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Drovers' Tryst walking festival
Guided walks | Self-led walks | Safety and equipment
Transport | Directions | Guided walks throughout the year
Saturday 11th October – Saturday 18th October 2008
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Each day there is a choice of 3 - 4 walks to suit all abilities. These are classified as Easy, Medium, Hard and Extra Hard.
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The EASY walks are typically 2 to 3½ hours in duration, generally on good paths with only short and modest uphill and downhill sections. Some of the EASY walks can have a very short but stiff climb and may have some rough ground to cross (e.g. Dundurn Hill fort) so check the descriptions carefully if you're planning to bring baby and the buggy.
Although the terrain on the EASY walks is generally suitable for a wide range of ages and abilities, you'll still get wet if it rains and you're not prepared. Check the weather forecast before you set out so you're not fooled by our increasingly wonderful Scottish morning sunshine into turning up in flip-flops and beach shorts……
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The MEDIUM walks are longer, mostly 3 to 5 hours, and involve longer or steeper ascents with the occasional bit of rough ground thrown in. If you've NEVER walked for this long before, we'd recommend you stick to the EASY walks.
If you're not used to this level of walking but you'd like to practice, we'd suggest you walk for not less than 4 hours for at least 3 days each week for each of 4 successive weeks before you arrive. Our Leaders have plenty of blister plasters but we'd prefer not to have to use them!
Please check our suggestions of what to bring with you to help make your walk a really beautiful experience.
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The HARD walks are either long-distance or involve steep ascents of local mountains with some rough terrain and are only suitable for fit and well-equipped walkers. Don't over-estimate your ability to complete a HARD walk without slowing the rest of the group down.
Ask yourself:
Have I recent experience of walking for 6-8 hours in the Great Outdoors?
Have I recently walked up (and down) a mountain of over 3000ft in height without physical distress?
Do I run at least 3 miles regularly?
Do I play an aerobic sport (e.g. football, squash, swimming) pretty much every week?
Do I have other evidence that I am noticeably fitter than my peers?
Am I free of medication for conditions that really shouldn't be taken up a remote mountain where only helicopters could rescue me?
If your answer to all these questions is "No", we'd guess you'd be happier doing the MEDIUM walks. Where's the fun in lagging behind with sore feet and muscles and feeling bad both physically and psychologically? We're into FUN so we don't want you to miss out by overdoing it.
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The EXTRA HARD walks require a HIGH LEVEL of FITNESS as these walks are organised for EXPERIENCED HILL WALKERS capable of walking routes of 20kms and upwards - with steep ascents and descents - in less than 8 hours.
This is the SERIOUS STUFF for the SERIOUSLY DEMENTED. Please don't book an EXTRA HARD walk if you're a normally sensible person who just likes a stroll in the hills.
This is where SERIOUS FITNESS is a MUST.
You don't need to be ex-SAS or under 35; we have regular EXTRA HARD nutcases in their 60s. BUT we have learned we should not underestimate the challenge that our EXTRA HARD walks present to those not quite ready for them. And it's been both males and females who've succumbed to the Empty Energy Tank Syndrome (often known as the "I'm Knackered Syndrome"). Serious walkers get seriously grumpy with those who keep the bus waiting at the end of the walk (well, the pub beckons, doesn't it?) so please don't let it be you.
Ask yourself:
Have I recent experience of walking up and down mountains of over 3000 ft (915m) in height for 6-8 hours?
Have I recently walked up (and down) at least 3 mountains of over 3000ft in height within 8 hours without physical (or mental) distress?
Do I run at least 6 miles (10 km for our metric friends) regularly?
Have I run a half-marathon in the last 6 months?
Do I play an aerobic sport (e.g. football, squash, swimming) to a high level every week?
Do I have other, real evidence that I am far fitter than the majority of my peers?
Am I free of medication for conditions that really shouldn't be taken up a remote mountain where only helicopters could rescue me?
If your answer to all these questions is "No", we'd guess you'd be happier doing the HARD (or maybe even the MEDIUM) walks. When that last Munro (Scottish mountains over 3000ft if you're reading this in Tashkent, Toronto or Timbuktu) looms out of the Scottish mist brilliant sunshine, you'll want to have the energy to gallop to the top and plant the Flag of Achievement. If all you can do is gasp for breath or ask desperately to be escorted down the easy way (which undoubtedly won't exist), you're on the WRONG WALK. As noted previously, we're into FUN so we don't want you to miss out by overdoing it.
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WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU
This section contains RECOMMENDATIONS. You can ignore them if you like but you'll probably end up wishing you hadn't. The most important item you bring may well turn out to be your Sense of Humour.
EASY:
Food and drink. If you bring children, remember to bring stuff for them too (as if you'd forget!). Bring around a litre of (non-alcoholic) fluid per adult for every 3 hours of walking with corresponding amounts for children depending on their age and body size. Bring more if Climate Change has worked its magic and temperatures at the start of the walk are above 15ºC (59ºF).
Waterproof jacket (we mentioned possible warm weather - BUT …).
Easily dried warm trousers - preferably not jeans as on a walk they tend not to give in the right places and they can rub in all the wrong ones; and then it rains.
If you're not from Newcastle-on-Tyne (English joke), bring a warm hat and gloves or mitts.
'Country' footwear; although the going will be easy, wearing stuff like high heels or flip-flops will probably end in tears.
Skin protection. OK, most of our warnings mention rain but honestly you (and more especially your small kids) can get sunburnt in Scotland in October - so remember you read it here.
A suitable bag to carry stuff, preferably one you can carry on your back rather than a supermarket carrier bag.
Your medication (or your kids') if you have any you'd need to take during a walk.
MEDIUM:
Everything listed for EASY walks PLUS
Definitely a back-pack to carry stuff.
Waterproof trousers - can make that sudden downpour more bearable.
Good, ankle-supporting boots with suitable socks.
An extra fleece (not too thick) for under your jacket if Scotland proves uncharacteristically cold for you.
A map and compass if you want to practice your map-reading (no-one's got terminally lost on our walks yet). Ideally, the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 series maps are best for walking though the 1:50000 maps are fine for most purposes.
A walker's satellite navigation (SatNav) system if you have one and want to practice. (If you do lose sight of the rest of the walking group, at least you'll know where you are - only kidding).
Mobile phone - so you can find out that there really are places in the UK where they still don't work.
HARD:
Everything for MEDIUM walks PLUS
A serious day rucksack that you can carry comfortably all day. A rucksack of around 25-30 litres capacity is ideal; smaller may not allow you to carry the fluids and spare clothing you'll need and larger will probably encourage carrying too much.
Definitely wear the best walking trousers you can afford, the kind with more pockets than a herd of kangaroos and made of stuff that dries very quickly.
Definitely wear the best walking jacket you can afford, preferably the kind that 'breathes' as you get hot and sweaty inside it whilst still keeping your dry from the rain.
Small first aid kit, the kind with plasters for blisters and small abrasions. Scottish mountains can be unforgiving if your bare skin meets one at speed.
Bivouac safety bag if you have one. Don't buy one specially as the Walk Leader will also have one.
Rucksack liner. This will keep all the stuff in your pack dry and safe; most rucksacks will eventually succumb to persistent Scottish rain.
Whistle. Six beeps at one minute intervals is the emergency signal. Wolves are no longer wild in Scotland so wolf whistles are not required.
Torch. Please test it before you leave and bring spare batteries. A small high-powered torch is better than a heavy-duty unit; don't forget you have to carry it.
A small waterproof mat to sit on when you stop for food and drink; not everywhere you choose to plonk your posterior will be bone dry.
At least 500cc (1 pint) of hot drink irrespective of the temperature in Crieff. Temperatures at 3000ft and above can be 20ºC (36ºF) or more lower than street level. Don't blame us though if the summits turn out to be warm enough to sunbathe (really happened on Carn Mairg on 7 October 2007 - honest).
Extra food in relation to the effort you'll be expending. Nuts and raisins are excellent to munch as you go. Most commercial energy bars are not good value for money and often don't have the slow-release calories you'll need. A sugar rush is OK for 15 minutes but not necessarily a lot of help on an 8-hour hike.
Spare batteries for your SatNav - they always fail when it's least convenient.
Any supplies you consider appropriate to 'wild toileting' (we swear by baby wet wipes). When you gotta go, you gotta go, even if it's on top of a mountain - so be prepared.
Weigh your back-pack before you leave (if you're not coming from your own home with your own scales, we're sure your local friendly host will help). Unless you're SAS-trained, you don't want to carry more than about 10%-15% of your body-weight. Women, in the main, should aim for no more than about 10%, men up to 15%. The only excess weight you really want to lose on a walk is that bit around the waistline.
EXTRA HARD:
Everything for HARD walks PLUS
Bivouac safety tent if you have one.
Extra pair of thin inner socks if wet feet bother you. In some places, the walking is through streams and very boggy ground and keeping your feet dry - even with the very best of footwear - is not easy. Being able to change into dry socks can be a significant psychological lift.
Extra pair of thick outer socks. Ditto.
Waterproof cover for the back-pack. Some products have this supplied as standard but a very wet Scottish day can soak through most back-packs. Although you'll have remembered to install a rucksack liner (won't you?), that doesn't protect the outside pockets of the rucksack so a waterproof cover can also be useful.
Extra calories - more nuts and raisins maybe?
Extra fluids, especially if the weather is warm and dry. Try and take on extra fluids before you leave if the weather does promise warmth; you might go to the mountain loo more often but you'll be more likely to avoid dehydration. You can refill water bottles en route but remember you share mountain water with the wildlife. So far as we know, no-one's had Wallace's Revenge yet from drinking our mountain water.
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Many of the walks retrace the steps of the original drovers covering ancient paths they trod with their cattle as they brought them to market. Crieff Market - originally on the site of present-day Morrison's School and then at the Market Park - was once the largest cattle market in Europe. Here Scottish Highlanders met Scottish Lowlanders and the English to sell the prized herds that they had brought many miles. Often these same Highlanders were then hired to drive the cattle onwards to their ultimate destinations. Highland cattle can now be seen increasingly throughout Scotland as the breed makes a come-back from days when they were considered uncommercial.
Please note that the Crieff Tryst organisers regret that none of the walks is accompanied by Highland cattle, except by accident.
The walks are led by experienced leaders, on a voluntary basis. They are there to ensure that the correct routes are followed as well as providing interesting information on our beautiful scenic landscape, and in many cases, our droving heritage. Please listen carefully to the information that the Walk Leaders give at the start of each walk so that your day will be as enjoyable and fulfilling as possible.
Every walk also has the services of a volunteer Back-marker whose primary task is to ensure that the group keeps reasonably together throughout the day. Back-markers will also provide support to the Walk Leader in the event of any walker experiencing difficulties through exhaustion or injury.
**The organisers reserve the right to change the walks at short notice due to adverse weather conditions
View full walk programme, book on-line go to Walks categories:
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