Heritage Walking Weekend Brings
Strathglass and Glen Urquhart’s world-class walking to the world
By
Robin McKelvie
I’m as guilty as anyone for
sometimes underrating the world-class walking charms of Glen Urquhart and
Strathglass. I spend a lot of time in this spectacular part of the world, but
never really hone in on the hiking. It’s superb news that a new walking
festival, the Strathglass and Glen Urquhart Walking Festival, is opening up the
best of the myriad local routes. With heritage guides involved to help walkers
delve into the area’s rich history, and the walks all free of charge, it’s a
brilliant event that aims not to just attract visitors into the area, but also
to engage the local community and get them donning their walking boots too.
The festival will showcase an
area that could scarcely be more scenic. Yes, of course, there are the world
famous charms of Loch Ness, including her famous monster, but that is the
point. The area is about far more than Scotland’s most celebrated monster. This
after all is a corner of the country where a sweep of long distance walks come
together: the Great Glen Way from Inverness to Fort William, the Loch Ness
360°, and also the Affric Kintail Way, which sweeps off from Drumnadrochit and
Cannich in search of the mountains of Kintail.
“Our area is a real crossroads
for walkers,” explains Russell Fraser of the Loch Ness Hub. “It is the fulcrum
around which a clutch of long distance walks revolve. Here you can walk every
single day of the year and not get bored and we indeed get visitors who come
back to hike every year. We want to embrace that, share the area with the world
and also bring in our local residents with a strong community-inclusive focus.”
Soirbheas – a community
development charity who cover Glen Urquhart and Strathglass – are behind the
festival. They are working with Strathglass Heritage Association, Glen Urquhart
Heritage Group and Loch Ness Hub to develop this pilot walking festival, with a
“vision to create a walking festival that will become an annual event that will
take place in the tourism shoulder season”. The focus is an inclusive one
trying to motivate local people who maybe don’t walk regularly to get out and
explore their local area, encouraging everyone to improve their health and
wellbeing by getting active outdoors and – longer term – showing people the
opportunities when they adopt walking and/or cycling into their lives as an
actual means of active travel, not just leisure.
Part of the reason that the
Strathglass and Glen Urquhart area works so well for a walking festival is its
rich seam of history and culture, as well as, of course, its close proximity to
the Highland capital – and only city – of Inverness, with its recently opened
airport railway station. The Strathglass Heritage Association and Glen Urquhart
Heritage Group are key to helping run the heritage themed walks, which aim to
have someone from the group on each of the routes, as well as a walking guide.
A flurry of fascinating key sites
have been chosen as part of the local heritage trails project that will feature
in the programme of guided walks and also the talks led by local people with a
keen interest in the bountiful local history. These talks include one
illustrated talk on the Davoch of Clachan and another on the excavation of
Comar Wood Dun. The remit is broad as the festival will also delve into the
rich built environment and the natural world, and indeed how historically they
interact with one another and continue to do so today. Local people will also
be encouraged to reconnect with their local environment and to become more
involved in protecting it for future generations.
The walks have been chosen to be
in the main easy to moderate, a mix of lengths ensuring the event is more
accessible to all experience levels and fitness abilities of walkers, bringing
families with young children into the fold, as well more mature ramblers less
keen on longer distances.
The Loch Ness Hub, a
visitor information centre incorporating Loch Ness Travel, will be at the heart
of the action. They will be ferrying walkers around to get to and from some of
the walks, which they have a lot of experience in as they offer Great Glen Way
baggage and shuttle transfers, as well as transport within the community. The Hub
will also be on hand to help walkers with information on the self-guided
trails, which are very much part of the festival too. Loch Ness Hub have
a real focus on slow and sustainable tourism and wish to ensure that the
community they represent is the best it can be for locals and visitors alike.
There are some real highlights in the walk programme. The Heritage Trail around Drumnadrochit is a 3.5 mile exploration of this fascinating Highland village, taking in the Village Green, Bradley Martin memorial, Blairbeg public hall, the Church of Scotland, the old school, Old Kilmore burial ground, East and West Lewiston, and Balmacaan to Cnocan Burraidh. The Chisholm Trail at Struy delves into the history of the Chisholms of Strathglass on a 4 mile walk through significant landmarks associated with the clan. At the other end of the glen, where Strathglass meets Glen Affric, the history of the Victorian model conservation village of Tomich will be explored followed by the ruins of Guisachan House, synonymous with the golden retriever breed founded there more than 150 year ago.
The Corrimony 2.5 mile walk looks
great too. You’re spirited off in a bus run by the Loch Ness Hub to Corrimony
bridge, where you follow an unclassified road past the old school, church, and
on to Corrimony Chambered Cairn. There are other sites en route, but I’ll leave
some surprises for you. Another corker is Dhivach Falls, a six mile walk that
takes you from the Loch Ness Hub car park to Ivy Bridge and then on to Divach
Lodge, before a return to the Hub car park, via a visit to Divach Falls –
depending on the weather and the condition of path.
With so many great route options
– all of them free – the first ever Strathglass and Glenurquhart Walking
Festival looks
certain to be a massive success. With the walks themselves, the talks
afterwards and the buzz that will propel the village for the whole weekend, it
will be a great time to be in Cannich, Drumnadrochit and the surrounding area.
If you are unlucky enough not yet to live here now is the time make some travel
plans, and if you’re local it’s time to get those boots on. What are you
waiting for?
*The
inaugural Strathglass and Glenurquhart Walking Festival will run from Friday 24
March – Monday 27 March 2023. All the walks in the programme are free in the
inaugural year. The Strathglass and Glenurquhart Walking Festival is not the only
event really looking to get people active in the area this year. On April 15
Pedal Power bursts into life in Drumnadrochit, Drumnadrochit Green and the Loch
Ness Hub. The varied programmes see a trio of E-bike tours backed up an MTB
tour as the last event of a busy day. Handily bike rentals will be available,
best booked in advance, though there will be a few E-bikes and mountain bikes
available to hire on the day. All levels of cyclists are welcome, including
families. Look out too for a variety of stalls where cyclists can meet other
likeminded souls and enjoy some well-earned quality food and drink. You can
learn too more about the sport, its clubs and how to get more into cycling in
all its forms. There will also be a Dr Bikes Session running throughout the day
at the Loch Ness Hub, where there will also be a screen promoting UCI X 2
(Velocity and 42 Cycling), as well as pump tracks for kids, with an instructor
available.