Loch an Eilein and Loch Gamhna

The walk starts from the Loch an Eilein car park at the end of the minor road to the loch, where the Rothiemurchus estate charges per person. It goes clockwise: over the footbridge at the loch's outflow, along the north-east shore and round the far end on good tracks through the pines, then down the east side of Loch Gamhna, round its head and back along its west shore to rejoin the main path for the last stretch past Loch an Eilein cottage.

It is 7.2 km (4.5 miles) with only 62 m (200 ft) of ascent; allow about 2 hours. The grade is Easy.

Just offshore from the cottage is the island with its ruined castle, which held one of the last osprey eyries before ospreys died out in Scotland. The wood is full of broad, many-trunked 'granny pines', hundreds of years old, and crested tits and red squirrels come to the feeders by the car park.

The main circuit is on good paths and tracks. The Loch Gamhna loop is on a path the estate doesn't maintain, often muddy at the head of the loch; leaving it out saves about 45 minutes.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.