Upper Don paths and history
Strathdon
Bellabeg anchors an upland area of short circuits, hill trails, old bridges and nearby Corgarff outings.
- Best for
- Walks, historic sites and hill activities
- Give it
- A day by car with time for a signed walk
- Don't miss
- Doune of Invernochty and Poldullie Bridge
The Fox verdict
An upland base built around paths and local history
Strathdon rewards a car-based day that combines a named walk with the glen's bridges, castles, food stops or the Lecht.
Bellabeg is the main settlement in a broad upper Don area that also includes Glenbuchat and Corgarff. The visitor highlights range from the short Roughpark circuit and the Lonach Loop to Poldullie Bridge, Corgarff Castle and year-round activity at the Lecht.
Where to go
Places in Strathdon
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesRoughpark and Doune of Invernochty
Clear paths follow a memorial avenue, boardwalk, ponds and mature trees to views over Strath Don; an optional climb reaches the medieval motte.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow 45–60 minutes
- Locality
- close to Bellabeg and Forbestown
- Access
- The optional climb to the motte is on steep grass.
The Lecht
A 2,090-foot activity centre with 20 maintained ski runs, 14 lifts, a Penguin Park for children aged 2–8 and two summer lift-served mountain-bike trails.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 2½ hours
- Locality
- up the A939
- Access
- Weather can interrupt operations; check operating status before setting out.
Corgarff Castle
A remote tower house that changed from noble residence to army base, with a military star-shaped perimeter wall and reconstructed barrack rooms.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Corgarff
Food & drink
2 placesGoodbrand & Ross
A family-owned tearoom, knitwear and gift shop serving soups, toasties, baked potatoes, traybakes and homemade scones, with gluten-free and vegan choices.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Corgarff
- Access
- Only assistance dogs are allowed indoors; other dogs may use the outdoor seating, including the covered area.
SPAR Bellabeg / Bellabeg Shop & Post Office
The settlement's convenience shop and Post Office sells groceries, fresh and chilled food, bread and cakes, alcohol and household essentials.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 15 minutes
- Locality
- Bellabeg
Walks & outdoors
3 placesLonach Loop
A loop on rough grassy paths, forestry track and minor roads that crosses farmland and the River Don and passes Lonach Hall.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow about 1½ hours
- Locality
- Forbestown and Bellabeg
- Access
- Dogs should be closely controlled around livestock.
Bunzeach Trail
A longer Strathdon trail through forest tracks and rough paths, with a side path to a Kirk Hill viewpoint over the glen.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow about 2½ hours
- Locality
- Strathdon
- Access
- The route includes firm and grassy forest tracks, rough unsurfaced paths, long moderate climbs and gates.
Ben Newe
A hill route ending at a rocky outcrop with a medieval well, trig point and broad views.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow roughly 2½ hours
- Locality
- Strathdon
- Access
- This is a strenuous climb on potentially muddy forest tracks and a steep, rough summit path.
History & heritage
2 placesPoldullie Bridge Walk
The walk reaches a Category B-listed, single-arched and steeply humped bridge dated 1715 that survived the flood of 1829.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow about 1¼ hours
- Locality
- Strathdon Kirk and Kirk Hill
- Access
- The route is largely on minor roads with no verge in places.
Kildrummy Castle
Extensive ruins of a major mid-13th-century stronghold of the Earls of Mar, retaining the chapel's three tall lancet windows.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Kildrummy
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Three ways to explore Strathdon
Signature outings
Poldullie's surviving arch
Walk out to the steeply humped bridge dated 1715, one of only two local bridges to survive the flood of 1829.
Soup, scones and knitwear
Goodbrand & Ross combines a traditional tearoom with Scottish knitwear, local goods, Scandinavian products and premium spirits.
The Lonach Loop
Follow rough grassy paths, forestry track and minor roads over farmland and the River Don, passing Lonach Hall before returning to Bellabeg.
The village story
Strathdon Village Guide
Bellabeg, upper Don walks and historic places across the broad Strathdon glen.
Bellabeg and Corgarff
Bellabeg has kept a shop and post office going for 128 years, and in 2022 it was named the best independent community store in Scotland. It sits on the A944, the practical centre of an informal upland area. The parish once called Invernochty runs some sixteen miles by six along the upper Don, taking in Glenbuchat and Corgarff, so Strathdon is more an area than an address; Bellabeg is its main settlement.
Up the A939 at Corgarff, Goodbrand & Ross has been a tearoom, knitwear and gift shop since 2005. The kitchen turns out freshly cooked soups, toasties, baked potatoes, traybakes and homemade scones, with gluten-free and vegan choices, and the shelves carry Scottish knitwear, Scandinavian goods and premium spirits. Only assistance dogs come indoors, but there is extensive outdoor seating, some of it covered, where other dogs are welcome.
The Steading and the trails
At Forbestown, the Steading Bar occupies a converted farm steading; it is worth checking that it is currently open before making a special trip. Lynne and Marc Lino opened it in June 2019, buying a deteriorating former hotel site and setting out to replace the social focus the village had lost when the old hotel bar closed. Local tradesmen reused what materials they could and hung a found log from the ceiling as a light fitting. Its menu has featured hot pies, nachos, sausage rolls and sharing platters, alongside board games, a fire, a garden, and, by more than one account, owls in the dark outside.
The walking starts close to Bellabeg and Forbestown. A short circuit from Roughpark climbs to the Doune of Invernochty, the grassy motte that dominates the strath: an oval mound eighty metres by forty and about twelve high, probably raised by the Earl of Mar around 1200 with a water-filled moat fed from a dammed lake. The path there runs up an avenue planted for forty-two local men killed in the two world wars, then crosses boardwalk and passes ponds and mature trees. For something longer, the Lonach Loop rises behind Forbestown, over farmland and the Don past Lonach Hall, and Ben Newe repays a strenuous, often muddy climb with a medieval well and a trig point at the summit.
Poldullie Bridge and the parish church
A two-mile out-and-back walk reaches Poldullie Bridge, a single steep arch dated 1715 and one of only two local bridges to survive the flood of 1829, when the water came within a few feet of its keystone. A. Laing thought the spot worth recording in 1828: "The prospect here is luxuriously grand, wild, picturesque and sublime."
The parish church was built in 1853 to a design by James Matthews. It has a broach-spired tower, a hammerbeam roof and galleries, and marble monuments to the Forbes family; Sir Charles Forbes paid £1,874 of its £2,100 cost. Set into its walls are carved heraldic panels from the earlier church on the site, dated 1597, 1636 and 1686.
Lonach traditions and nearby outings
Sir Charles Forbes also founded the Lonach Highland and Friendly Society in 1823, its members drawn from the men of Strathdon. On the fourth Saturday of August the Lonach Highlanders still march in tartan across the glen to the Gathering, as they have for close to two centuries.
For families, the Lecht sits at 2,090 feet up the A939, with twenty ski runs and fourteen lifts, a Penguin Park for children aged two to eight, and lift-served mountain biking once the snow goes. Corgarff Castle, with the star-shaped wall the army built around it, and the ruins of Kildrummy are both nearby.
Travel and Lost
A car is the sensible way to come and to get around. The nearest railway station is at Huntly, a long road transfer away, and the 219 bus to Alford runs a very limited service, worth checking before you rely on it. In winter the A939 over the Lecht can turn severe, so it is worth checking the road before setting out.
One of the local signposts points simply to Lost. It is a real place, marked on the path map and the road signs, and worth a photograph on the way past.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Goodbrand & Ross — goodbrandandross.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- SPAR Bellabeg / Bellabeg Shop & Post Office — sparscotland.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Roughpark and Doune of Invernochty — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Lonach Loop — cairngorms.co.uk other published source
- Bunzeach Trail — cairngorms.co.uk other published source
- Poldullie Bridge Walk — cairngorms.co.uk other published source
- Ben Newe — cairngorms.co.uk other published source
- The Lecht — visitscotland.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Corgarff Castle — historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Kildrummy Castle — historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access