Lochan Spling - Aberfoyle
Date: 25 January 2026
Leader: Trish
Grade: C
Number on walk: 25
Length 13.5 km. Ascent 245 m.
Hills climbed: None.
Click here for GPX track of the walk
We paused briefly to admire Lochan Spling soon after leaving Aberfoyle
We had our morning tea break halfway along Lochan Spling where we encountered this sculpture of a dragonfly
This and two other sculptures were created by artist Rob Mulholland in 2008
Continuing our walk we reached Duchray Castle
Looking away from the castle we had a beautiful but wet view of the ornamental pond
Our return route took us alongside the Duchray Water
We had lunch on the lawn in front of Duchray Castle
Duchray Castle is an altered rectangular 16th-century tower house. The castle was torched after the Jacobite Rising of 1745, but was restored, extended, and remodelled in the 19th century. The castle was recorded as "in ruins" in 1815 but appears to have been rebuilt in around 1825. The Gothic revival windows and crenelations date from that period, but subsequent alterations through the course of the 19th century and another fire in the mid-20th century have all left their mark on the historic structure.
Before returning to Aberfoyle we visited the ruined 18th Century parish church where the two cast iron mortsafes were of particular interest.
The church was abandoned in 1870 when a new church was built.
A mortsafe is a heavy iron or iron and stone device designed to stop body‑snatchers from stealing freshly buried corpses in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They were placed over a new grave and remained in place for about six weeks, until the body had decomposed enough to be worthless to body-snatchers.
Finally as we crossed the River Forth and arrived in Aberfoyle we had this view of Craigmore