Birnam Hill (King's Seat) from Birnam

Birnam Hill is the wooded hill above Birnam and Dunkeld in Perthshire, and its summit is called King’s Seat. Walkhighlands gives the height as 404m and says the hill is famed through Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which immortalised the oakwoods of its lower slopes. The Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust puts King’s Seat at 365m, almost 40m lower, and neither source says why. They differ over the Birnam Oak in the village too: Wikipedia says it is believed to be the only tree left from the Birnam Wood of Macbeth, the Countryside Trust one of the few, which is the more cautious wording.

Walkhighlands starts the circuit, on Ordnance Survey Explorer 379, at the old Birnam Quarry layby on the B867. The route passes under the railway and takes a signed path on the left that climbs steadily through mixed woodland, ignoring the path signed for the Pass of Birnam. It then crosses open heather moorland, which Walkhighlands calls a good area for spotting birds of prey, and climbs the flank of the hill to a large cairn at the highest point. A short detour to the left leads to Stair Bridge, an ornamental bridge built in the 19th century, which Walkhighlands describes as in a poor state of repair but a fine viewpoint towards Perth. The descent opens with a very steep rocky section that is short, crosses boggy ground, and re-enters woodland; a rocky outcrop on the right, Walkhighlands says, has a superb view over Dunkeld and Birnam to the Loch of the Lowes. It also says the walk can be joined from Birnam itself, by following the signs to the railway station.

The circuit is 6.25km with 374m of ascent and takes two to three hours by Walkhighlands’ reckoning; the Countryside Trust grades its version strenuous, at about 6.4km and two and a half hours, and warns of boggy patches in the open. Birnam Hill suits a walker who wants a waymarked summit in an afternoon. It does not suit anyone who dislikes steep descents, because Walkhighlands says the way down is steep in parts, nor a walker after a full mountain day. For a Corbett on a made path, Ben Vrackie from Moulin is the step up.