📌 Glen Clova, Angus
★★★
🛠️ Start of route (Jock’s Road through Glen Doll) blocked by storm damage, but can be avoided by using Dounalt Road on the south side of the glen instead. Path along River South Esk south of Moulzie also blocked, but avoidable by remaining on main track (checked March 2024)
Sometimes walks are all about the journey rather than the destination, and so it is for this circuit from Glen Clova. Tolmount is the high point but this lumpy Munro will never win any prizes for scenic drama, looking no more than a minor bulge from the approach. The approach along historic Jock’s Road through Glen Doll more than makes up for the 958-metre anticlimax though: an excellent path threading its way up onto the moors amidst stunning, craggy walls – just as impressive as nearby Corrie Fee but much quieter. On return, the valley carved by the South Esk (and presumably also a glacier) is also equally wonderful, characterised first by long flumes where the burn flows over rocky outcrops, then opening out as you round a spur to reveal lush grassland stretching away to the distant Glen Clova forests.
📷 Chronological photo guide
The Scorrie – view from the start 
Glendoll Forest 
White Water 
Glen Doll 
The Lunkard (centre), head of Glen Doll 
View back down Glen Doll 
Burn of Fialzioch & Craig Maud (left) 
Davy’s Bourach 
Crow Craigies, looking east 
Looking west 
Ptarmigan 
Loch Callater from Tolmount 
Loch Esk from the return, Broad Cairn beyond 
Descent towards Glittering Skellies 
River South Esk – the return route 
Rapids near Bachnagairn 
Moulnie Craig 
River South Esk 
River South Esk 
River South Esk 
Flood plain near Moulzie 
River South Esk entering Glendoll Foresr
🌍 Location
📌 Start / finish at minor road end, head of Glen Clova
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NO 284761
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.870660,-3.176630
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Car park (charge)
📝 Key info
▶ 22 km / 14 mi | ▲ 790 m | ⌛ 6.5-7.5 hr
Features: 🌲 Glen Doll; 🐎 Jock’s Road; 🏚️ Davy’s Bourach; △ Crow Craigies (920 m); △ Tolmount (958 m, Munro); 💧 River South Esk
⬤ Tough | Tracks then excellent path to Davy’s Bourach, then becoming fainter and intermittent beyond with some boggy sections. Return path from junction north of Cairn Lunkard is faint in places with a couple of boggy stretches, though intermittently waymarked with posts. Good tracks and paths beyond Bachnagairn.
Download file for GPS➡️ Clockwise circuit with extension to summit: start – Glen Doll – Davy’s Bourach via Jock’s Road – Crow Craigies – Tolmount – return to path junction north of Cairn Lunkard – Glittering Skellies – Bachnagairn – cross footbridge at 🧭 NO 2777789 – Moulzie via east bank of South Esk – cross footbridge at 🧭 NO 282774 – start via west bank
🥾 On our last visit
Wildlife: Deer on Sandy Hillock above Bachnagairn, seen from descent at Glittering Skellies. A few ptarmigan on the plateau.
Weather: Good sunny spells although with large clouds around; warm and dry with a welcome breeze higher up.
June 2012
