Muir of Dinnet, Little Ord trail

This walk passes the 1000 year old Kinord Stone. 

Starting point: Burn o' Vat car park, B9119

Distance:  medium (2.7 miles / 4.4 km)

Climb: 30m, largely flat or undulating 

Difficulty: medium
Underfoot: ok, along good foot paths, Land Rover tracks or roads
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Scenic value: 9/10
Overall rating: 9/10

View Muir of Dinnet,"Little Ord" trail in a larger map

Comments: A lovely, relatively flat walk that takes in some of the ancient history of Deeside: evidence of the earliest settlements in the area in the form of stone circles, and "the crannog" - what is believed to be a man-made island created by iron-age dwellers to protect themselves from attack. 

Finally, there is the beautiful "Kinord Stone" a intricately carved celtic cross which stands overlooking Loch Kinord and whose precise origins are unknown. 

The beginning and end of the walk is a bit boring, there is about half a mile of walking through the woods with not much to see until you get to the vicinity of the loch but it is worth it for the views over the loch and the interesting spots. 

Route  

I've taken a starting place the Burn o' Vat car park on the B9119 betweem Cambus o' May and Tarland. This is also the starting point for another walk - "Burn o' Vat" itself - which is not to be missed for anyone with kids. 

For the Little Ord trail walk, starting in the car park, cross the B9119 and take the grass path you'll find on the opposite side. There is a wooden sign with a number of trails marked, you will be following the "Little Ord Trail".

Cross the road from the car park

Follow signs marked "Little Ord Trail"

After a few metres the foot path forks. Take the left fork. 

Take the left fork at the junction

Follow the footpath as it leads on a fairly flat easy route through the woodland around you. You will pass a junction where a path to the left leads back to the main road, ignore it.  

Ignore this path from the left which joins the path you're on. 

At some points the path broadens out into a Land Rover track. A short distance later there is another junction where another path leads to the right. Ignore this also. Bear to the left.  

And ignore this path joining from the right

A short distance after the junction with the path to the right the path broadens out into what appears to be a small car park. At the far end is a view point with a marker stone. 

The viewpoint across Loch Kinord

Continue to follow the track. Now you'll notice that the terrain resembles a series of winding ridges with depressions around them.   These ridges are called "eskers" and are believed to have been formed by sediment left by streams flowing under glaciars at the time of the last ice age.  

There is a junction with another foot path from the right. Bear left, continuing the follow the direction of the path you have been on.

After you have walked for some distance on this undulating foot path through the woodland. Eventually the path meets another foot path which approaches from the left. Bear right. The path at this point has now been covered with red gravel. 

Bear right at the junction with another path from the left (the path is now covered in red gravel.)

Follow this path down a gentle hill. You'll come to a junction. You can go either way but on this walk I suggest you turn left. Later you'll return to this junction from the other fork. 

Turn left at the junction in the track (this is now covered in red gravel.) 

Now the path leads out into the open. To the right of the path is a dry stane dyke - a very old and traditional style of wall that does not require cement. 

To the right is a dry stane dyke. 

The path passes an old abandoned farm house. You'll get some beautiful views of the moorland around. 

The path passes an old farm house.

On a sunny day the views are magnificent. 

Continue following the grassy path through an old iron gate. 

Go through the gate, remembering to close it behind you.

The path becomes beautifully well-tended grass under-foot, like walking on the most luxuriant carpet. 

The path becomes well-tended grass underfoot. 

The iron-age settlement remains

After a couple of hundred metres the path opens out into a wide open area of moorland on the left. In the open ground you can perhaps make out wide circles of stones, now half-buried in the grass and bracken. These are the remains of a iron-age settlement. 

Half buried stones circles in the ground are the remains of an iron-age settlement. 

How the house would have looked (picture courtesy of the visitor centre).

Continue to follow the path. After a short distance you will reach a metal gate across it. Go through this. Remember always to close gates behind you. 

Go through the metal gate and join the road beyond it and to the left. 

There will be a road to your left. Follow the path down to this. 

Following the road a further short distance to the left leads to another car park which you can use to do this walk. Instead, for now I suggest you follow the road to the right. It will pass behind some cottages and then will run alongside some more farm buildings. 

Follow the road to the right. It passes a number of cottages and farm buildings. 

Beyond the farm-buildings is another gate. Go through this. 

Go through the gate at the far end of the farm cottages. 

The road becomes a Land Rover track leading through woodland. After a short distance the track begins to turn to the right. To the left is a foot path that leads out into some open fields 

 You can stay on the Land Rover track but I suggest taking the footpath to the left leading out into the fields. 

Up ahead a path branches off to the left. I suggest taking it. 

The path leads out onto open grass land. 

Follow the foot path straight across the open grass land. Now you are very close to Loch Kinord. You should see another marker post in the undergrowth and a foot path which leads left or right. Go right. 

There is a T junction and a marker post. Go right. 

Now the path leads west with grassland on your right and undergrowth on your left. Up ahead is Loch Kinord. On a clear day the view can be spectacular. 

There is undergrowth on your left, grass land on your right, ahead is Loch Kinord. 

The path reaches the shore of the loch. On the other side you are looking at the hills of Black Craig, Craigrae Beg and Knockie Branar. 

The path reaches the shores of Loch Kinord. 

Follow the path to the right along the shores of the loch. It can be a bit wet underfoot. You can often find people fishing here although you need a permit to do so. 

The crannog on Loch Kinord

There are two islands on the loch. The second one you come to, which is significantly closer to the shore, is believed to be a crannog, a man-made island built around the time of Christ by people who had settlements in the area. 

The crannog is to the left of the photograph.

The crannog was originally built of wood and stone and would have had a number of dwellings on it and a wooden causeway or jetty leading to the shore. However at times of attack the jetty could be withdrawn or destroyed leaving the owners safe on the island. 

Some believe that the crannog remained in use until medieval times when King Malcolm III had a hunting lodge there. 

What we do know is that in the 1800s several dugout canoes were retrieved from the loch - after lying there for around 1800 years. One was retained by Charles Wilson a local landowner. Unfortunately he took the ancient canoe with him when he moved to Lincolnshire - sawing it in half first to ensure it would fit in a railway carriage. 

Once you have reached the shore directly opposite the crannog, the path turns away from the loch. You are approaching the last special place of interest on the walk: the Kinord Stone. 

The Kinord Stone

A few metres away from the shore of Loch Kinord, half-hidden in the bracken is a fenced enclosure. Within it is a standing carved celtic cross. 

The Kinord Stone is at least around 1000 years old, it was discovered in 1820.

There are two theories regarding the origin of the stone. First of all, it is thought that it may have been commissioned by St Furnoc around 800 AD, in the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire and when Christianity was  sweeping across Europe. 

Alternatively, some believe that it was carved 200 years later, around 1058 AD, on the instructions of Queen Margaret, the wife of Malcolm Canmore. Malcolm Canmore, or "Malcolm III" of Scotland (1031 - 1093) is the "Malcolm" in Shakespeare's "MacBeth". In 1040 MacBeth killed Macolm's father Duncan I and Malcolm fled to England. He returned in 1057, defeated MacBeth in battle and killed him in Lumphanan, near Loch Kinord. 

The Cross was lost and was only re-discovered in the 1820s when it was dug up at a site near where it now stands on the shores of the loch. 

Once you have taken in the Kinord Stone follow the path past it and up the gentle slope to the top of the hill. The foot path re-joins the Land Rover track you were on earlier. Bear to the left, following the Land Rover track away from the loch. 

The foot path rejoins the Land Rover track, bear left, heading away from the loch. 

Soon the path will lead you into some woodland and back to the junction where you turned left by the dry stane dyke in the outward leg of the walk. Now just keep walking straight on, across the junction, and back the way you came. 

You return to the junction you were at earlier. Walk straight on. 

Now it is simply a question of re-tracing your steps. That means at the first junction in the path bear to the left. At the second junction bear to the right and finally when the path reaches another path which leads up to the main road take a left. Eventually you'll return to the mouth of the path, opposite the car park at the Burn o' Vat. 

Congratulations! You have completed the Little Ord trail around the Muir of Dinnet.