Loch Builg Revisited
by Pat Matthews
In 1988 I was touring in Scotland and instead of going via the Lecht Road from Ballater to Tomintoul, I followed the track via Loch Builg. In my notes I mentioned crossing four easy fords, before reaching Loch Builg, then crossing on large rocks, with dry feet, to the north of the loch, but having to wade across Builg Burn.
In August this year (2004) I was again staying in Tomintoul Youth Hostel (the new one), this time with my husband. It had been very wet and the only track of any length we'd followed was the Coulin Pass, near Achnashellach. Anyway, we decided to try the Loch Builg track, from the north this time, despite the fact that it was raining when we got up. It had stopped when we left at 9.30am, but had started again by the time we got to the start of the track at 9.42am (OS 36 GR. 165177). This section of track was only 1.4 miles long, despite the map showing it going right through.
We were now on tarmac for 4.1 miles to GR. 163103. We were into a small gorge now and the wind was so strong we had a job to keep the bikes moving in low gear, and the rain was lashing at us so we had to squint into it. It would have been really easy riding otherwise, and the scenery would have been very pleasant if we could have opened our eyes enough to look at it.
We went by Inchrory and soon after this the River Avon swung west and we were now following the Builg Burn. After a short distance we crossed the burn on a bridge, and were now on the west side of it. We then went left, as shown on the map, onto a faint track. However we could see that there was a much better track on the east side that was not shown on the map (or was shown wrongly). As we would have had to ford the burn further up we decided to go back over the bridge and found that the track did in fact keep going.
We now followed Glen Builg and had to climb away from it a couple of times, which meant hauling the bikes as we had a full load on board. When we got to the first ford at GR. 185053 the bum was flowing fast and furious. Looking along the left bank to see if there was a place to cross, we decided that the Land Rover track crossing was probably the best, so took the plunge. We could feel the pull of the water so took it a step at a time and got across safely. I would normally take my socks off and wade across in my shoes but we had got so wet in the rain that there wasn't any point.
The crossing of Feith Laoigh, north of Loch Builg, was more fierce but not so wide. There was a narrow boggy path along the east side of Loch Builg and we eventually got onto the LRT at 1.50pm. (GR 189028) having done 11.9 miles, 4.1 miles being tarmac.
We were now swinging east, following the River Gaim, and although there were long stretches of track made of large stones we were able to ride most of it. We had to wade a side stream but the rain had stopped now and we were sheltered from the wind. We even managed to stop and eat, by some rocks, in the sun.
We had three more side streams to wade before reaching the bothy at GR. 228002. This appears to have been done up. I seem to remember it being in a very poor state in 1988. The summer weather has certainly not been very kind to us this year. After this crossing we were aware of various landslips around the areas of Perth and Killin, which luckily we were able to avoid. Earlier we'd travelled through Drumnadrochit only just after a landslip was cleared from there.
Anyway, despite our experience, I would still recommend this crossing.