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A varied and scenic circular walk on the northern end of Loch Leven. Follow the Loch Leven Heritage Trail for 2 miles before heading onto higher ground at the foot of the Lomond Hills. Follow a mixture of farm tracks, minor roads and a dismantled railway to return to the starting point.
Car parking available at Loch Leven Community Campus (KY13 8FQ).
Route: Begin at the road closest to the edge of the car park (unnamed on my map). Cross the road towards a residential area, turning left onto Burnbank Meadows. Where the street bends left continue straight ahead to cross a footbridge over a burn and then turn left to follow a woodland path alongside Kinross Golf Club. Shortly after passing Queen Mary’s Gate, you will reach the Loch Leven Heritage Trail. Turn left onto it and follow the trail for 2 miles until you come to an obvious sign for Loch Leven Larder and the NCN1 route. Turn left here to pass the cafe and emerge onto A911. Turn right along the road a short distance then left onto Dryside Road. Stay on this minor road past a cluster of cottages and up onto higher ground, following signs for NCN1 and “Right of Way to Strathmiglo“. Shortly after passing Glenlomond turn left onto a farm track. Keep right at a fork. On reaching the B919 cross and continue straight ahead on a minor road, signed “Mawcarse House B&B“. After 0.8 miles at a large farm turn left towards “Milnathort / Burleigh Sands“. You are now following the path of a dismantled railway for 1.7 miles which leads onto Auld Mart Road. Turn left to reach A922/South Street. Turn left again and follow the road-side footpath back to the car park at Loch Leven Community Campus.
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WALK REPORT: 20th October 2017
If you follow Benvironment on Facebook, then like me you may have seen regular photos and videos of geese honking their way across parts of Fife in Autumn. Pink-footed geese, it would appear, are quite the spectacle this time of year as thousands of them migrate to Loch Leven from the Arctic for the winter. After reading Ben’s blog post about them and feeding off his energy and excitement for a few weeks, I suggested to my friend that we go and check things out on my next visit to her neck of the woods! We had been waiting to walk the Loch Leven Heritage Trail for months now anyway so it seemed like the perfect excuse to tick it off.
Now, I had been a little concerned about doing the whole Trail on the same day. Distance wasn’t an issue, it was more a question of sanity: surely I’d get bored walking 13 miles around the same body of water? I had become bored on shorter circuits around smaller lochs and didn’t see why Loch Leven would be any different. Whether that is the case or not remains to be seen because on this particular day we opted to do this 9 mile loop instead which only relies on 2 miles of the Heritage Trail before heading off into the countryside at the foot of the Lomond Hills.
The section of the Heritage Trail which we walked was short and sweet. There were nice views across the loch and the woodland footpaths made the going easy. We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife but we could hear the geese at one point just before we turned off towards Loch Leven’s Larder. One thing that did annoy us quite a lot was the number of cyclists using the trail. It hadn’t occurred to us before setting off that with it being the October school holidays we were likely to come across lots of families out enjoying the traffic-free route! Polite as we are, we stopped to let them pass….. often….. They were all very gracious and although it did become annoying I did appreciate that if my family all had bikes this would be exactly the sort of place we would come to enjoy a day out!
Pulling away from the Heritage Trail after approximately an hour of walking, I was aware that we hadn’t managed to spot any of the infamous pink-footed geese despite hearing their honking. Ironically, or more than likely intentionally, the footpath had been too far inland of the water at that point. With an “oh well, that’s that then” attitude, I marched on eager to see what lay ahead of us for the return leg of the route. First up were the pretty hamlets of Carsehall and Wester Balgedie, each with their quaint little cottages. We followed the minor road uphill enjoying panoramic views across the farmland to West Lomond (522m) and back down towards Loch Leven. It was a really enjoyable walk on surfaced roads.
Things became somewhat boggier on the next section as we followed farm tracks back downhill to join up with a dismantled railway. Interestingly, we passed several pieces of farming equipment seemingly abandoned in the vegetation to the sides of the track! They all looked as though they had been parked there for a while….
It was along the dismantled railway that the magic happened. Light was beginning to fade and I had all but forgotten about the pink-footed geese I had come here so longing to see. Out of the silence, a noise stopped me suddenly in my tracks. Honking?! Could it be?! From the fields beyond, a giant flock of geese flew right over our heads and I immediately went into full nature-geek mode! The camera was out in no time and I recorded their flight. They must have been feeding on the fields and this was them heading “home” to the loch for the night. It was such an amazing experience. Hundreds of them above us in their small groups of ever-changing flight formations and all the while that distinctive noisy honking. What made this such an incredible spectacle for me was the knowledge that these very same pink-footed geese, and thousands of others like them, had just arrived here at Loch Leven after migrating some 2000 miles from the Arctic! And that they do so every single year! I don’t know about you but I find it simply fascinating!
If you enjoyed reading this walk report check out my other routes in Perth & Kinross or Fife
Use this website often? I invite you to support my work through Patreon or by making a one-off donation.
Gillian's Walks 
Such a lovely detailed post. Stunning photography and especially the last one with the geese at the end. I honestly said “wow” out loud as I am sitting in my kitchen reading this over my traditional Sunday bacon sani. We are about to embark on a short walk locally so there will not be much to photograph.
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I love the sight and sounds of skeins of geese flying overhead, a great way to end what looks a fabulous walk :)
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