blairgowrie, Glen Isla leads towards the southern Cairngorms and the Glenshee hills.

From Perth, follow the A93 north through Blairgowrie. Around 20km beyond the town, turn east onto the B951. After 5km, an unclassified road heads north up Glen Isla to reach a bridge over the River Isla.

On the eastern side of the bridge is a small parking area with space for a couple of cars, next to a Cateran Trail access point and information board. This is the start for the circuit.

From the parking area, there is right-of-way sign indicating the direction to Glen Prosen beginning by heading through a gate with deer-stalking information.

Through a gate, follow a fine estate track climbing gently uphill for just over 500m to a junction . Taking the left fork, a grassy track is followed past forestry and around Badandun's southern spur 'The Knaps'.

A further junction is met, this one marked with a post indicating the Cateran Trail heading east - take the left fork aiming north. The track rises onto Badandun Hill’s south-west shoulder, then turns northeast towards its summit.

The track meets with a wall just before reaching Badandun Hill's summit where a lonely trig point marks the top.

From Badandun's summit, the track turns eastwards and this could be followed. However, for a much shorter descent, leave the track and head northwest initially over heather. The heather gives way for a descent down a lovely grassy slope to cross Fergus Burn and meet a track .

The track is followed aside Fergus Burn downhill to meet with the forestry surrounding the buildings at Fergus. Before the forest , leave the track and trace a faint path through rushes heading directly downhill.

Re-joining the track as it emerges out of the forestry, the River Isla is then crossed by a bridge. Meeting with the road in Glen Isla , jog up it to its end at Auchavan .

Following the estate track behind Auchavan, some forestry is passed before the track begins to climb. Over around 1km, the track climbs and turns to reach a bealach at about a height of 600m. Leave the track here and turn right onto a fainter ATV track that climbs more directly through heather. The heather becomes more stunted as old fence-posts appear near the top, leading to Monamenach’s summit cairn , a messy pile of stones and weathered old posts.

From Monamenach, follow faint traces of path beside old posts aiming south-west. A flat peat-covered area is crossed before a slight rise gains the top of Craigenloch Hill with Duchray Hill is view ahead.

Turning southwards and crossing more heather, ground begins to drop more steeply. Aiming south-east to avoid the steepest of the ground, descend through deep heather with hidden divots to gain more level grass-covered ground.

Arriving at a rather damp col above Loch Beanie, a fence-line is crossed. Following the fence-line aside a wall, a faint path is traced travelling uphill on grass. The route ahead is straightforward with one little rocky notch gone under to gain Duchray Hill’s flat summit. The hill's top is marked by a cairn sitting close to a corner in the wall.

Return for a short distance and get onto the eastern side of the wall. Aiming eastwards, beginning to lose height on grassy ground and meet with a fence line aiming south-east. Follow the fence for around 500m or so to pass some steep ground on the left dropping eastwards.

Now onto the eastern side of the fence, drop down a delightful grass covered slope into Glen Beanie. As the ground begins to level further down, dense heather with more hidden divots needs negotiated. Beanie Burn is then crossed to reach a track heading down the glen.

As the track nears the roadside in Glen Isla, a deer fence appears - take the first gate which leads through woodland and by the houses at Dalvanie - the more obvious gate (the second gate) which is closer to the roadside, was locked when I was here.

On the road, a pleasant jog of just over 1km returns to the car park by the bridge over the River Isla.

Continuing south-west from Duchray Hill and following the wall, Mount Blair could be included in a circuit with these hills. However, further down the hillside, recently planted forestry would need trotting over, and after up-and-down Mount Blair, there's around 3km on tarmac to return on. So Mount Blair is best hiked separately - the route up it couldn’t be more obvious !

The start point is 2km back along the road at the high pass between Glen Isla and Glenshee. Parking is available 300m west at the entrance to forestry tracks.

From the roadside gate , an obvious track climbs steadily, runnable almost throughout. Around halfway up (at about a height of 550m), pass through a gate in a fence, then continue on a rougher track up the heather-clad hillside. After a further 200m of ascent, the summit is reached, marked by a trig point, cairn, and a mast. A circular wall surrounds a metal viewfinder (now rather faded), and inside a plaque commemorates local folk. The views from here are superb.