Retired Dunkeld policeman David MacDougall has one word for the barrier blocking the footbridge over the Hermitage’s River Braan – “brutal”.
Forestry officials blocked off the 200-year old footbridge at the heart of Perthshire’s Hermitage more than a decade ago.
Landslips between 2009 and 2011 collapsed the path on the south side of the river.
Officials shut the circular route, but walkers continued scrambling through, leading to workers barricading the bridge on health and safety grounds after a further slip in 2011.
“It was the most beautiful circular walk. Possibly one of the better ones in the whole of Scotland,” says David.
“They’ve closed up the arch on the far side with a very brutal barricade.
“There are big wooden slabs nailed into the concrete and a wire mesh to stop people.”
Why does Hermitage landslip path matter?
Just off the A9, the Duke of Atholl designed the Hermitage as a pleasure garden in the 18th century.
Today, thousands of people visit for the accessible trails, stunning river views and giant Douglas firs.
David never imagined that more than a decade later he would still be waiting for the circular route that once sat in the heart of the park to reopen.
He has spent years pushing authorities and writing letters to state his case.
“I went to the Forestry Commission office, as it was then [the relevant body is now Forestry and Land Scotland] and asked about the closure of the path.
“I was told it was in hand and they would soon have it open.”
But nothing has happened.
David and his friends are not alone in their frustration.
The faded poster on the bridge barricade contains a blank section for workers to write in a reopening date.
One writer has scrawled “never” into the blank space.
Forestry officials produced ‘glossy brochure’ – but didn’t act
Margaret Anderson, from nearby Inver, was a member of the Dunkeld and Birnam community council when the Hermitage bridge shut and path closed.
She remembers officials commissioned engineers to produce an “glossy brochure” outlining the options for repairing the route.
“They sat on it and sat on it. We asked them when it was going to happen, but by then it had petered out.”
She said she would have acted differently then, had she known what would happen next.
“I would have made more of a fuss. It was very, very popular with locals and visitors.
“Now, 90% of visitors don’t even realise you can get to that side of the hermitage.”
Sheila MacDougall also remembers what they have lost.
“I walked it many a time. It brought peace and quiet.
“It was a nice length for the children when they were small. I used to take them up and we enjoyed it.”
She agreed the current barricade has more in common with a prison fence than one of Tayside’s most visited outdoor attractions.
“It’s so sad to think that we have this beautiful bit in Scotland and we can’t get the use of it.”
A spokesperson for Forestry and Land Scotland issued the same statement the Scottish Government agency published around a year ago, when David last raised the issue publicly.
“The path was shut in 2011 after numerous landslips made it unsafe to use.
“Successive surveys over the next couple of years showed that the only feasible response that would both restore a circular path and ensure visitor safety would be to build a bridge further downstream.
“We have in the past discussed options with NTS, which manages the Hermitage, and with the local community but unfortunately, with a number of challenges competing for our limited resources in the intervening years, pushing forward with this project has not been a priority.”
A National Trust for Scotland spokesperson said the organisation owned the bridge, which remained closed for safety reasons.
Conversation