Tillicoultry, Ochil Hills and Blackford

The Clock Mill Heritage Centre on Ochil Street in Tillicoultry at the start of the walk is a former mill building built in 1824 that once housed exhibitions relating to woollen production history in Clackmannanshire. Leaving town beside the tumbling burn of Mill Glen, you enjoy a series of small water cascades and high vantage points providing fine gorge views.

Beyond a quarry, an old wooden dam — an impressive piece of engineering built to harness the burn and provide reliable year-round power for looms — is passed before climbing out of the gorge onto open hillside. Much of the Ochil Hills' visual attractiveness lies in their dramatic escarpment, formed millions of years ago by the Ochil Fault running east-west for twenty miles.

As you pause on the climb toward Skythorn Hill (1,972 feet / 601 metres), you look back over the plain containing the meandering River Forth. Reaching Maddy Moss, climbing is largely behind you at the Ochil Hills watershed (where Ben Cleuch, the highest point at 2,400 feet / 721 metres, is optionally attainable via an inviting ridge).

The route continues along the northern shoulder of Skythorn Hill to Upper Glendevon Reservoir, passing the dam and following the path to the Glen of Kinpauch Pass. Here the town of Blackford comes into view in the flat Perthshire farmland, with the prominent white buildings of Tullibardine Distillery and Highland Spring serving as welcoming focal points for the finish.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.