Corrie Fee Trail

Corrie Fee Trail is a 4.35-mile out-and-back from Glen Doll car park to the viewpoint at the entrance of Corrie Fee. The signed route follows a broad forest track before narrowing to a footpath that climbs beside the Fee Burn. Allow about 2½ hours for the return walk and a look around. The payoff is an open view into a steep glacial bowl, with a waterfall at its head and rocky crags above; it is a satisfying half-day walk without turning into a Munro outing.

Start at the Angus Glens Ranger Base and follow the forest-walk signs past Acharn, keeping left at the first fork and straight at the next junction for Corrie Fee. The wide track passes through mixed woodland and follows White Water before the final stretch becomes a narrower, steadily rising path. There is a small stream crossing near the end. At the forest edge, pause for the view into the corrie; the normal route turns around here and returns the same way.

The marked path is about 3.5 km one way to the reserve entrance, so this route counts the same distance back. A roughly 7.5 km circuit also returns beside the south side of White Water; that adds a different path, while this map retraces the signed route. Beyond the viewpoint, an optional 1.5 km unmarked climb continues through the corrie toward the plateau. It is steep and rough, with cross-drains and short unguarded boardwalks, and can be slippery or icy. Treat that as a serious hillwalk, not a little extra stroll; it is excluded from the route and distance here.

Corrie Fee and neighbouring Corrie Sharroch were excavated by glaciers. A small glacier occupied Corrie Fee around 12,000 years ago; as the ice retreated, it left the ridges, hummocks and scattered boulders across the corrie floor. From the viewpoint, look along the Fee Burn to the falls on the headwall and notice how sharply the rock walls curve around the bowl. Fee is linked to the Gaelic word for deer, while Sharroch is linked to a word for willow.

This reserve protects rare arctic-alpine plants and Scotland’s most extensive naturally established montane willow scrub. Globeflower, bog asphodel and alpine lady’s mantle grow close to the path; mid-May through mid-July is the best window for flowers. Dippers use the burn, while golden eagles, peregrines, ravens, ring ouzels, twite and mountain hares also live here. Keep an eye out, but treat these as possible sightings rather than a checklist.

The approach uses part of Jock’s Road. In the late nineteenth century, an estate owner tried to stop walkers crossing the route; a local walker, John Winter, challenged the closure in a dispute that reached the House of Lords and helped shape Scotland’s right-of-way law. It is a good reminder that this glen has a long history of people arguing for the right to walk through it.

Glen Doll car park is beside the Angus Glens Ranger Base. The base has an accessible toilet open 24 hours a day and picnic tables on the grass; there is no food service on the trail. Glen Clova Estate’s bar and restaurant are a separate stop down the glen. Dogs may use the public route when kept under proper control. In forest and moorland during ground-nesting bird season (usually April through July), keep them close at heel or on a short lead, and do the same around farm animals.