www.moraywalkoutdoorfest.co.uk/.../scalan.../ .

A walk to Scalan Seminary with a talk from the Scalan Association as part of Moray Walking and Outdoor Festival. The walk then continues part way up Tom Trumper with views over Glenlivet.

Meeting at Carrachs Car Park, we will walk 1km across open land to the Old College of Scalan. The secluded building of Scalan (from the Gaelic sgalan, meaning turf roof) was once a seminary (a college for training priests) and was one of the few places in Scotland where the Catholic faith was kept alive during the troubled times of the 18th century.

This will be a chance to have a sneak preview of the buildings before their reopening after recent improvements to access and interpretation by the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Landscape Partnership. We will have a short talk from the Scalan Association about the history and significance of the buildings and life in the Braes of Glenlivet.

We will then continue further along the Crombie Water to the Clash of Scalan before heading part way up Tom Trumper to admire the views keeping our eyes open for the wonderful wildlife of this remote area. To the north beyond the distillery is the rounded shape of the Bochel, an isolated hill at the head of the Braes of Glenlivet, while eastwards, the Ladder hills stretch into the distance towards the expansive bowl of the Suie.

We will loop back down to our starting point with a chance of catching the first of the evenings bats flitting over the Carrachs pond