I walked this path in 2021. The path is to the east of the burn as you recall but to the west of the LRT. It's a fairly well-defined path, boggy and with at least one fallen tree to climb through/over (may well be more now). I think the 1:50K OS map showing a path on the west of the burn is either incorrect or out of date. There is no path at all on the latest 1:25K map.

See you at Cougie! We spent a while walking together to Ballater in ?18 or ?19??