Bracklinn Falls, Callander

After a nice sleep and a full Scottish breakfast at the Waverley Hotel, we had a impromptu visit to the Bracklinn Falls. Simply because, the daddy took the leaflet "Callander Geodiversity Trail" from the one of the Information centres we popped by. He wanted the family to have some bear-hunt woodland adventure.

Apparently, it is a very popular beauty spot in Highlands.

SC did a search on the exact location and direction by tapping onto the wifi of The Waverley Hotel prior to the exploration. We also learnt from the map in our hands, it was actually a circular walk of about 4 miles to complete the Bracklinn Falls Circuit. But because it was a drizzling morning and the city girls of ours had some reservation to explore an unknown place, we decided not to complete the whole walk. 

Once we left the town of Callander, by heading east of A84 and turn left into Bracklin Road, we found ourselves driving through a minor road lined with beautiful Scottish houses. There were few junctions along Bracklin Road that needed to consider the turning, fortunately signages of Bracklinn Falls strategically placed at the junctions and we were able to be led to the designated parking space, situated on an unnamed road. Please refer to the map below, absolutely correct.

There was an obvious tracking pathway next to the designated parking space, and there should be one sign indicating the direction of the Falls, so we began our tracking journey from there without mistake... Sorry, I forgotten the detail of this part of the adventure, the rustic pleasure of the woodland took up some space in my memory bank. But,  the tracking path next to the parking space is vividly alive in my memory.

Love the tranquility of the woodland.

Once we passed through a dense forestry, we came to an open ground and overlooked the lowland.

It was wondrously stunning.

There were only us and another two small groups (2 or 3 individuals) throughout the walk. It was in such a still atmosphere that at some points of our journey, my scaredy-cat daughter screamed for a return.

As it was a wet day, we had to take extra precaution while enjoying the scenery. There were steep drops and slippery stones at some part of the track.

Before reaching the Bridge, before hearing the waterfalls from a distance,  it seemed like an endless and hopeless walk to the girls.

So once we heard the sound of crashing waters, it encourage us walk faster.

"The original cast-iron bridge, built for a visit of Queen Victoria in the 1870s, was destroyed by flooding in 2004 but was replaced by the spectacular wooden structure in 2010. The name Bracklinn comes from the Gaelic word Breac, meaning speckled or tawny and refers to the colour of the peat-tinged water, and from Linn meaning pool. The gorge which the falls of the Keltie Burn flow through has been formed over many years by the action of the water on soft puddingstone which lies in a fault at this point and has eroded much faster than the surrounding rock." - source.

And we reached the Bracklinn Falls Bridge.

The bridge provided a good viewpoint for the falls. It also showed how the softer sandstones and mudstones forming the lower part of the gorge have been eroded in the form of a right angle bend with the strata hereabouts running parallel to the walls. - Callander Geodiversity Trail

So I was glad that we made it and got to enjoy a very chilled kind of nature walk, seeing the puddingstone for the very first time and admiring the woodland and an open ground for a good view out over the countryside towards Stirling.

As I was telling my girls, this was much children-friendly kind of nature walk compare to tracking in those rainforests back home. The tranquility is beautiful, not eerie (I always feel spooky when I was in our tropical forest... when I was young). Maybe because it was more of a woodland than a forest.

The Bridge was the further point we had reached for this walk.

Extracted from the booklet of Callander Geodiversity Trail

Don't miss this if you exploring Highlands, Scotland.

Linking up with MyBrownPaperPackages for #WednesdayWanderlust & Wordful Wednesday of Dominique's Desk