Walk: The Colonel’s Bed – outlawed in Glen Ey

📌 Braemar, Aberdeenshire
★★★

🛠️ A rockfall has been reported (see comments), which would prevent the descent into the gorge (comment from July 2023). Main part of route to the gorge rim is unaffected.

Long ago, during the 17th century Jacobite uprisings, a local colonel hid in Glen Ey, outlawed after the murder of a laird. A mile upstream from his usual home at Inverey Castle, the Ey Burn enters a short but deep gorge, amidst lonely countryside and masked by surrounding trees. A rock platform within the gorge served (probably) as the unlikely mattress, with the swift current and probable death just an unfortunate, sleep-deprived roll away. The gorge rim can still be visited, making use of a good estate track; glimpses into the depths are rather limited, but the approach through the scenic glen is worth the visit alone. Outwith the normal scope of this walk, it’s possible for those with prior scrambling experience to descend (with care, and only in good conditions – recent rockfalls are evident) on a makeshift path to the base of the canyon, where the aforementioned rock ledge can be used (again, with care) to explore a little of the colonel’s claustrophobic abode.

📷 Chronological photo guide

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish at Meikle Inverey, minor road 4 mi west of Braemar

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NO 089892

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 56.985223,-3.500095

❌ No public transport within 1 mi

🚗 Car park

📝 Key info

▶ 5 km / 3 mi | ▲ 110 m | ⌛ 1.5 hr

Features: 🌊 Allt Connie waterfall; 🌊 The Colonel’s Bed ★★★

⬤ Easy | Main route is on clear paths (narrow for very last section to The Colonel’s Bed) & tracks with some ascent. Optional detour to Allt Connie is on an intermittent, wet path. Optional descent into The Colonel’s Bed gorge has a sketchy path with steep drops – great care required (raises difficulty to ⬤ Tough)

➡️ Out-and-back walk with detour to Allt Connie waterfall: start – cross Ey Burn just above confluence with Allt Connie – out & back detour to Allt Connie waterfall – The Colonel’s Bed (view from above) – return by outward route

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Swallows, dragonflies, caterpillars.

Weather: 16°C but with a chilly wind, sunshine with large patches of cloud.

August 2020

The Colonel’s Bed ★★★