About
Pitlochry Dam and Fish Ladder Circular Walk
The Pitlochry
Dam and Fish Ladder walk starts in Atholl Road,
Pitlochry's main street, where the bulk of the shops, restaurant
and some of the Pitlochry Hotels and B&Bs are located. There
are a variety of shops in Atholl Road, from small independent
retailers to large chains such as Edinburgh Woollen Mills. We would
recommend you take your time to walk the length of Atholl not
forgetting the two side streets, West Moulin Road and Bonnethill
Road
where Macdonalds the popular butcher is located,
they specialise in supplying beef and lamb from local Highland
farms.
Pitlochry's circular walk, starts from
either end of Atholl Road via Armoury Road at the west of the town
or Ferry Road at the east end of town. Both these routes start by
taking you under the railway line. We will talk you through the
route along Armoury Road at the west end of Pitlochry to Loch
Faskally over the dam wall to see the fish ladder, past Pitlochry
Festival Theatre and the Scottish Plant Collectors Garden and back
to Pitlochry via the pedestrian suspension bridge over the River
Tummel.
Pitlochry Dam was built in the
between 1947 and 1951 as part of a networks of dams tin the
Highlands to generate electricity. The River Tummel was dammed,
flooding the old Pitlochry Highland Games field, today known as
Loch Faskally. You can hire rods and boats and obtain fishing
permits from the Boating Station at the west end of the town. You
can also hire boats with life jackets and row yourself round Loch
Faskally, an excellent way to explore this wonderful loch.
Pitlochry Fish ladder is one
of the town's more famous attractions and the attraction that the
town is most associated it with. The Fish Ladder was built as part
of Pitlochry Dam to allow the annual migration of thousands of
Atlantic salmon past the dam wall. The Fish Ladder has a total of
34 chambers or small artificial pools, each one with a water level
slightly higher than the one below, a series of steps, gradually
taking the fish in to Loch Faskally. The fish swim from one chamber
to the next via small circular entrances, 
which restrict the amount of water flowing from one
chamber to the next. There is a viewing room, where visitors can
view the fish, if they are lucky you might see what of these
magnificent fish. The viewing room is in one of the three resting
chambers, 
that allow the fish to catch their breath before
the swim through the next set of chambers. The fish counter that
records how many fish have passed through seach season, usually
annual count is over 5,000 fish each season.
Visitors then follow the River Garry down stream past the
Scottish Plant Collectors Garden, the Pitlochry Festival
Theatre and through the hamlet of Port na Craig and over the
pedestrian foot bridge back past the recreation ground and it to
Pitlochry. In the summer evenings this circular walk is popular
with many of Pitlochry Hotel and B&B guests as they stroll
after the evening meal.
