The Meall Circuit

The Meall Circuit is a roughly 27 km (16.75-mile) loop from the Glen Finglas Visitor Gateway, circling Meall Cala through the reservoir edge, Glen Meann and a high pass marked by a cairn at 600 m. Allow about seven hours; the route climbs about 720 m in total. It follows Meall Cala’s lower slopes rather than climbing the hill itself. Choose it for a full day that moves from a waterfall viewpoint and reservoir road into remote upland; it is a serious outing, not a casual leg-stretch. The easiest direction is anticlockwise.

From the Visitor Gateway, follow the gravel path north up Lendrick Hill. It climbs through woodland before opening to views over Loch Venachar. Keep to the main route at forks. Purple markers help on the approach, but remote stretches are not waymarked, so their disappearance is not a sign to stop. A signed spur reaches a waterfall viewpoint. After the path crosses a bridge and passes a gate, the dam comes into view and the route joins the estate road beside the reservoir.

Turn right along the road and pass gates, a house and farmland. A viewpoint with a prominent tree trunk and a stone compass set into the ground makes a good pause before the track forks. Take the right-hand branch signed for the Mell Trail, then follow it up Glen Meann. The change from wooded paths to a working estate road and finally open hillside is a large part of the walk’s appeal; the grazing ground is dotted with old trees in Glen Finglas’ wood-pasture mosaic.

The track climbs gently through the length of Glen Meann, with the valley opening toward the hills, then steepens for the final rise. The path crosses the exposed, bleak ground called Moine nan Each, “Bog of the Horse,” and reaches a small cairn at about 600 m. Take a moment to look back across the glen before the long, steep descent into Glen Finglas. This high pass is the walk’s defining stretch; the climb and descent matter more than the peak number.

The reservoir comes back into view on the way down. Cross the stream by its bridge, pass an ancient area of woodland and continue through gates to the water. The route rejoins the reservoir-side track used earlier, so you see it from the other direction before turning left after the last gate and climbing back over Lendrick Hill. Near the woodland, take the left-hand path by the boulders to return to the bridge and Visitor Gateway.

Start at the main Lendrick Hill car park beside the Visitor Gateway, about 0.8 km east of Brig o’ Turk on the A821. The lot has more than 20 permanent spaces and around 20 additional seasonal spaces. The Gateway has an accessible toilet and printed estate maps; no food service is listed, so bring food and water. Long stretches are remote, some are unmarked, and both the climb and descent are steep. Strong footwear and a map and compass are sensible here.

Dogs are welcome. Keep them in sight and under control, and on a short lead around livestock and ground-nesting birds; cattle graze in the estate. If the high circuit is too much, the separate Lendrick Hill & Dam walk covers the hill, waterfall viewpoint and dam in about 6 km and two hours, without the remote pass.