Beecraigs Country Park, full of picturesque surprises, is new territory for most Glaswegians.  The views from even quite small lumps are spectacular – mainly because of the clarity of the air and the positioning of the lumps (especially Cockleroy) with little around them to block the views. You can see as far as Arran and, of course, the Forth Bridges (nearly three of them) and Linlithgow lying below us. At first it seems rather douce for experienced walkers, what with surfaced paths, signposts, foot bridges and viewing platforms, to say nothing of a children’s adventure play area and an ice-cream van. But within 25 minutes you are wandering down attractive, less-peopled paths. It is making a detour through Witchcraig Wood to the only War Memorial in the UK which commemorates those killed in the Korean War (1950-1953) – a sobering number and mainly Scots. If you go  up to the top of the hill behind passing the Refuge Stone get tremendous views while the flat-earth-brigade can reach the memorials along the road.

To get there

Make sure you park at the Visitors’ Centre and not Balvournie or you’ll be lost before you start. The Visitors’ Centre is off-centre to the north whereas Balvournie is right in the middle so it’s easy to confuse the two. You’ll find drinks, maps, ice-creams chutneys etc and venison to purchase and toilets here.

The post-code EH49 6PL works well with a SatNav and follows the route below. You may prefer to take the M8 and go north at the end rather than the M9 and go south. There’s not much in it. The following instructions go north and then drop south through Linlithgow.

Take the M8 east and then the M80 off left to Stirling, Kincardine Bridge etc. Follow the M80/A80 as per usual, until you come to the M876 marked Kincardine Bridge, Falkirk and Grangemouth. (Just before the blue motorway sign you’ll see the brown tourist sign for the Falkirk Wheel.) Take this motorway to the left: the inside lane goes off on the M876 while the M80 continues on towards Perth. About seven miles further on, ignore the M9 sign going north (on your left) and continue on for about a mile until the M876 merges with the M9 coming in on your right. It’s really very easy – just keep driving. When the motorways merge, the inside lane goes off to Kincardine Bridge so get into the middle lane and make for Linlithgow, Grangemouth etc. You sweep round Falkirk and make for Junction 4. Look out for the enormous horses’ heads (the Kelpies) on the Forth and Clyde canal. Leave the motorway at Junction 4 and come down the slip road to a large roundabout. Go right round the roundabout ignoring a road to a ski slope, a slip road back on to the motorway and take the A803 to Linlithgow with a brown signpost to Beecraigs Country Park. Follow the A803 as it twists and winds into WestPort on the outskirts of Linlithgow. At the obvious, attractive hotel, the WestPort, turn right into Preston Road.

Drive up the hill for a couple of miles until you see a sign post to Beecraigs Country Park Visitors’ Centre and Beecraigs Loch where you turn left. Drive along the road and turn right with the sign post. The Visitors’ Centre is on the left about 300 yards down.

If you’re coming up from the M8 and Bathgate you come to the Balvournie signpost first Don’t take this! Drive on about ¼ mile to the signpost to the Visitors’ Centre.

The walk

Some of the paths are separated into walkers and cyclists, but many are seldom used and others appear to go nowhere. It wouldn’t matter if you got lost but if you want to do the walk we did you need to follow the notes quite carefully.

 Your walk begins by taking the surfaced path (Sutherland’s Way) from the back of the car park at the Visitors’ Centre. (There is a viewing platform here giving not-very-good-views of the deer park and belted Galloways (cows) but better views of the River Forth.) The path goes downhill, turns sharp right at some locked gates and emerges at Beecraigs Loch. Turn left along a path to reach the surfaced dam very quickly. (The tempting path going straight on again comes to locked gates!) Cross the dam, with picturesque views of the loch, swans, fishing boats and a heron, and go down the wooden steps to the surfaced path in front of the fishing lodge. Now continue along the opposite side of the loch until you reach a clearly marked beaten path on the left with a red marker.

The route now becomes more rural. This good path crosses a bridge, wanders onwards then runs parallel with a vehicular road which it soon crosses. Follow the red-marked route. (The first two paths on the left, marked on the map, go nowhere!). Your path comes to a sharp corner where two forest tracks meet. Take the path to the left. (There are two paths here marked as one on the OS map: it doesn’t really matter which you take as long as you cross a burn by a foot bridge turn sharp left on a wide path and then sharp right.

The path leads down to a junction of forest tracks where you turn left. Pick up, for a while, orienteering flags of white and red triangles. Continue to a sharp bend and just past this, to the right, is a clear path which crosses a bridge and leads down to a sluice gate and pond and appears to stop. It does continue, however, veering left, over a tree stump and follows a sort of assault course beside a murky burn! The path gradually improves, so much so that a bridge across said murky burn seductively leads you astray. If you reach the bridge, you’ve gone too far. There is a path about 20 yards before the bridge on the right. This leads clearly down, across a couple of easy windfalls, to the path along the boundary of the Country Park where you turn right.

The boundary path is fine – with deciduous trees on the right and views of open countryside on the left. These make a pleasant change from forest walking. The path meanders for ages, crossing a vehicular road and then continuing to a clearing where bikes obviously keep left and walkers can avoid the bumps and keep right.

The path continues to a junction at a kissing gate marked Witchcraig Wood, a private wood with public access. Go through the kissing gate, among wild flowers, and over a long, complicated stile! The mown path (at least on the reccé) goes down to a cross paths. The path opposite goes up the hill, eventually reaching a lower ‘top’ where there are signposts pointing to the real top and the Refuge Stone or down the hill to the Korean War Memorial. At the top there are magnificent views, and a shelter with stones from all over central Scotland. You can continue over the hill and down the hill back to the stile but you would miss the War Memorial. It might be best to come back to the lower top and then on down steeply to the Pagoda. You then have a choice of road walking or going back up!

Meanwhile, the flat-earth-brigade turn right along a mown path which emerges on the road. It’s about 400 yards left along the road to the war memorial.

After the War Memorial make your way over the hill or back along the road (your choice) to regain Witchcraig Wood and then re-enter Beecraigs Country Park. Ignoring the path along the boundary, keep to the forest track for a little way. On the left you are urged NOT to use the cycle track and indeed, a little further on and running more-or-les parallel with the first path is a newly-created ‘walkers-only’ path with blue markers. This climbs a little and then, at a junction with a cyclists’ route, goes left on the walkers’ route and out to the open area with a pond, meadow, climbing area, ice-cream van and car park at Balvournie. There are toilets here.

After a break you can make for Cockleroy Hill, signposted from Balvournie. The path goes straight to the vehicular road, crosses it and enters a car park. From here you go straight up the hill. After Cockleroy Hill return to Balvournie and take the main route back to the Visitors’ Centre.

This is the most level walk you’ll ever do, notwithstanding railway lines and towpaths. With one gentle exception it’s as flat as a pineapple pancake. Note that some of the obvious paths on the map are private, the locals being understandably a bit uptight about irresponsible walkers, so you should stick firmly to public footpaths, even if this does mean a very convoluted route. The well-established woodland drives are beautiful and there are unexpectedly good views of the Ochils across the Forth. Many of the paths take you, depending on the season, between ripening wheat and barley. Dunmore is a well-known conservation village and the pedestrianised centre of Airth has many 17^th and 18^th century buildings. And then there’s The Pineapple! The area has an interesting history which you might look up on the websites below. The whole walk is nearly ten miles, but it clearly divides into two circles and you can opt out either at The Pineapple if you have a car, or in Airth where there is a fine church, old buildings, two pubs and three coffee shops! If you intend doing this it would be worth printing off some information about both Airth and The Pineapple.

Park at the car-park at the NTS monument ‘The Pineapple’. To get there:

This is the easiest of trips and at about 28 miles should normally take about 35 minutes. Take the M8 from Glasgow towards Edinburgh and then the M80/A80 off to the left, sign-posted Stirling etc. This is an easy and fast run. Follow what is now a motorway towards Stirling/Kincardine Bridge/Perth etc. for about 20 miles. Just past the road to Denny you’ll see the first signpost for the M876 to Kincardine Bridge. Keep in the inside lane and you’ll automatically go off on the M876 (while the middle and outer lanes go on to Stirling and Perth). The A905 is well-sign-posted from the M876 to Airth, Skinflats and Larbert. Go down the slip road to a roundabout and take the left-hand turn (first exit) to Airth. Go through Airth, past the Airth Castle Hotel, to where a brown tourist sign on the right points to the NTS ‘The Pineapple’ on the left. It’s about two miles from the roundabout. Turn left here and then sharp right up a dirt track. Go past a sign for Landmark Trust cottages and then turn right as signed for the car park. There are no toilets at The Pineapple (or anywhere else!) but you are surrounded by woods.

The walk

Begin with a swirl around The Pineapple since that is what you have come to see! From the car-park, take the left-hand path which leads to a pond covered with green moss and apparently full of Great-crested newts which are being scientifically monitored. Already you can see the great Pineapple across the lawns but you’ll soon come out at the Gardens (private/closed) and walk down the main driveway to take photos. Then return to the garden wall, take a path which is little more than a mowing in the lawn and go through a gap in the wall on the left-hand side of the Pineapple. This woodland path takes you left around the Private Gardens and on to a wider forest track where you turn left. At a crossroads of paths continue straight on and to the dirt track you drove up, almost, but not quite, back to the car-park.

Instead of returning to the car-park take the track past the Landmark Trust notice and continue to a sign-post marking a path down to what is called ‘St Andrew’s Drive’ This great track sweeps round the grounds, with lovely views of the River Forth and the Ochils. At an unmarked track to the left it’s worth detouring to find the tower, just about visible through the undergrowth. At a T-junction turn right and go down to a gate across the track and on to the A905. Continue straight on past Dunmore Home Farm (Sutherland Estates) which bends down to the river. It’s worth turning in left here, across a little bridge to sit on the river bank perhaps for lunch. lunch. (You can go all the way to South Alloa but it was tricky and the bus back is only every hour. OK if you time the bus.)

Go back over the little bridge and take the river path to Dunmore, a picturesque conservation village. You ought to do a swirl around here! The path straight south from the village takes you back across the A905 and on to St Andrew’s Drive nearly to the car park. Here endeth the first circle.

The walk continues down the drive and out, for a few yards left, and then right on to the road. Then it cuts in again on a dirt track towards Airth Mains. At a junction turn left down towards the old part of Airth where you can stop to admire the Mercat Cross etc. Continue down to the A905, straight down Shore Road to the river again. Here turn right to take a dubious path along the river bank, which turns right again along a road to the golf course, the A905 and the entrance to Airth Castle Hotel. Take the little path on the left sign-posted to Letham Woods. At the end, turn right, and then right again to come back to the Castle. Go through the main entrance and turn left along a road which soon becomes a dirt track, again with extensive views. You’ll recognise the way back, straight on to the A905 past a prosperous looking Airth Mains Farm, down to the road, turn left, left again and then right up the track to the car park.