Undiscovered Scotland

 

Glen Prosen is the most westerly of the Angus Glens that stick like a series of fingers into the south-western side of the Cairngorm Mountains. It tends to be overshadowed by its near neighbour to the east, Glen Clova, though as a result it is also much less busy.

Glen Prosen is usually approached from a junction on the Glen Clova road just north of the village of Dykehead. This takes you past Mile Hill and gives you a first view of Glen Prosen as it rounds a corner near a stone cairn. The cairn commemorates the planning in a nearby house of the ill-fated 1912 Antarctic expedition by Captain Scott and Dr Wilson.

The cairn notes that it was erected in 1981 to replace a memorial fountain placed here in 1919, but accidentally destroyed (presumably by a vehicle overshooting the corner) in 1979.

Glen Prosen has a more pastoral feel than Glen Clova, and the scale of the surrounding mountains is rather less obvious: it is certainly attractive, but perhaps not spectacular. Nonetheless, because the road into the glen sticks high to its north-eastern side, the views ahead are beautiful.

The main settlement in Glen Prosen is Glenprosen, or "Glenprosen Village" on many maps. What you find is a picturesque hamlet of a few scattered houses spreading along the east side of the glen from Glenprosen Church. A sign near the small parking area close to the church points the way to the village attractions, though as it notes, the Glenprosen Tea Room in the old schoolhouse is no longer open.

Beyond here the road up the east side of the glen is private, leading to Balnaboth and guarded by a gatehouse. Another track, passable only on foot, passes Glenprosen Church and follows the "Ministers Road" the four miles to Glen Clova, It was so named because the Minister used to walk it twice each Sunday, before and after services.

Just south of Glenprosen a bridge over the Prosen Water links together the two sides of the glen. From here the public road continues another three miles up the glen to Glenprosen Lodge. The road on the western side of the glen also provide an alternative route back to Kirriemuir. This takes you through Easter Lednathie at the mouth of Glen Uig and helps provide a totally different perspective on Glen Prosen.