Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

WALK THIS WAY: Exploring a Pictish hillfort near Laggan

Sunlight peak from summit of Dun da Lamh near Laggan.
Sunlight peak from summit of Dun da Lamh near Laggan.

Dun da Lamh, Nr Laggan, Highland

There are reckoned to be the remains of around 1700 ancient hill forts scattered across the length and breadth of Scotland. Many have been reduced to just markings on a map, but others still display bold walls and grassy ramparts.

One of the more impressive is the Pictish Dun da Lamh (pronounced Larve) which is situated on a forested top high above the Spey Dam. The name means the fort of two hands, and is thought it may refer to the host twin summits of Black Craig.

Surrounded by rocky natural walls on three sides, there is a definite feeling of impregnability about its position, but a sloping ramp gives access to the cairn on its crown for today’s walker, the culmination of a fine woodland circuit from the south.

View back from top of hill fort.

The route is generally well signed (Blackwood Walk, blue arrows) but forest clearance work has resulted in a few signs being toppled into the undergrowth or posted missing altogether.

It starts from the Pattack Falls woodland car park a little west of Laggan on the A86 (this is also known as the Druim an Aird car park), crossing the road and passing a green metal vehicle barrier on a track leading into the trees. There’s no sign for the first turn on to an obvious, but somewhat overgrown, path which heads right almost immediately.

This pushes uphill through encroaching broom to reach a track where a right turn leads round by a small pond and on to a long forestry road. There are still signs of storm damage, and there has been a lot of recent clearance work which gives this stretch a fairly desolate feel.

Hill fort ramparts.

Don’t let it put you off – the mood soon changes dramatically. After the track swings left and then right again, a faded signpost on the left points to a lovely hill path, penned in by copper bracken at first but soon opening out, which lifts you above the pine and into more open and mixed woodland.

The lichen-encrusted signposts, objects of beauty in themselves, appear at regular intervals as the path heads over one rocky summit and then on to the highest point where is a smaller cairn and lovely views in all directions.

Looking down to Spey Dam.

The hill fort is still a fair bit away and involves dropping steeply through mixed woodland on the path, but when the scenery is this stunning there is no hardship. The angle does mean you need to take care as it can be very muddy, and there are lots of exposed tree roots and rocks.

As you near the bottom of the path, the forested top holding the fort seems a long way up but this is a false perspective: just enjoy the autumn colours of the intervening foliage and press on.

It all becomes clear at the col, where there is a picnic table and seats, an information panel and a three-way sign. It doesn’t take long to reach the top of the fort, a lovely spot to linger on a fine day.

The forested top of Dun na Lamh.

The return journey is mostly straightforward on good path and track sections, although one of the blue arrow signs pointing back into the woods (on the left after the first merging of tracks) could easily be missed so keep your eyes out for it.

It’s possible to make an early exit on to the A86 but that means a longer stretch along a busy road. Far better to retrace your steps when reaching the pond, even with the bushwhacking involved on the incoming path.

Copper bracken pathway.

ROUTE

1.     Exit car park, cross A96 and head west for short distance to reach track entrance on right. Go past green vehicle barrier, follow path to left then quickly take smaller path on right. This is overgrown in places but heads uphill to meet rough track.

2.     Turn right and after passing small pond on left, keep left as forestry track heads gradually uphill. At junction, track turns left then takes hairpin turn right slanting uphill.

3.     As you draw closer to transmitter dead ahead, signpost on left (Hilltop/Fort) signals turn left on hill path, through thick bracken at first but improving higher up, to emerge above trees.

4.     After more open ground, path goes through scattered woodland on final climb to two cairned tops (second one is summit).

5.     Continue on path as it drops into delightful mixed woodland and then down to col where is signpost, picnic table and seats and information panel.

6.     Take left branch which heads up to hill fort, then slanting line going left then right to shelter cairn on highest point.

7.     Return to junction and follow sign for Achduchil, path at first then track. Where track splits, go right then watch for marker post on left (Blackwood Walk, blue arrow) for path which heads downhill through trees.

8.     Keep right at next junction, and follow woodland path and then track back to pond and retrace steps down to A96.

INFORMATION

Distance: 8.75km/5.5miles

Ascent: 426m/1398ft

Time: 2.5-4 hours

Grading: Enjoyable and not too taxing woodland walk on hill paths and forestry tracks to ancient hillfort with fine views. Couple of stiff ascents, should be fine for anyone with reasonable level of fitness, but likely too much for younger children. Mostly well sign-posted, although some hard to spot or missing. Some overgrown sections, exposed tree roots and rocks which may be slippy especially on descent, very muddy in places, sturdy footwear advised.

Start/finish: Pattack Falls (Druim an Aird) car park off A86 (Grid ref: NN 567903) around 7km west of Laggan.

Map: Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger Map 35 (Kingussie & Monadhliath Mountains); Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer sheet OL55.

Tourist Information: VisitScotland, Aviemore iCentre, 7 The Parade, Grampian Road, Aviemore, PH22 1RH (Tel 01479 810930).

Public transport: None to start.

 

Conversation