Upper Tay Paths' Group

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Upper Tay Paths' Group

THIS GROUP has been active for almost three years now and, perhaps because of its title, one or two misconceptions have grown up as to what we actually do, and what we don’t do, writes the group’s chairman, Liz Lines.

First the don’ts. We’re not a walking, riding or biking group. Much as we’d like to see the paths in the Strath better used and better known, it’s not our job to organise outings or lead expeditions. We’ve had some enquiries recently along these lines so it’s as well to get that out of the way immediately. We’re not Tour organisers.

What we do, with the help and encouragement of Perth and Kinross Council, is to identify a network of paths in the Strath which could be developed for the benefit of locals and tourists without interfering with other land uses in the area.

When the new Land Access legislation, and its accompanying Code, became law, it was obvious that a paths’ system would be preferable to a “free for all”, to enable competing uses of land to co-exist. The Upper Tay Paths’ Group came into being to facilitate this. We’re a subgroup of the Upper Tay Development Group, a combination of interested individuals, with representatives from Community Councils and landowners, and we meet four or five times a year.

Achievements to date

We’ve used the results of the Perth and Kinross Core Paths exhibition and census to map a number of Core Paths, and we’ve talked to the relevant landowners to see how these paths can be established.

We’ve identified a number of routes around Aberfeldy and in the Strath, and at present we are establishing a path from Aberfeldy to Grandtully, partly using the route of the old railway line. Anyone who has tried to walk the A827 will appreciate just how useful such a route will be.

Ultimately we’d like to see a route running all the way from Keltneyburn to Ballinluig. We’re talking about non-motorised traffic - just walkers, cyclists and riders, with owner vehicle access for land operations.

For the future, we hope to assist in the development of a Carse walk from Aberfeldy to Tirinnie and on westwards. Eventually, there will be an identified and mapped network of paths which locals and visitors can access.

It’s a slow process, with surveys needed and some done, and funding to be organised, but negotiations are going well, and we hope to have some of these tracks upgraded and appropriately signposted by the end of this year.

If you’d like to help, or want more information, contact Abigail Baldwin Thomson, she’s our Project Officer, on 01887 829740 (email info@hpcp.co.uk) or myself, Liz Lines, Chairman, on 01887 820787.