Where Scottish Heritage is etched upon the landscape

“O Caledonia! stern and wild,
Meet nurse for a poetic child!
Land of brown heath and shaggy wood;
Land of the mountain and the flood!”
Lay of the Last Minstrel (Sir Walter Scott)

Map of Glen Finglas walk (Courtesy, Woodland Trust)	A glimpse of the Finglas Reservois

Just beyond the threshold of the small village of Brig o’Turk, near Callander, lies Glen Finglas, an area of wooded braes and glens in the Trossachs. Covering an expanse of over 10000 acres, it is the largest estate in the care of Woodland Trust, the conservation organization whose main target is to maintain the glen’s unique character. Glen Finglas is one of the last remnants of a type of woodland known as “wood pasture”, whose particular characteristics have evolved over many centuries of human association with the woodland – a veritable record of Scottish heritage etched upon the landscape. It provides the perfect destination for rambling amidst a suggestive landscape that has been originally carved by nature over the past millennia and later reshaped by generations of farming communities.

Climbing alongside the bracken-carpeted birch wood that covers the slope of Creag a’Bhlair, Gaelic for “the crag of the plain”, you’ll get the first glimpse of the Glen Finglas reservoir in its primeval setting of heavily wooded slopes and craggy peaks. A small island stands like the semi-submerged head of a giant, with a tuft of spiky pine-tree hair sprouting from its crown. The timeless feel that this stretch of water evokes belies the fact that this lake is still a geological infant, having been conceived during the 1960s, when the dam which had enabled the valley to flood and form an artificial lake was built.

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Dam overlooking the pine clad slopes that are to be shorn in 2010	BenLedi, ancient Druid place of worship

As you walk clear of the woods the extent of reservoir becomesapparent. Far ahead in the misty distance, the stretch of water snakesits way out of sight to slither between the towering masses of therounded Meall Cala peak and the rugged Meall Gainmheich – “the sandyhill”.

The footpath runs along the east side of the reservoir, where the landslopes gently to meet the water. The profound silence is sharper thanthe hubbub of a crowded city. Huge isolated boulders carried by theretreating ice sheets of the last great Ice Age, stand like petrifiedsentries watching over the glassy waters of the reservoir.

Across the stretch of water, the yellow knoll of Tom Buidhe stands out.It is the site where a hunting hall was built for King James II, duringthe 1400s. The Stewart Kings of Scotland were fond of hunting, and thewoods around Glen Finglas, teeming with deer and conveniently close totheir strongholds at Stirling and Doune, were favoured hunting grounds.To this very day, the bellow of the red deer stags still echoes amongstthe peaks during the autumn rut, reminding passers by that Finglas wasonce a Royal Forest.

The path runs past two lonely dwellings, Duart and Ben Ledi cottages,which lie in the shadow of Ben Ledi. The daunting peak, the highest inthe area, is known locally as “Hill of God.” According to legend, itwas an ancient place of worship for the Celtic druids. It is a logicalstep to imagine the smoky plume of the Beltane fire billowing from itssummit, to announce to the tribes dwelling in the glen the advent ofsummer, the pastoral season.

Cassaig Burn, beyond the cottages is flanked by ancient trees, mostlywater-loving alders, which have clung tenuously to the steep banks ofthis stream for hundreds of years – a livid reminder of nature’sperseverance. Further along the path, Glen Finglas gradually revealsitself to the rambler – an immense, wide-brimmed cauldron, scoopedthousands of years ago by the icy claws of nature. Its gently slopingsides are pleated as if a giant kilt had been laid on them. Each foldis lined by hundreds of individual trees, mostly alders, which from adistance make the glen look like the interior of an enormous ribcage.The white, serpentine stream that flows along the glen feeds the tip ofthe reservoir.

“Fair and green glen,” said the old inhabitants of their land, whenlong ago, it had been thriving with communities who tilled the soil andlived off the generous resources of the woods. Between the 15th and18th centuries, there were nine farming townships in the glen, eachconsisting of a cluster of farms surrounded by agricultural land,woodland and pastures. Black Highland cattle were the richest asset ofthese Highland communities and in summer, they were driven up to theshielings – highland grazing grounds. Changing agricultural methods andmodern ways of life led to the gradual abandonment of these ruralcommunities. Today, barely any trace of them is left, except for theparticular characteristics that the activities of those long-vanishedinhabitants inscribed on woodland, grassland and moor.

Of the notables who visited the glen, John Ruskin, the 19th centuryessayist, is perhaps the best remembered due to the dramatic eventsthat unfolded during his visit to Glen Finglas. Ruskin’s wife Effie,neglected by her husband, fell in love with Ruskin’s friend, artistJohn Everett Millais, who had accompanied them on their excursion todraw Ruskin’s portrait. The portrait, a masterpiece of Victorian art,captured Ruskin against a beautiful backdrop, described in his ownwords as a “lovely piece of worn rock, with foaming water and weeds,and moss…” A serendipitous, almost inevitable, love affair betweenEffie and Millais thrived on the fertile hunting ground of GlenFinglas.
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The cauldron of Glen Finglas – scooped by the sliding glaciers	The author and his son’s encounter with the Ranger’s wife and her Germain Wirehaired pointers

Ben Ledi Cottage, Woodland Trust property, is today the abode of theRanger, Ray Ridley, who together with other members of the WoodlandTrust, such as the estate manager and woodland experts, manage andmaintain the estate to ensure that its authentic and traditionalaspects are conserved.

“The Ranger’s main job is to cull the deer population in order toprotect the trees of the ancient woodland,” says Pam, the Ranger’swife. “In summer he also repairs the fences and does all kinds ofmaintenance work. He walks the fences every month to remove birds thathave flown and got stuck into the fences. Another of his tasks isextending the black grouse population. The hunt for black grouse was atraditional pastime. There is also a cowherd and a shepherd on theestate, as the Trust owns a herd of Scottish Luing, semi-wild cattlethat live on the hills.”

Two large, shaggy-haired dogs, reminiscent of the war dogs that theCelts took into battle, assist the Ranger in his work. “They are GermanWirehaired Pointers trained in Hunt, Point, Retrieve,” explains Pam.‘They smell deer and when they find it, they adopt a pointing posturewith their muzzle and paw.’

The high ground facing Ben Ledi Cottage, on the opposite side of thereservoir, is today covered by graceful pine-tree cover. The pineforest is to be shorn in 2010, when the Forestry Commission willharvest their crop, bringing about a drastic change in the appearanceof the hill known as Sron Armailte. The forestry people are toying withthe idea of building a footpath, which would allow hikers to circle thereservoir, but plans are not definite.

Seasoned walkers can also take the longer walk around Meall Cala, themiddle hill. The path runs along the whole length of Glen Finglas, thenround the hill and back to the reservoir through Glen Meann – anadditional 10 miles. The scenery along the route is stunning andincludes various types of glenside woods. The whole length of the walk,starting from Brig o’Turk, is about 16 miles and takes around 7 hoursto complete.
Glen Finglas is a secluded place, free from the din of modern society.The people who once dwelt in their clustered farms, growing oats andbarley on the fertile land and breeding cattle; living in symbiosiswith the surrounding ancient woodlands and upland pastures, havedisappeared. Their way of life has become extinct, supplanted by modernlifestyles that confine nature to the fringes of Man’s consciousness.It takes an effort for modern Man to rediscover his roots – the bondsthat tie him to the cycles of nature. Glen Finglas, where nature’ssculpture has fused with Man’s rural imprint, is a lasting reminder ofthose elemental ties.