Crieff

Why base here

Crieff is a market town of 7,142 people at the 2022 count Wikipedia gives, on the A85 between Perth and Comrie, and Walkhighlands calls it the main centre of population in Strathearn, with the Highlands to its north and the rounded Ochils to its south. For centuries, Wikipedia records, Highland drovers brought their black cattle here for the October Tryst, when the fields and hillsides round the town would be black with some 30,000 beasts; Highlanders returning from Sheriffmuir burned most of the town in 1716, and James Drummond, 3rd Duke of Perth, laid out James Square in 1731. The spring water made it a Victorian resort, and the hydropathic that opened in 1868 is still the Crieff Hydro. The stays listed here run west towards Comrie and south past Drummond Castle to Muthill.

The case for sleeping here is a town with shops and buses, a hill of its own and a Munro in each direction by car. It is not the closest bed to either. Walkhighlands puts Ben Chonzie on the moorland north of Crieff, but its usual start is up Glen Lednock from Comrie, and Ben Vorlich starts on Loch Earn beyond St Fillans. A week spent on those two hills is better spent in one of those villages; a mixed week, with a wet day and a rest day in it, suits Crieff.

On foot versus by car

The Knock is the town hill. Walkhighlands gives 6.1km and 200m of ascent in one and a half to two hours from the Knock car park, on straightforward paths and tracks to a viewpoint indicator looking south over Strathearn to the Ochils and west to Ben Vorlich and Stùc a’ Chròin, then over the A85, where Walkhighlands warns the traffic can be very fast, and back by a road signed for Highlandman Loan, a reminder of the drovers. The Hosh circuit, 4.7km from the same car park, is one of several the Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust has waymarked; it passes the Glenturret distillery and a stone well of 1874 from the spa days. Lady Mary’s Walk, which the Countryside Trust says was opened to the people of Crieff in 1825, follows the Earn under an avenue of oak, beech and lime and joins Laggan Hill in a 9km circuit from the distillery. The River Earn path to Muthill is 9.75km, nearly flat, and a bus comes back.

The hills need a car. Ben Chonzie’s Glen Lednock start is reached through Comrie, where Walkhighlands gives 12.5km and 712m of ascent in four to five hours. The lane up Glen Turret reaches the Loch Turret dam, the start of Walkhighlands’ Auchnafree Hill, a Corbett, at 18.25km and 623m; Walkhighlands also sketches Ben Chonzie’s east side from the dam as a longer route over rougher ground needing more experience, without figures. Heading for the Scottish Hills says Invergeldie Estate, which holds Ben Chonzie’s south and west slopes, manages deer all year and welcomes hill users, and has no stalking information for Auchnafree Hill. Ben Vorlich, from Ardvorlich on the south side of Loch Earn, is 14.5km and 1,145m with Stùc a’ Chròin.

Practicalities

There is no railway: Wikipedia records that Crieff’s station closed in 1964. Stagecoach runs routes 15 and 15A from the town to Perth, the 15 on to Comrie and St Fillans, and Wikivoyage names Perth as the most convenient station; Gleneagles is nearer by road. Perth and Kinross Council lists free car parks at Leadenflower Road, Union Terrace and The Meadows, and charges in James Square. Neither Ben Chonzie start has a bus.

With children

MacRosty Park, on the west side of the town, is the place to start: Perth and Kinross Council lists children’s play areas, a Victorian bandstand, a café and easy walks, and says the view runs across Strathearn towards Ben Chonzie. The Knock and the Hosh are Walkhighlands’ easiest grade, on paths and tracks from the same car park. Lady Mary’s Walk is the riverside stretch of the Laggan Hill circuit, though Walkhighlands warns that one later path on that round can be overgrown in summer.