My mate Helen and I set off from Berkshire at 10.30am with flasks of coffee, sausage rolls and a whole lot of sweeties ready for the long haul up to Dundee.
Stopping for the obligatory wees and walkies along the way, we made good time and arrived at Discovery Quay just in time for tea! Except we couldn't be bothered going out so just spread out the provisions from the road trip and had a picnic on Helen's bed! Much better idea!!
Saturday was a bit mixed, as the morning was taken up by a return to my old house to collect the rest of my things. I'd brought all my clothes and camera gear down before, but now I had to find room in Helen's car for all my books, photo albums and a large globe... oh, and a rather statuesque santa with a bell on his hat!!!
We'd made the most of the Dundee stop though, making sure we dropped by Clark's for a black pudding & egg roll, mmmm, and an apple slice to be saved for later! Clark's apple slices are to die for!!! I've had nothing like it since moving back down south and I was dribbling all the way up the M6 in anticipation!!!
So, loaded up with both calories and books, we headed across to tour my old favourite haunts. First stop was Glenshee. The weather wasn't what you'd call perfect, but it was ok.
The rain stopped long enough to take a short walk along the Callater Burn where we found a lovely place for coffee and a peer through the bins for whatever birdies might be about. Helen's hubby, Mick, had made a couple of walking sticks for us and wow, what a great idea! I couldn't believe how much strain they take off the hips and the lumbar spine!! They are amazing... and beautifully crafted too, I am so very, very impressed!
Thanks Mick!
Next stop was in Killin, but we took a slightly scenic route to go and see the caravan I lived in for 4 years when I first moved into the area. Slightly disconcerting was the fact that even after 9 years, the lady in charge at the campsite knew who I was... and she didn't even live there at the time!!! Hmmm, I took it as a positive thing, let's hope it was!
We then drove across Moulin Moor and stopped at the layby opposite Auld Mr Soutar's Hoose for more coffee and the scrummy apple slices... more like apple thins now actually, as they were buried under a hundredweight of books!!! Still tasted scrummy though!
On to Killin and a reunion with Walter, Susan and Sid, my Intrepid friends who were up for the night as well. It was a fantastic night, good food, great company and such a good laugh, real jaw-aching, belly-aching laughs! Superb!!
A few real ales and some lemon vodkas later, (and some rum in Helen's case), we stumbled up to our twin room in the attic with vague notions of maybe getting up for sunrise if the clouds cleared overnight.
Thankfully the clocks changed that night, springing forward by an hour. Again, this was a positive thing... rather than losing an hour in bed, we gained an hour of our holiday and, thankfully, sunrise was now roughly 7-ish instead of 6-ish!!! Much more sociable!
Peeping beyond the curtain at a little before 7am, I saw the sky was already pretty light and that the clouds had lifted and it had the makings of a beautiful day!
But we were very, very close to sunrise and we had to run if we were going to make it. So we did. Straight into a bog and a bootful of peaty water!! Which was nice!
Undeterred, we circled round the bog and arrived at the shore of Loch Tay with moments to spare!
The initial rush and panic over, we had time to sit and drink in the beauty of the morning and the peace of the landscape...
but, I have to be honest, wishing we'd packed a flask of coffee and thinking really hard about whether to knock on the fishermen's tent to see if they'd share any breakfast with a couple of slightly hungover photographers!
Luckily Helen found a couple of hot cross buns left over from the day before at the bottom of the bag, so we ate those instead and the fishermen were left to sleep in ignorance of how close they'd come to losing half of their breakfast!!
We wandered back to the hotel in time for breakfast with Susan, Walter and Sid, and plans were hatched for a tour round the Ben Lawers range. The map showed a promising looking drive from Killin that cut round behind Ben Lawers and then popped out at Kenmore. Perfick! Except there was no mention on the map that the road was now shut halfway along it due to enormous potholes that developed after the hard winter they'd just experienced up there!
Back in Killin, we agreed to follow the sat nav to the tearooms at Bridge of Balgie. Susan was driving ahead of us to lead the way, but by some oversight we also left our road atlas with them... so they had the sat nav and the map!
That wouldn't have been a problem if the road hadn't suddenly turned into the M25 as soon as Susan pulled out onto it, meaning we were delayed in setting off. Susan saw a blue car behind, thought (not unreasonably) that it was us and carried on following Mr Tom's instructions. We were left to follow our noses. It didn't go well.
It was very scenic and we did spot a hen harrier while out on our diversion, but we were a LONG way from any tearooms, let alone the one at Bridge of Balgie!! Deciding that the best thing to do was turn around and go back along the main road, we eventually found the turning that we should have taken first time! Oops!!
We'd tried several times to ring Walter but no signal put the dampeners on that. We were a good 2 hours behind the others before we eventually caught up, but we were reunited and all was laughed away! Slightly hysterical laughter maybe, but we laughed it off anyway!
The poor Intrepids were stoked full of tea, so it seemed a plan to make the next stop at the toilets a mile down the road. We then carried on to Fortingall to see the 5000 year old yew tree at the church. It's astonishing to be in the presence of something that has seen the whole of history in that place... absolutely mind-blowingly astonishing! Yew trees are found in just about every church yard up and down the UK. Respected for their ability to rejuvenate and grow, prehistoric and medieval peoples believed the Yew to have magical properties. I'm rather inclined to think so too!
A bite to eat and another wee stop later found us at the Hermitage by Dunkeld. A favourite haunt of mine, I was desperate to get there before dark to have a good look round.
It's a fantastic place, I've written about it before, but you really do need to go and have a look if you ever pass through Perthshire on the A9. Trust me, it's well worth the stop!
A night in Perth and then it was back down the road to home and reality again.
My life in Scotland may be done, but I can be very, very sure that I'll be back!
Rebecca, X
http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk
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