Out with the marine lab and requested to lead a walk, I repeated a ‘bus route’ I quite like, particularly with Autumn beginning to colour the lush sylvan surrounds of Dinnet.

In recent times, there has been increasing waterside disturbance at the lochs, which are important for a number of birds for both breeding and as a stop off point when migrating. With the popularity of watersports and wildcamping increasing, and irresponsible dog ownership now out of control, the nature reserve have installed some gentle corralling of some verges of the loch.

Certainly any bird fond of a berry was going to enjoy being here – the rowans were bursting with crimson bounty.

I gave the party the choice of route around the loch – the south side has the boardwalk through the wetland, while the north side the celtic cross and crannoch viewpoints and info boards. The north won the vote and on a fairly still day the reflections of the various islands were great – though a few weeks short of peak autumn colours just yet.

Following us along the lochside were a number of brave robins, who probably do well from walker crumbs. If I’d had a crumbly oatie bar or something near to hand (didn’t which is unusual for me) I’m sure I could have fed some from hand to a particularly brave one.

After a snack stop at the visitor centre, we headed onward – two of the party had never been in the ‘vat’ and fortunately recent rain hadn’t raised the water beyond dry entry through the gap.

I talked the party into heading up beyond the falls – which most folk miss out on, but for me the best bit – a really verdant hidden glen nestled below crags and old forest.

Some of the party struggled with some of the rugged and overgrown terrain so the going was slow and I wondered if it had been a good idea for me to push into what was adventurous territory for them. A rocky outcrop would be a crux for them, and although a straightforward step or two for me, nonetheless I went up and down a few times to check the easiest way and then talked them through a couple foot and hand positions.

Once out of the gorge and back on to the ‘tourist’ path, I noticed a sign re capercaillie, as a very popular dog walking spot and easily reached, I suspect capercaillie here have their work cut out to survive; I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of the dozens of dogs in the area I’ve passed ever on a lead.

One good thing about this route is that there’s a number of points of interest that can be included (or cut) and terrain options to suit pace, time and capability. As we’d made slow progress through the vat gorge, a visit to the rocky outcrop of Cnoc Dubh was cut to expedite progress, but we did have a look in the old quarry.

I refer to this pool as ‘the golden lochan’ both from the autum hue when it becomes aglow with the surrounding birch and bracken, but also the odd chanterelle hiding in the undergrowth. A good place for another snack break.

Across the Tullich Burn footbridge, the path winds high up the side of the glen threading through old pines, and while enjoying the surrounds I was sufficiently distracted to miss a thread of a path that links to the track down from Creagan Riabhach; soon a rumble of traffic nearby and the sight of a house indicating we’d mistakenly arrived at Milton of Tullich instead of continuing towards Ballater. Already behind schedule we phoned another in the party who’d went ahead to Ballater, that we’d not make it in time and could they pick us up at the old kirk.

With a bit of time to kill while waiting for the car to come along, we had some time to have a good wander around the old kirkyard which has very old graves, plus the display of pictish stones