Scone Club Site, Tayside

            

It seems we are to be saddled with less than perfect weather while here at Scone, so there was little point in trying to pick the right kind of day to fit best with any particular itinerary. We decided to set off on that which I had labelled “The Inland Day”.

We were off out the gates before 8.30 am, heading north on the A9, stopping firstly at Dunkeld, where we would find a Cathedral that might be worth a look. We left the main road and drove through Birnam across the River Tay and through Dunkeld, nothing particularly causing us to stop. We continued on a few miles eastwards along the A923 toward Butterstone, up steeply through a wooded area, all very picturesque and turned in toward the Loch of Lowes, which was the other possible point of interest here. We decided that this was the sort of place to come for half a day or more, to enjoy walking and surrounding oneself with nature; the car park was some distance from the shore and a parking machine stood guardian over the car park. We turned and headed back to the A9 the other side of the River Tay.

Continuing on north, we soon arrived at Pitlochry, a highlighted spot on the map drawn to our attention again last night when Chris’s sister rang to pass on her travel tips for the region. Our guide book warned us that while Pitlochry had much in its favour, there was little charm to be found in its main street, with its crawling traffic and endless shops selling gee-gaws to the mass of tourists.

We passed on through the main street to the power station which promotes itself as a tourist attraction, home to a “fish ladder”. We nearly didn’t bother with it at all because we have done hydro-electric stations and similar schemes to death; those in the South Island of New Zealand and the Snowy Mountain Scheme in Australia, however we found much to interest us here after all.

The Pitlochry Dam is part of the Tummel Valley hydro scheme, started in the 1930s and utilising the water from a catchment area of 1,800 square miles in the Grampian Mountains. The dam and power station at Pitlochry opened in 1951 and today manages to produce enough power for 15,000 homes, an underwhelming number to us. The Tummel Valley scheme produces around 20% of all hydropower in Scotland and is one of six large schemes built in the Highlands in the 1940s and 1950s.

Like most projects that bring change, the residents, landowners and politicians opposed the Tummel Valley scheme, believing it would ruin the scenery and harm salmon, and bring fewer tourists to the area. In the end, the contrary was true; more tourists and more work for the locals. Today there were at least half a dozen busloads of tourists in the car park we settled into and dozens of casual tourists such as ourselves.

And as for the fish, I saw a couple leaping about with abandon out on the Loch, as big as porpoises, or so they seemed from the distance. Within the dam structure are thirty four pools allowing the salmon to bypass the dam as they travel up or down the river. Screens keep large fish away from the turbines and young fish can pass safely through the turbines on their return to the sea without being minced up. 

We walked across the dam wall to see the fish ladder for ourselves, then returned to the excellent Visitor Centre and spent some time viewing the short film and reading the comprehensive information. And here parking is free! 

Back up in the town centre we paid for an hour’s parking and walked along the street until we found a bakery with goodies for morning tea. I suggested we continue onto the next item on my list, the Pass of Killiecrankie, which we also found to be a Pay & Display parking area. For us however, with our National Trust membership and sticker on the windscreen, we were not obliged to feed this particular machine.

After calories and coffee, we left the car and explored the Information Centre here where one can find out all about the flora, fauna and geology of this magnificent wooded gorge above the River Garry, as well as the Battle for which it is famous. 

We wandered down through the wood on a steep gravel path to a view point above Soldier’s Leap, where Donald McBane made a spectacular jump to freedom, following the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, the start of the first Jacobite uprising.

This Battle was another example of wasteful slaughter with eight hundred of the 2,340 Jacobites, and  two thousand of the 4,400 Government troops. We were interested to learn that there is to be a re-enactment of the battle here at Killiecrankie this very weekend, and as we continued upriver, we passed a field half filled with exhibition tents and evidence that soon there would be a great deal of activity.

Our next destination was the “biggy” for the day; Blair Castle at Blair Athol, another Mecca for the tourists. The whitewashed turreted castle was built in the latter part of the 1200s and has been the seat of the Athol dukedom, although these days the Duke, the 12^th,  lives in South Africa and the property is in the hands of a charitable trust, headed by an aunt who is surely getting on in years. It is she who lives in one half of the Castle, that not open to the public.    

The Castle has been destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries; the last great works was turning it into a tourist attraction, the castle has been open to the public since 1936. There are about thirty rooms full of collectibles and sumptuous furnishings to be explored. The information in every room is good, available in many languages and there are smartly tartan uniformed guides drifting about to caution against touching of treasures or to answer questions.

We spent over two hours in the house, and then emerged into the rain. After lunch in the car, we donned raincoats and set off around the property, up into Diana’s Grove where tall fir trees hold pride of place. We wandered on past flocks of horned sheep to the Kirk, now just a ruin, and on up to the walled Hercules Gardens. It is a lovely property to visit and would make for a full day if the weather was better and there were not one hundred other things to see. And of course would be even better with one tenth of the visitors but then the entrance price might have to be increased.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on a grand loop back to Perth and home, via Lochs, Straths and Glens mostly on white marked roads on the map and some with little dot, dot, dots meaning they are “narrow Scottish roads with passing places”. We set off westward up the Glen Errochry, toward the Loch of the same name on the B847, turned south at Trinafour and travelled up and over to Tummel Bridge on the B846, on the River Tummel, then south again over yet another high barren moor land and down to the River Tay near Aberfeldy, then up and over yet again now south on the A846 to Gilmerton, then eastwards on the A85 to Perth. We passed near peaks reaching heights of between 1042 and 616 metres ASL, and much of the landscape reminded me of travelling through Molesworth Station in New Zealand.

We arrived home a little before 6 pm, to find many more campers in, the least desirable a couple next to us with three barking beagles. The camp caretakers have been over to have words and for now the canines are quiet; I just hope they remain so.