Tulalv one

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An easy enough route, but I did not find it particularly enjoyable. The most interesting bit is walking through the Diageo bottling plant. Otherwise the route lies on pavements beside main roads, some of which are narrow.

It would probably be fine for wheelers, except for the kerb to get onto the footway beside the road at the western exit from the Diageo factory, and possibly other kerbs along this route heading towards Tullibody. The pavement along this road has a rough surface in places, and it is fairly narrow, with traffic travelling fast (supposedly limited to 40mph). Also, there is a set of steps for the pedestrian route through the bottling plant, but these can be bypassed by using the adjacent roadway, shown on one of my photos.

This area of Clackmannanshire has a plethora of cycleways, and these provide alternatives which would be suitable for both walkers and wheelers. North of the A91 is the 'Old Road', a very pleasant, undulating route and no longer used by traffic. In Slowways it is Brialv One and Two. A short path links to Tulalv One at Victoria Terrace, where the A91 is crossed and Tulalv One can be joined. The last 3 of my photos show this route.

There are signs indicating that there is a pedestrian route through the bottling plant. Although I walked this route on a Wednesday, no traffic came past me, and there are various indicated walkways to use. There were lots of different smells coming from the various buildings. Most of my photos are of this part of the route.

There is a brand new cycleway immediately north of the whisky warehouses, linking the bottling plant's northern access road to streets near the centre of Alva. This is not yet shown on OS maps. West of the bottling plant access road the cycleway continues, signposted to Alloa, Stirling and Tullibody (2miles). It heads under the road, and curves round through the outskirts of Menstrie to head southwards to the west of Tullibody, all off road and presumably following the lines of former railways. Using this route is just over 1km longer, but avoids the unpleasant narrow footway south of the bottling plant. I will map this route at Tulalv Two, but as it is all a cycleway it may be tedious for walkers.

Review of Slow Ways route Tulalv one (Tullibody to Alva)
I walked this route in reverse (i.e. from Alva to Tullibody) on a damp afternoon in September 2023. The route begins on Alva main street (West Stirling Street) and follows this street (which becomes the A91) out of the town along a good pavement. At the entrance to the Diageo works, the route turns left (no pavement here and care required due to turning lorries) and proceeds along a good track/road between the estate buildings, eventually emerging on Menstrie Road. There is then an uphill section (with a narrow but adequate pavement) which crosses the River Deveron (with good views up and down the flood plain) and eventually reaches the Muirside roundabout (note the “Air Spirit” public artwork. The final section is down into the centre of Tullibody, again on pavemented streets. This is a short, simple route which is well-mapped and relatively easy-going. It relies rather too much on pavements beside roads, although the roads themselves are not excessively busy (although they may be during “rush hours”).

Follows road (with pavement) out of Tullibody and over the River Devon ( which effectively cuts out any more interesting routes) and then through a whisky bottling plant on right hand side. This does not appear a likely through route, but I followed it without challenge ( on a Saturday afternoon) and there is a path which runs between two sets of warehouses along a rutted track through the site. For those less interested in industrial estates following the road toward Menstrie another half mile leads to an improved path on the right which after following the road for a while , cuts east along the wooded north boundary of the bottling plant to join the access road from the North. Unfortunately there is no alternative to walking along the A91 to Alva (cafe, pubs, shops)- which does at least have a pavement.

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