Hike World Heritage Reserve Waterfalls

* Beautiful view!

From Devil's Pulpit with the same guide to the falls, also been with the Guide close to the falls, you climb down to get close, good shoes is a must! beautiful pictures can be taken. the view is also beautiful over the mountains...... recommended...

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Definitely recommended, very unique Experience

This was an amazing experience. The host was very polite, picked me and my friend up in the city centre. We felt like VIPs travelling in a black Mercedes minibus. Although the route to the site goes through mostly on a highway, we thoroughly enjoyed the ride, was not too fast, so we could still gaze out to the passing fields dotted with grazing animals. Once we arrived, we went for a three hour walk in the forest, alongside the Clyde river bank. The walk is quite easy as there’s a path that you are following and Ferenc pointed out some beautiful flowers and interesting moss formations alongside the path. We stopped at several lookouts to take some beautiful photos of the waterfalls on the river. Ferenc offered to take some amazing photos from different angles, with the waterfall behind us. He was very knowledgeable about the area, took us to the other side of the river where not a lot of people go to so we could even have a better view of the area. We had some interesting conversations with him, about Scotland, the Experiences he does, his travels and of course, the scuba diving he has done around the world. He is a very interesting person to spend the afternoon with. Very energetic and friendly personality. Feels like you have known him for a while, which made the Experience even more enjoyable. The place he takes you to is just breathtaking, definitely worth a visit which we couldn’t have done it on our own, not without a car for sure. Hope to go to one of his other Experiences in the future.

via Tripadvisor

Can be done on your own

I hesitated to write a review because the operator of this tour is clearly a hard-working person but I do have concerns about this tour. 1) The guide climbed the guardrail at a scenic lookout over a rapids portion of the river and while straddling it, first encouraged me to do the same, then when I declined to do so, offered to take the photo himself, only coming down when I walked away. 2) The driving was fast, aggressive with abrupt stops, failing to attend to the flow of traffic. Nausea inducing. 3) The guide kept trampling on plants and roots that were off the beaten path, explaining that he was searching for wood suitable to make a slingshot. This didn't seem consistent with the spirit of a hike at a "UNESCO Heritage and Wildlife Reserve". 4) The timing of the tour is awkward, as it starts so late that the shops and museum at the site are closed upon arrival and upon return to Glasgow, it is late for dinner. The tour guide was also unable to answer any of the questions I had about the region. It wasn't so much a tour as a walk on a trail beside a river with a friendly, enthusiastic complete stranger. Overall, I felt as though this tour operator could benefit from apprenticing with an existing tour operator to learn the safety and ecology standards of the industry. You're better off taking the bus out and doing this hike on your own timing and at your own pace.

Response from the operator: I am really really surprised about the above review as I must admit that I have this Hiking Experience delivered on other websites as well and I have never ever had issues with any of the guests about this Experience. For this reason, I would like to clarify in details of what happened during this hiking experience. First, I would like to highlight that if any guests are coming from a country where you get a lot of sunshine and fair weather, you need to take into consideration that you are coming to Scotland, where weather changes from one minute to the other and unfortunately we do have a lot of rain, but this is why we have such beautiful greenery. The above guest and her partner arrived to our meeting point in pouring rain which already set the mood for them for the Experience. Unfortunately I cannot change the weather, so if you feel like you cannot embrace Scotland’s weather conditions, then hiking in Scotland is not ideal for you. Now, let me answer the points mentioned here. 1. I am appalled here of the complete misinterpretation of what actually happened during the Experience. I never ever asked the guest to climb any rails ! I only offered them that if they want a better photo with the waterfall behind, I can take a photo of them from a higher point (by climbing myself up). They would have just stood in front of the rail, while I would take the photo. But obviously they completely misunderstood me. 2. As regards to my driving, this route towards the Heritage site, is mostly on a motorway (highway), so a certain speed is a must as I cannot go slower than the other cars. You need to keep up with the traffic. I keep to the speed limit and I take extra precaution during my driving at all times. I’m sorry if the guest felt unsafe but I cannot go really slow on a highway. 3. I do not even know where to start explaining this. I do have a slingshot which the guest asked about how I made it and I explained it that I made it myself, but never went off the path to search for wood for slingshot. I already have one and never meant to go look for another to make. So I’m not sure why she is even trying to twist the story this way. I always kept to the path, even showed some flora and fauna on the way, alongside the path, but haven’t gone off, so I kind of feel betrayed that the guest would write something like this, completely twisting the story. She asked me about my slingshot and I told her my story about how I learned to make one in my childhood and how I made this one in the past and this is what she writes about ? I feel like almost talking to a journalist who you tell something, and then you see a completely different story in the newspaper. I feel sad for her that she had to somehow twist it so it suits her mood. 4. This is a hiking experience. I never ever mention in the description of the Experience that we would visit museums or shops. If you would like to go shopping then this is not the Experience for you. Yes, this is correct in some way as she asked about when this place became UNESCO Heritage site and I must admit that it skipped my mind the exact year so I didn’t want to lie. However I never considered that this would be such a major issue. I do my best to take guest around this place, show them the Nature trail around this beautiful place, maybe take to the “extreme” to take the best photos for my guests and all of my guests so far very much enjoyed this place so I am sorry for these guests feeling so off about it as Scotland is a beautiful country and no matter the weather, it is always enjoyable. As regards to doing this Experience on your own, yes, it can be done if you are willing to take a bus to a nearby village and walk for couple of miles to the site and back. Then you might even get lost on the trail but hey, if you want to do it on your own, anyone has a right to decide. All in all, I might not be your run of the mill tour guide but I take pride in that. I’m not trying to take people on a group tour with rattling off information after information alongside the road and getting everybody to run to the next stop. I would like everyone to enjoy their surroundings on their own pace, show them the nature and let them enjoy it without too much interruptions.

via Tripadvisor