Corrie Fee

Corrie Fee is a bowl-shaped mountain hollow carved by glaciers, high at the head of Glen Doll, with a waterfall dropping over the far wall into the Fee Burn. The Fee Trail reaches the lower view after a 3.5 km walk from Glen Doll; the full return route is about 7.5 km, 203 m of ascent and 2 to 2.5 hours. It’s worth the effort if you want a close look at a dramatic corrie, but this is a proper uphill walk, not a quick roadside stop.

Start at Glen Doll car park and Ranger Base. The route begins on forest tracks and narrows to an uphill footpath as you reach the reserve entrance, where the bowl and its waterfall come into view. The lower view is a satisfying turnaround point. The path continuing up beside the falls is steeper and rocky; reaching Mayar beyond it needs hillwalking experience, equipment and navigation.

From the entrance, the steep headwall wraps around the corrie and the waterfall sits at the far end. The Fee Burn winds across the floor below it. If you climb the path beside the falls, turn around for a view back over the corrie. For a photo, include the waterfall at the back of the bowl to keep the whole amphitheatre in the frame. Wet weather swells the burn; the falls can freeze in winter.

Glaciers repeatedly excavated Corrie Fee over millions of years. The last glacier flowed from the plateau ice cap over Mayar into Glen Doll about 12,000 years ago. Low fluted moraine ridges in the woodland below and fragments on the slopes are debris the ice left behind as it retreated.

The corrie’s amphibolite and limestone-rich rocks weather into calcium-rich soils. They support Scotland’s most extensive natural montane willow scrub, as well as alpine plants that have survived here since the last ice age. Look beside the path for blue-sow-thistle, mountain saxifrage, globeflower and wild angelica; mid-May to mid-July is the best stretch for alpine flowers. Golden eagles and peregrines may also pass over the high crags.

From Kirriemuir, take the B955 to Clova Hotel, cross the small bridge and continue 5 km to Glen Doll car park. The Ranger Base has visitor displays and local walk leaflets, public toilets including a 24-hour accessible toilet, and picnic tables on the grass beside the car park. Those facilities are at the start, before the uphill walk.