Carron Valley Reservoir, North Lanarkshire

Tommy does love a good bench! (click / tap to enlarge)

We recently took a trip out to Carron Valley Reservoir in North Lanarkshire, near the town of Denny in Falkirk. It's a pretty large reservoir that apparently services around 135,000 people in the Forth Valley. It's also the location of Duncarron Medieval Village which is dog friendly and I'm told is well worth a visit, though we've not been there ourselves.

There's a shore trail that runs for a few miles, though we only walked out to the viewpoint and picnic area that juts out into the water. It was a somewhat shorter walk than we were planning, as the parking charges are a bit inflexible: £1 for an hour or £4 all day, with nothing in between. We therefore opted for an hour as we were not intending to stay all that long anyway.

There is a lot of forestry work going on and the trail meets the logging road in several places, so dogs will need to be on the lead while walking along them if logging operations are in progress. There were logging vehicles regularly travelling along the road when we visited. Also, if you want to take a look at the reservoir spillway, it's a dangerous area for dogs and they'll need to be on lead there too. On the other side of the spillway, just off the shore trail, there's a little shingle beach which is a popular spot for dogs to have a splash about. Don't let them swim out however as the dam wall area is dangerous and can pull them under. 

Information is current as of our last visit in March 2023. All images can be clicked / tapped to enlarge. Further information about the area can be found on the Forest and Land Scotland website here.

Here are a few photo highlights:

The reservoir spillway (take care with dogs here as they can easily get through the safety rails)

The forested area near the start of the trail

View down the reservoir

The boys having a play at the viewpoint and picnic area

Time for a paddle!

A very happy Jasper in the water!

View back down the reservoir

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