Walks and bike rides that start at the gate

Most of what I have written about walking and cycling round here starts with a drive. This one doesn't. Every route below starts at our gate, and every one of them ends back at your own pitch, with the kettle on.

I want to say more to walkers and cyclists next year. We've a few lovely walks on the doorstep that are a bit further than a wee stroll, and these are the ones I'd send you on, with the distances and times as I'd give them if you asked me at the gate.

Before you set off

Two things, so there are no surprises.

Most of these are bike runs. The roads round here are not what I'd call suitable for ramblers, so where I say bike, I mean bike. Forfar, Letham and Murton you can do on foot. The rest, get on two wheels.

And it is Angus. The weather can be changeable, and I won't pretend otherwise. Take a layer you think you won't need. You will need it.

One more. Take photos, and send me the best one. Cycling from Foresterseat is mostly quiet road and I would like to see it through your eyes.

Murton: the warm-up

About a 10-minute walk from the park. On foot or by bike.

Murton Nature Reserve is the one on the doorstep. It's the short one, for the morning you don't want a route at all, or for the evening you want to walk off dinner before the owls start. If you have never been out of the gate on foot, go here first and the rest will feel closer.

Forfar: the first one I send everyone on

3 miles. 10 minutes by bike, about 45 on foot.

This is the first one I send everyone on. It's the closest and the most attractive. On foot, go along Chester's walk, round the golf course and onto the pavement into town. On a bike, it's the road into Forfar, ten minutes.

If you only do one of these, do this one. It gets you into town for whatever you need, it is the easiest to find your way on, and it is the route I know best, so if you are not sure of a turning, ask me before you go.

For the walkers, the line on our own map runs like this: out of the park on Chester's walk to the green footbridge, across the fields to the concrete block, up Burnside Road, and onto the pavement into Forfar at the top. The pavement stretch is beside a busy road, so keep to it. The golf course is on your right for the last stretch, which is how you know you have not gone wrong.

Letham: two ways, and only one of them on a bike

4.4 miles. 30 minutes by bike, about an hour and a quarter on foot. A bar, a baker and a tea room at the far end.

On foot, this is the walkers' one. Turn right out of the park gates and straight up the hill. It's challenging, a walkers' walk in nature, and it takes some cracking. Don't set off expecting a stroll, and don't set off late in the day in October.

On a bike, don't go that way. The hill is too bumpy and steep to realistically ride up from the park. Bike the road into Forfar instead, hug the golf course round, up to Kingsmuir and out the Dunnichen Road. That's the quietest roads you'll find between here and Letham, and it is the route I'd ride myself.

Either way, there's a bar, a baker and a tea room when you get there, which is reason enough to go.

Balgavies Loch: fifteen minutes to the water

2.6 miles. 15 minutes by bike.

A scenic lowland nature reserve managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and the shortest of the bike runs. Bike, not foot. There are quiet paths and bird hides, and in autumn, with the geese going over the park for weeks on end, it is where I'd take the binoculars. Take them. You won't be disappointed.

Pitmuies Gardens: a wall to lean a bike on

5 miles. 25 minutes by bike.

Walled fruit and vegetable gardens, with apple and pear trees that have been joined. The kind of place you can lean a bike against a wall for an hour and forget what time it is. Check the gardens' own opening days before you set off; I'd rather you asked me than rode five miles to a shut gate.

Friockheim: the long one

6.4 miles. 30 minutes by bike, along the A932.

The longest of the five, and the one with the most at the end of it: a Spar shop that has everything, and a couple of bars. If you need something you forgot to pack, this is the run. It is the A932, so bikes, not boots, and this is the one to do with the wind at your back if you can arrange it.

Where I wouldn't send you

There are more. You can go up Turin Hill, into Lunanhead, or over to Aberlemno. I'll be honest: there's nothing at Lunanhead, no bar and no shop, there's nothing at Aberlemno either, and the roads to both are a bit nasty for walking or biking. So I don't send people that way, and I'd rather you heard that from me than found out on the road.

Which one, which day

If you are here for a few nights and want to work through them, this is how I'd order it:

• First morning: Murton on foot, to get your legs going and see where you are.
• First proper outing: Forfar, on foot if you walk, by road if you ride.
• The day you want to be out all day: Letham on foot, with the tea room as the target.
• The quiet one: Balgavies Loch by bike, early, with the binoculars.
• The gentle one: Pitmuies by bike, and an hour sitting down at the far end.
• The day you have run out of milk: Friockheim, for the Spar.

That is a week of routes from one gate, and not one of them needs the car keys. Do them in any order you like; that is only the order I would pick, and I am the one who has to listen to you describe Letham afterwards.

Why ride from here, and what you come back to

I'll be honest, the reason I want more walkers and cyclists here is selfish. They are the guests who get what the place is for.

You walk out of the gate and you are in it: fields, the reserve, the road to the loch, with nothing to drive through first. That is the point of starting from a campsite rather than a car park. The routes are how you spend the day. The park is what makes the evening worth coming back for.

You come back to a park where nobody is running an entertainment programme, so the afternoon is yours and runs at your own pace. The shower block is heated, with underfloor heating, which matters more after a wet ride than I can say, and the place is kept immaculate, which you notice most on the day you come back muddy. Dogs are welcome on the pitches, and stay free in two of the five huts, CLOVA and WALLIS, so the walkers among you can bring them along. Sinclair's Kitchen is on site if you would rather not cook after a day out; it is run by Sinclair's, not by us, so book a table with them on 01307 818080. And from ten at night until eight in the morning the park is quiet, properly quiet, the sort where you hear the owls in the oak, so you will actually sleep, which after Letham you will want to.

The practical bit

• Forfar, Letham and Murton: on foot or by bike. Everything else: bike.
• Times are mine, from the gate. Yours will differ.
• We close for the winter on Sunday 1 November and open again on Friday 26 March 2027. Any 2027 pitch booked online before 30 November is 20% off with the code EARLY20, pitches only, online only, which is worth knowing if you are planning next year's riding now.

If you've done any of these, tell me your time. I'll compare notes.

Emma x