Walking in the Angus Glens. James Carron

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      A bird’s-eye view over the glacial bowl of Corrie Fee and Glen Doll (Walk 14)

      The five main glens of Angus – Isla, Prosen, Clova, Lethnot and Esk – radiate from the fertile plains of Strathmore deep into the southern ranges of the Cairngorms National Park. Each has its own distinct character and together they offer walkers exceptional variety.

      Glen Clova is the most popular. From the car park at the end of the public road, Glen Doll and the valley of the River South Esk offer access to a clutch of Munros. Many walkers make a beeline for the contours above 3000 feet, but there are lots of less well-trod paths awaiting quiet exploration, ancient stalkers’ paths and drove routes, like Jock’s Road, the Capel Mounth and Kilbo Path, providing ways through and over the hills.

      Lurking below the high tops, U-shaped valleys with precipitous slopes soaring to airy ramparts of crags and cliffs and deep corrie lochans, such as Loch Brandy, offer physical evidence of the glacial power that carved out this landscape many millennia ago. The rocky amphitheatre of Corrie Fee, above Glen Doll, is one of the best examples of a moraine landscape in Scotland and is home to scarce alpine plants.

      To the south of Clova, Glen Prosen is a sparsely populated valley, offering a less-frequented approach to the Munros of Driesh and Mayar while, setting out from the landmark Airlie Monument, the line of low hills separating Prosen from Clova is one of the area’s finest ridge walks.

      Glen Isla is the most westerly of the Angus glens and is a land of contrasts. Following the River Isla upstream from the waterfalls at Reekie Linn, the terrain is initially relatively benign, gently undulating slopes carpeted in commercial forestry and rough pasture hiding artificial fishing lochs and reservoirs in fell-like folds. At its northern end the glen has a much wilder atmosphere as it tickles the craggy underbelly of Caenlochan Forest where hill tracks and stalkers’ paths rise to the summits of Glas Maol and Creag Leacach.

      Shorter glens radiate out from Isla’s main spine: Glen Damff and Glen Finlet link with Prosen, while remote Canness Glen and Caenlochan Glen probe deep into the mountains.

      Heading northeast, back over Prosen and Clova, Glen Lethnot is the least visited of the Angus glens. Wild and lonely, the valley offers a tempting choice of tracks and paths on to lower hills.