Dalwhinnie

7 miles

After traveling through the Pass of Drumochter we turn left into the sleepy village of Dalwhinnie situated on the River Truim and home to the attractive buildings of the Dalwhinnie distillery and weather station. Westwards on the fringe of Badenoch (from the Gaelic, meaning ‘Drowned Land’), stretches the lonely Loch Ericht, 15 miles in length and at the far western extremity rises the remote peak of Ben Alder (3757ft).
Past the distillery we turn right on the road to Crubenmore. It was in this vicinity that Sir John Cope failed to intercept Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1745. A year later the Prince was a fugitive in the same district, one of his hiding places being the so-called “Cluny’s Cage”, below the southern slopes of Ben Alder, and described by Robert Louis Stevenson in his story “Kidnapped”.
Our road now descends gradually through Glen Truim with the railway to our right and the traffic on the new road beyond. We eventually come to Crubenmore bridge over the River Truim which is a concrete structure built in 1925-26 designed by Sir Owen Williams who also designed a number of other bridges along the Old A9 and was the Head Engineer for the original Wembley stadium. The bridge is listed. Over to the right is the Old Crubenmore Bridge built around 1800-1810. Further on and before the road crosses the railway is a parking area to the right with information boards about the local area.
On the opposite side of the road is a short walk down to the Falls of Truim and Crubenbeg bridge built around 1730 on Wade’s military road.
We now cross the railway and rejoin the new road.