A real hill walk in miniature, Creag Bheag makes for a great little outing with plenty of options for making shorter or longer circuits. The prominent rocky hill behind Kingussie, the traditional capital of Badenoch, is easily reached on good paths, with waymarked trails from the free car park or the nearby railway station. On a sunny summer’s day (yes, there have been one or two this year, believe it or not) we dragged the children to the start at the Ardvonie car park, which is clearly signed from the main road through the village, just behind the Duke of Gordon hotel.
There are picnic tables, public toilets, a play park, electric vehicle chargers and information boards about the walks are cycle routes in the area all here, so it’s a real hub of activity. Unexpectedly, this walk has become a real favourite for Matthew, who at six years old ran most of the way to the top and was jumping about on the rocks. I asked him weeks later about what he enjoyed so much about the walk – and he told me it was the rocky path and the colourful flowers.
It’s nice to know the children do appreciate these things sometimes, at least, because it doesn’t always feel that way! The slopes were covered in purple heather, as well as a vast array of montane flora including bog asphodel, butterwort, bird’s-foot trefoil, eyebright, devil’s bit scabious and more. Then the panoramic view from the summit is something to behold as well. Related articles: • LISTEN: Meet the Nairn mapmaker taking his passion in a new direction • Cycling through Scotland’s newest World Heritage Site – experience the Flow Country from the saddle • Sign up to the Active Outdoors newsletter • More from Active Outdoors The walk follows a path from the car park signed for the “Creag Bheag Summit”.
It goes diagonally above the field – which had a beautiful wildflower meadow below the trees – to reach a back road, where you turn right. Stick to the tarmac here and follow the road a short way before taking a signposted left fork along a track towards a house. A shortcut detour had been signed due to forestry works, so we followed the nice path up to the left through the shade of the trees.
We were following the purple waymarked trail to Creag Bheag initially, and the forest track soon narrows to a path. Matthew was already enjoying the change of terrain as he hopped about on every rock. The girls were not quite as happy at this stage as the climb through the woods gets a bit steeper for a while.
As you emerge from the pine wood, there is soon a lovely stone shelter where you can pause and enjoy the view across to the Cairngorms. There’s even a carved book spine of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain set into the wall, presumably just for inspiration. Continuing up the well-made path, the route ahead soon becomes clear and offers a nice view to the top of this 487m (1600ft) summit – which, for those with an unhealthy interest in statistics, is apparently the 6396th highest peak in the British Isles.
For baggers, it is classified as a Marilyn, due to its prominence from the surrounding hills. Creag Bheag – which translates as small rocky hill – is also home to a regular hill race taking place in September . Matthew was treating much of this stretch as a hill race, apart from his regular stops to admire the flowers.
He especially liked the calluna vulgaris – the common heather that was turning the hillside into a bank of purple. We were soon at the top, where we spent some more time jumping about on the rocks and looking at the distant mountains from the large cairn that marks the summit. The way down heads north-east along the ridge, soon dropping quite steeply on a nice path between willow, juniper and birch with a view to Loch Gynack below.
At a bench overlooking the water further down, there are a few options for the return journey – we opted to head through the golf course and return down the line of the burn. That meant following the “Golf Course Circular” sign straight ahead. The path leads through a gate back into woodland to reach the edge of the course, where the ruined settlement of Toman an t-Seòmair lies.
Keep to the waymarked route round the edge of the course to reach the burn, and cross at the bridge. On the other side, turn right to join the surfaced estate road and follow it downstream. It’s possible to follow a path off the road part of the way and cross back to the other side of the burn, but after exploring across the bridge at the hydro scheme, we returned and followed the Gynack Mill Trail to stay on the east bank for a little longer, crossing at the last footbridge.
From here it is just a short walk down the minor road to reach the turnoff to the car park, where the children seemed to still have enough energy to spend time playing at the park! Maybe they can handle a longer route next time...
Route details Creag Bheag Distance 3.5 miles / 6 km Terrain Paths, minor road, forest tracks and rocky hill path Start/finish Ardvonie car park, Kingussie Map OS Landranger 35; OS Explorer OL56 A short climb to a prominent peak behind the village of Kingussie, with spectacular views to the Cairngorms and beyond Click here to see the route in OS Maps.
