Cutting right through the Ochil Hills, Glen Devon gives easy access to plenty of good walking. The round of Glen Sherup is one of the better high level routes in the area, an enjoyable mid-length circuit that takes in some decent summits, and offers a mix of forestry, new growth native woodlands, and open grassy hilltops. There are superb long range views, and the encroaching windfarms really don't spoil things too much.
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Height Profile
metres / Distance
miles
Detailed description
1
NN9718405166 Follow path beside burn, then up a slope to enter forestry plantation. Take a forest track gradually uphill for nearly 1km. At a signpost for the Reservoir Trail turn right off the track onto a path down to the dam at Glensherup Reservoir. Cross the dam to meet a track on the other side, near a house.
2
NN9628304363 Turn right to head back north towards the mouth of Glen Sherup, following the road for about 500m. Turn left, alongside a fence. Cross the fence at a gate and stile, and take the grassy track uphill. This part of the glen is managed by the Woodland Trust Scotland, who are working to re-establish the native woodland, as part of a wider project in Glen Devon that has planted around 1.5 million trees. Once above the trees, leave the track to make a direct ascent onto Ben Shee, the smallest but most mountain-like of the walk's summits. On a clear day there's an extensive view of the Southern Highlands.
3
NN9518903902 Descend west to rejoin the track, and continue up the long ridge of Mailer's Knowe. The track skirts left of the high ground on Scad Hill, and here it's worth instead following an obvious footpath up the broad crest. Pass a large boulder on the brow of the hill and continue up onto Cairnmorris Hill.
4
NN9337401676 Cut hard left to descend to a boggy saddle under Tarmangie Hill. Pass through a gate in a deer fence and follow the left side of the fence line up steeply onto Tarmangie Hill's grassy summit. Continue either side of the fence/drystone wall along the ridge, enjoying some of the widest views of the day, onto the big grassy plateau of Whitewisp Hill. It's possible to skirt far left of the high point, but worth bagging the cairn in passing.5
NN9550901347 From the summit cairn take an obvious trail north, handrailing a fence downhill to the forest boundary. Follow this, and then go along the broad ridge of Bentie Knowe. Woodland Trust Scotland are re-planting here too, and the scattered saplings will one day make a lovely high level woodland. Pass a little sheltered 'seat' built into the side of a crag to reach the summit cairn of Innerdownie, another nice spot.
6
NN9665903126 Continue east-northeast down the ridge, following an old wall, and soon meeting the forest boundary. Follow this along the broad heathery ridge, ignoring a couple of ladder stiles that lead into the pine plantation on your left. At a fork in the path go left, soon passing through a gate to enter the woods. The trail cuts downhill along a tunnel-like fire break through the dense dark pine wood to reach a forestry track.
7
NN9745004091 A waymarker indicates a left turn here: follow the track on a long meandering descending traverse through the woods and large areas of clear felling. Having turned the northern foot of Innerdownie, you eventually meet the Reservoir Trail signpost of stage one above the Glen Sherup reservoir dam. Stay with the main track to return to the car park.
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Difficulty: ModerateDistance: 10.13 miles (16.30 km)
Total ascent: 646m
Time: 5 hours (Walking)
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Additional Information
Start/Finish:Glen Sherup FCS car park just off the A823 Glen Devon road, NN971052
Nearest town:
Dollar
Terrain:
Forest tracks and hill paths, boggy in places.
Seasonal variations:
May be a viable option in hostile winter weather, when conditions on the proper mountains are too marginal.
Weather and Hill Conditions: mwis: Cairngorms & Monadhliath – Met Office: West Highlands
Guidebooks:
The Grahams and The Donalds (SMC)
Maps:
OS Explorer 366 (1:25,000), OS Explorer 367 (1:25,000), OS Landranger 58 (1:50,000) Directory Listings:
Find more Listings near this route Tourist info:
Auchterarder (01764 663450); Alva (08707 200 605); Stirling (Royal Burgh) (08707 200 622)
Further Routes
by Dan Bailey UKH
I've always done it in the opposite direction. Perhaps I should try anticlockwise some day, but not just yet - given the weather we've been having, it'll be very boggy at the moment.
Interesting, ta - it's a good circuit that for some reason seems to have become markedly more popular in the past three years or so. That can't just be because of the big Glensherup car park (parking in Glen Devon used to be tricky), as that was built quite a few years ago now. I'm rather hankering after these hills from the Devon side as they're currently beyond the legal driving limit from Stirling - the five-miles-beyond thing re the council area happily gets me from Stirling to Tillicoultry or Blackford, but not to Dollar and round the corner (although I recently walked to Innerdownie and back from Tillicoultry).
As the previous poster suggested, the circuit tends to be more often done the other way round, probably because the long gradual slope off Mailer's Knowe / Scad Hill can be a bit of a grind going up but is a stroll coming down. The route suggested also omits the pretty standard short way through the trees to/from Innerdownie. If doing it the way suggested, rather than "ignoring a couple of ladder stiles", cross the second one into the trees as this brings a path (getting slightly sitka-encroached at the top, but not too bad) which brings the big bend in the forest track pretty quickly - it cuts off a corner compared with going down further then in sideways.
Re the "little sheltered 'seat' built into the side of a crag" just west of Innerdownie summit, my understanding is that this isn't really a crag as such, rather a quarry (similar to the one at the top of Colsnaur), as the hut - which still has walls but no roof - was used by the men who built the wall along the ridge. I'm not 100% sure of the details but I believe the builders were the father and possibly uncle of the two Shand brothers, Willie and Graham, who appear at nos.82 and 83 in the list of Munroists. The Shands were Crook of Devon people.
The other way to finish if doing it anticlockwise is to stay on the outside of the trees right down towards Burnfoot then follow the good paths and tracks back to Glensherup via the old campsite etc - that's become my favourite way of finishing these days, particularly if just climbing Innerdownie and wanting to make a little circuit of it.
Does that have good paths all the way from Burnfoot to the car park? Every time I drive through the glen I think that a riverside path would be just the ticket.
Yes - although you need to follow your nose a bit as there are various junctions. Am just about to dash out for an attempt at Christmas shopping - arrrgh! - but will endeavour to describe said route when I get back.
Hmm, I don't think I had any particular rationale for doing it that way round, though I see it's been described clockwise elsewhere. Fife's enough of a mud bath at the moment, think I'll leave boggy hills for a while