Stirlingshire
The Devil's Pulpit, Finnich Glen — Parking
Finnich Glen — no official car park · Grid ref NS 495 843 · There is nothing to pay because there is nowhere sanctioned to park. Stirling Council laid double yellow lines along the A809 from Dualt to the Dalnair boundary — 2.26 miles — and the whole 0.96-mile B834 between its A809 and A81 junctions, after visitors parked "in a dangerous and inconsiderate manner along grass verges", creating "a serious risk to public safety". Council officers and Police Scotland patrol it and enforcement action is taken (Stirling Council / Stirling News, 2020). Sources written since disagree about what is left — some describe roadside space near the junction, others a lay-by holding two or three cars. We are not going to tell you a spot is legal when the council has yellow-lined both approach roads: look at the lines on the ground, and if there is nowhere plainly legal, do not invent one.
Quick facts
- Grid reference
- NS 495 843
- Spaces
- None provided. There is no official car park and the glen was never laid out as a visitor attraction — it is private land that became famous through Outlander and then through Instagram.
- Cost
- There is nothing to pay because there is nowhere sanctioned to park. Stirling Council laid double yellow lines along the A809 from Dualt to the Dalnair boundary — 2.26 miles — and the whole 0.96-mile B834 between its A809 and A81 junctions, after visitors parked "in a dangerous and inconsiderate manner along grass verges", creating "a serious risk to public safety". Council officers and Police Scotland patrol it and enforcement action is taken (Stirling Council / Stirling News, 2020). Sources written since disagree about what is left — some describe roadside space near the junction, others a lay-by holding two or three cars. We are not going to tell you a spot is legal when the council has yellow-lined both approach roads: look at the lines on the ground, and if there is nowhere plainly legal, do not invent one.
- Surface
- grass
- Drive from Glasgow
- 0h 35m
- Drive from Edinburgh
- 1h 25m
From the car park
The glen is on the A809 near Croftamie, just south of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park boundary. The descent is Jacob's Ladder, a stone stair cut into the gorge side around the mid-1800s. There are no handrails and no ropes, it is steep, wet and slippery for most of the year, and Lomond Mountain Rescue Team reported in May 2025 that "the main gully steps has suffered a further collapse and would not be recommended". Treat that as current until somebody says otherwise — nobody maintains these steps.
The walk
The walk is trivial and the descent is not, which is the whole problem: it is a few hundred metres from the road, so it attracts people dressed for a photograph rather than for a gorge. Once down, reaching the Pulpit itself usually means wading. Lomond MRT's May 2025 warning is worth reading in full before you go — they name "a number of deep (2m to 3m depth) pools that can contain entrapments hazards that are not visible from the surface", and note that "the gorge edge has a number of areas that are loose and actually overhang the gorge". That warning followed three callouts in a matter of weeks, six days after a student's body was recovered from the water on 21 May 2025. Low water after dry weather does not make the pools safe; it makes them look safe.
Busy times
Heavy in summer and at weekends, and the access restrictions have not reduced demand — they have only made the parking worse. Early on a weekday is the only quiet time.
Getting here without a car
The practical alternative to driving, given there is nowhere to leave a car. Buses on the A809 between Glasgow and Drymen pass nearby; check Traveline Scotland for the current service and stops, and be prepared for a road walk with no pavement at either end.
Winter access
Worse in every respect. The steps hold water and ice, the gorge gets no winter sun to clear them, and the burn runs higher and faster. The Pulpit is often simply unreachable without getting into cold, fast water, which is not a thing to do in a gorge in January.
Overflow parking
There is no overflow, and the verges are the specific thing the restriction exists to stop. If you cannot park legally, the honest answer is to go somewhere else — this is a small gorge that already takes more visitors than its access can carry.
Current conditions
Daylight Today
- Sunrise
- 06:31
- Sunset
- 20:01
- Civil dawn
- 05:52
- Civil dusk
- 20:40
NOAA Solar Calculator · 6 September 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Where can you park for the Devil's Pulpit?
- Nowhere officially. There is no car park, and Stirling Council has laid double yellow lines along 2.26 miles of the A809 and the entire 0.96-mile stretch of the B834 between the A809 and the A81, because of dangerous verge parking. Officers and Police Scotland patrol it. Read the lines on the ground rather than a blog, and if there is nowhere plainly legal, go elsewhere.
- Is the Devil's Pulpit dangerous?
- It has been the subject of an explicit mountain rescue warning. In May 2025, after three callouts in a few weeks and six days after a student’s body was recovered from the water, Lomond Mountain Rescue Team warned of deep pools of 2m to 3m containing entrapment hazards not visible from the surface, a gorge edge with loose sections that overhang, and a further collapse of the main gully steps that they said "would not be recommended".
- Are the steps into Finnich Glen safe?
- Jacob's Ladder is a stone stair from around the mid-1800s with no handrail and no rope, nobody maintains it, and Lomond MRT reported a further collapse in May 2025. It is steep and slippery in almost any conditions. Plenty of people go down it; that is not the same as it being safe.
- Can you legally visit Finnich Glen?
- Yes — it is private land, but Scotland's statutory right of responsible access under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 applies. Responsible is the operative word: the parking restrictions, the erosion and the rescue callouts are what happens when a small gorge takes more people than it can hold.
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