Forest bathing in Clackmannanshire

Scotland's smallest council area packs its woodland into the glens of the Ochils and the ground below them. Dollar Glen, owned by the National Trust for Scotland, is a steep wooded gorge of oak, ash and beech climbing to Castle Campbell, and Alva Glen and Mill Glen at Tillicoultry are cut in the same way. Wood Hill Wood above Alva is a Woodland Trust wood of oak and birch on the hill foot, part of the Ochil Hills Woodland Park. On the flat land near Alloa, Gartmorn Dam Country Park has mixed and planted woodland around Scotland's oldest reservoir, with Forestry and Land Scotland woods alongside.

A session in these hill-foot woods is small and slow, two to three hours with little distance covered and a good deal of time sitting by running water, which the glens have in abundance. The gorges are steep; the reservoir is flat. Each guide's profile shows what they run and when.

Gartmorn Dam is the easier start, with a car park at the dam and a level path around the water a few minutes from Alloa. Dollar Glen has a car park in Dollar and the walk up is steep but short.