Dunmore Fort and Bochastle Hill
Date: 22 March 2025
Leader: Idris
Grade: C+
Number on walk: 16
Length 12 km. Ascent 240 m.
Hills climbed: None.
Click here for GPX track of the walk
Our group listening to their leader at the start of the walk
The waters of the Garbh Uisge and Eas Gobhain merge at Callander to form the River Teith
We had our morning tea on the banks of the River Teith
The view westwards up Loch Venachar from our lunch venue
After lunch we crossed the Eas Gobhain at the Gartchonzie Bridge
The bridge was built in 1777 under the instruction of the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates as part of an improvement scheme to the forfeited estate of the Duke of Perth after the 1745 Jacobite uprising. An identical bridge, financed in the same manner, was built by the same contractor over the Garbh Uisge at Kilmahog.
A view of Samson’s Stone from Dunmore Fort
This large glacial erratic schist boulder was transported and deposited by glaciers during the last Ice Age, around 12,000 years ago. It is steeped in local folklore and is said to have been thrown by a giant named Samson during a competition to prove his strength. Some legends even suggest it was hurled from Ben Ledi or Ben Lawers.
The first summit of the day – Dunmore hillfort
Dunmore Hillfort was once an important fortification of a powerful Pict tribal leader. It was built in the late Iron Age and remained in use well into the Dark Ages.
In 2004, an undetonated WWII bomb was unexpectedly discovered by metal detectorists. The bomb was safely disposed of by a controlled explosion, leaving a large bomb crater within the hillfort.
Samson’s Stone is near the summit of Bochastle Hill – Our second and final summit of the day