In the footsteps of Peter the Priest
JUST south of Braemar, a long glen slashes its way into the wind-scoured wastes of the vast Lochnagar/Glenshee plateau – a high and lonely place that is the haunt of red deer, ptarmigan and golden plover.
Wild and remote in these higher reaches, the lower glen is popular with walkers who are content with a low level wander up to Loch Callater and back, seeking perhaps just a taste of the wildness beyond.
The name Callater comes from caladair, which means hard water. The loch itself is just less than a mile in length and has an average depth of about 10ft although it does become deeper in some parts. It’s a well-known loch for pike fishing.
For the slightly more adventurous, a track runs up onto the Carn an Tuirc plateau from where the whole splendour of the area is well represented by the view into the depths of Coire Loch Kander.
Loch Kander, which means head water, from the Gaelic ceanndair, has been described as an ‘alpine’ loch and was much admired by Queen Victoria who suggested it was ‘very wild and dark’. This little loch lies in its fine secluded corrie and caused one writer to describe it as ‘a recess in the bosom of a mountain’.
There is a prominent layby at Auchallater on the A93, a couple of miles south of Braemar. A Scottish Rights of Way Society sign points the direction and a track leads through a gate above the waters of the Callater Burn.
In these lower reaches the burn is impressive - a series of cascades and waterfalls tumbling over granite boulders and slabs. Continue on the track as it bends southwards into the hemmed-in glen and after some distance you’ll cross the burn by a bridge with the slopes of Creag Phadruig rising ahead of you. After three miles you’ll reach Callater Lodge, and the loch.
Glen Callater was at one time known as the ‘miracle glen’, following the deeds of a local clergyman who was known as Patrick, or Peter the Priest. Half way down the glen, on the east side, there is a hill called Craig Phadruig, Patrick’s Crag, and behind it Loch Phadruig. To the north-east of Loch Callater lies Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, the big hill of the priest.
The story goes that the whole Braemar area was suffering from intensely cold weather which went on well into the spring. Eventually a holy well near Callater Lodge froze up leaving the people without any water at all.
Peter the Priest was summoned and he decided the only thing he could do was pray - and his prayers were miraculously answered. As he knelt before the holy well the ice began to melt and great clouds gathered over Carn an t-Sagairt. Within moments the frost began to loosen its grip and a thaw had set in. A large stone commemorates the site of Peter’s Well, close to Callater Lodge on the east side of the loch.
A footpath continues on this east shore and eventually climbs up onto a lonely plateau east of Tolmount to follow Jock’s Road down into Glen Clova. It is possible to walk round the loch, but you might have to wade the river at its southern end to reach the bulldozed track which will return you to the Lodge. This can prove difficult, or well nigh impossible, during or immediately after heavy rainfall.
To the south of the lodge another track crosses a wooden bridge and climbs up the northern slopes of Carn an Tuirc (hill of the boar). This track takes you steeply up onto an exposed plateau which looks down into Coire Loch Kander just beyond a pile of stones which were once an old shepherd’s bothy. The view of the small lochan, cradled in its rocky corrie, is well worth the effort of the climb.
