Walk: Alva Glen – Smuggler’s Cave delivers the goods

📌 Ochil Hills, Clackmannanshire
★★★★

The southern wall of the Ochil Hills is riven by a series of exciting rocky gorges, in stark contrast to the neighbouring plains of the Forth valley. Alva Glen is as dramatic and scenic as its counterparts, filled with a series of at least five waterfalls in its forested lower reaches. Small reservoirs and dams are testament to the Hillfoots Villages’ once thriving textile industry; at one point the path also lies on top of the pipe which used to supply Alva with water. Smuggler’s Cave is the glen’s other unique feature: a yawning chasm of bare rock with a hidden waterfall at the top of it as the burn squeezes into the upper cavern. If you’re as sure-footed as the sheep wandering the hillsides then you can get right down to the cave, and also return to the start on Pate’s Road: a narrow trod high above the gorge. There’s a lot of steep and dangerous ground around here, so it’s probably inadvisable to venture off the paths.

📷 Chronological photo guide

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish at top of Brook Street, just north of Alva village centre

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NS 884975

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.156997,-3.797612

🚌 Bus to Alva

🚗 Car park

📝 Key info

▶ 3 km / 2 mi | ▲ 200 m | ⌛ 1.5 hr

Features: 🌊 Alva Glen & waterfalls; 🌊 Smuggler’s Cave

⬤ Moderate | Good path in gorge, steep and narrow further up and for return – occasional hands needed to descend to the cave (optional).

➡️ Anticlockwise circuit: start – Alva Glen – Smuggler’s Cave – return to start via Pate Road (path) traversing slopes west of Alva Glen

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Sheep, slugs and snails. Probably a couple of kestrels above the gorge.

Weather: Mostly cool and overcast after earlier rain. Sun breaking through on the summits and extending to the valley by the finish.

October 2017