Balnaguard Glen

The cottage was excellent and clean. The restaurant service excellent and the food was good.

Balnaguard Glen is a nature reserve managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. It is different to the walk up to Caisteal Dubh/Castle Dow which is further to the west, and which some other reviewers appear to have confused with this.Parking for the Glen is reached by a short drive along a track parallel to the road at the entrance to Ballintaggart Farm. From there you can access the reserve by walking up the east side of the field. When we did this there was electric fencing separating you from the cows. There are no formal paths in the nature reserve although there are some yellow waymarkers and a faint path. The path is very vague and boggy or grassy underfoot and climbs steeply up the hill. It often becomes so vague it isn't really there. Near the top there is a cup marked stone which is worth a look.We made a circular walk by walking south from the cup marked stone to the double-track path marked on OS maps and following this in a loop round to the other side of the village. This required some hacking through heather covered hillside and a stream crossing. Some ticks were picked up in the process so make sure you check yourself after or wear long trousers. It made for a 5km walk.The reserve itself is lovely mixed woodland. It may be more of interest to someone wanting to sit and watch nature rather than a family walk. There are waterfalls marked on the map but we didn't find an easy way to access them, although we didn't look very hard!

Stunning views

Die 6 km den schotterigen Forstweg zu laufen ist mehr nervig als entspannt, aber die Aussicht auf dem Berg und die Grundmauern vom Castle Dow entschädigen die Mühe wenigstens etwas. Die gestapelten Steine verleihen dem allen einen mystischen Flair.. zumal man dort oben ganz alleine ist. Die wenig vertretenen Wege zeigen auch, dass es nicht allzu viele Leute an diesen Ort zieht, obwohl er auf der Wanderkarte, die man bei Queen's View bekommt, als Route markiert ist.