Parking
The route starts where the access track to Upperton leaves the public road at Smithyford. No parking area is identified. This is a point-to-point walk ending at Cabrach; plan your return transport before setting out.
Overview
About Road to Glenbuchat
Why go
- A rare old crossing with the Lifting Stones and shieling remains along the way.
Heads up
- Faint tracks across open ground make confident navigation essential.
- One-way logistics need planning; no parking or return details were found.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cairngorms map
Full mapElevation308–491 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Cairngorms alerts
- CautionStorm Boelo high windsStorm Boelo will bring extremely windy weather to the Cairngorms; take extra care and limit time outdoors. - The Park Authority expects the very windy weather to last until Monday 26 October.Official details
- ClosureGlenmore wildfire closures and dangerous treesWildfire damage has closed Allt Mor car park and the path to Sugarbowl/Utsi’s Bridge; keep out of the closed area.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Cairngorms Tour Guide
Your drive to Road to Glenbuchat, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cairngorms National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Cairngorms audio tourRecorded for this area
The Foxglove Before the Flowers0:00 / 0:34
“A foxglove can spend a whole growing season as a low circle of leaves. Those leaves are oval, hairy and toothed along the edges.”
Plays on the road 1.3 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Cairngorms Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Pond’s Surface Hunters
- A Robin’s Winter Territory
- Old Fields Beneath the Grass
- Torrancroy and the Ladder Road
- 298 audio storiesacross Cairngorms’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, Reindeer, Osprey, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 260 trails, 90 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Road to Glenbuchat
Smithyford to Cabrach, one wayThis is a 12 km (about 7.
This is a 12 km (about 7.5 mi) point-to-point crossing from Smithyford to Cabrach over open upland. Allow around five hours on foot; that is a practical estimate, and faint tracks can slow you down. It suits walkers who want a quiet historic crossing and are confident navigating outside a clearly visible path. It does not return to Smithyford, so arrange transport from Cabrach before setting out.
The line is faintFrom Smithyford, follow the access track toward Upperton, keeping east of White Hill to a 466 m…
From Smithyford, follow the access track toward Upperton, keeping east of White Hill to a 466 m col east of Creag na Gamhna. At NJ 361 203, leave the main vehicle track for an obscure line past a mound of boulders called the Lifting Stones. Cross Roch Ford at NJ 365 210 and use the gate in the deer fence about 50 m east. Rough ground leads to a track between Backie Hill and Broomknowe of Garbet, then the route continues along Keirn’s east side. The better-described finish drops past Gauch to the east end of the Steplar, followed by roughly 3 km on a narrow public road to Cabrach. The more direct Balvalley Moss option has not been surveyed recently.
An old crossing between glensThis route links Cabrach with Glen Buchat; remains of shielings show how important it was, and…
This route links Cabrach with Glen Buchat; remains of shielings show how important it was, and it may also have carried drovers. The Lifting Stones were used in lifting contests between farm youths from the two glens. At Well of Cul-dearg, a historical account says seven people died at the spring in 1740, possibly from famine or fatigue. Davidson’s Cairn, a small white-quartz cairn near the route, marks where a poacher died in 1843.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Cairngorms
159 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
63 sightingsReindeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
102 sightingsOspreyMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
37 sightingsBlack GrouseMost seen around 4 AMSighting map
72 sightingsRed GrouseMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
82 sightingsPine MartenMost seen around 9 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cairngorms. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
