Castle View joins the A905 on the eastern edge of Airth. Take this opening and immediately bear left on to a signed woodland walk. This path loops around the back of Airth Castle which you glimpse from time to time through the vegetation. Turn right when you emerge on a single-track road then right again past a long cottage festooned with ivy. A sign informs you the road offers no through route to the castle. Instead, take the narrow uphill path on your right and you find yourself within the grounds of the estate. The castle is basically a country house bolted on to a far older tower house. It now functions as a luxury hotel.
Walk by the front of the building and bear left back towards Castle View. Note the remains of a church tower not far from the mansion. Back on the A905, turn right, then left past a golf driving range. This quiet road leads to the shore and you can pick up the trail atop the flood embankments as you head upstream. Upon reaching the site of a water works, leave the river trail and proceed up Shore Road back to the main street. You can avail yourself of the town's facilities as you return to the point where you began.
