Day 24: Ochil Hills, Stirlingshire to Smeaton Bridge, Perthshire

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

28th January 2021: 100.66km walked today taking the total to 2422.20/8854km. 8.5% of 167 people's totals submitting 1184.29km.

Route 6B: Callander to Comrie

Route 7: Comrie to Milngavie

We head for the Ochil Hills to hike to the peak of Dumyat (418m), taking in the fantastic views from its summit before continuing across the hills for 16 kilometres, following roads through Greenloaning and Braco to Ardoch Roman Fort. The fort is part of the Gask Ridge, associated with Agricola’s campaigns of the 1st century, and is thought to be one of the best-preserved earthworks of a Roman camp in the UK. It sits on the Ardoch Estate so is in private ownership; access is permitted at times.

Progressing across 17 kilometres of hilly countryside roads we arrive in Comrie, a historic conservation village sitting on the River Earn in Perth and Kinross. Domestic weaving was an important trade, and the village was also an important staging post for drovers. During the 19th century, it became a popular place with the wealthy, a reputation which it still enjoys today. As it sits on the Highland Fault Line, where the Highlands meets the Lowlands, Comrie has a unique claim to fame; tremors are frequent earning Comrie the nickname, 'Shaky Toon’. As a result, in 1874 the Earthquake House, the first seismic recording station in the western world, was built in the area. A more modern version is still in operation today and is so sensitive that it sensed the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Indonesia. We pass the War Memorial and cross Dalginross Bridge with a lovely view of the Comrie Community Centre, ‘The White Church’, built-in 1805 as a parish church, but handed over to the community in 1965. At the next road junction, we see a building with a first-floor turret on the corner of Melville Square: this building and its interior were designed by Charles Rennie MacKintosh.

Comrie has its own Hogmanay tradition known as the Flambeaux Parade. On the stroke of midnight, 12 of the strongest village men carry birch poles swaddled with burning, tarred rags to the 4 corners of the village, accompanied by a piper, floats and costume-clad residents. After this procession, the poles are thrown into the river from the bridge. Why? No one really knows, but it is thought to have pre-Christian roots connected with the cleansing of the village from evil spirits for the start of a new year.

We head northwards out of Comrie to take the Glen Lednock Circular Walk along the River Lednock. A gentle, then steeper walk through woodland glen brings us to Deil’s Cauldron, ‘Devil’s Kettle’, a narrow gorge cut by the river forming 3 waterfalls and pools. Local folklore states that Uris Chidh, a water-elf, resides here tempting potential victims into the cauldron’s churning waters. Following the path through more woodland, then briefly roadway, we reach the apex of the route, crossing the Shaky Bridge and following the path back into Comrie on the other side of the river.

We pass through Comrie and head back over Dalginross Bridge joining the Three Saints Way for nearly 6 kilometres along Lennoch Burn, before turning south through country lanes to Drummond Castle Gardens. The castle dates to circa 1490, is the seat of the Right Honourable 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby and isn’t open to the public. However, we can visit their 17th century Scottish Renaissance gardens which are among the most important and impressive in Europe. In 1842 Queen Victoria visited, marking the occasion by planting the yew hedge and beech trees which we see today. The gardens also attract a lot of attention for TV footage; scenes from ‘Rob Roy’ (1995) were filmed here and fame grew following their appearance in ‘Outlander’ as the French palace gardens. They are, of course, listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

Moving on from this beautiful spot, we follow the River Earn for nearly 5 kilometres into Crieff, a historic market town. It was an important early market hub for the cattle drovers from all over Scotland giving it a ‘frontier’ town reputation. The town was destroyed in 1715 by the Jacobites returning from the Battle of Sherriffmuir, but still continued to thrive. Its transport routes were improved in the 1730s by General Wade’s Military Road, which passed through here en route to Aberfeldy. In February 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie held his final war council here at the Drummond Arms Inn on James Square, while his army was camped in and around the town. The 19th century saw it become a popular tourist destination especially after Crieff Hydro, another hydropathic hotel (a Spa-type trend of the Victorian era), opened above the town in 1868. It remains a hotel to this day drawing tourists through the area.

Leaving Crieff, we follow our route east for 19 kilometres, through the hamlets of Dubheads, Balgowan, Newmiln and Tibbermore, at the latter of which we visit its parish church. The building you see today dates to 1632, although a church has been on this site a lot longer. The interior was remodelled a few times to create more seating for its growing congregation and little has changed little since 1810. We don’t go inside today but, if we did, you may recognise it as the interior of Cranesmuir Church from Outlander! You can visit it by prior arrangement.

We re-join the main road and continue our route to Castle Brae, leading us to Huntingtower Castle. Previously called the Place of Ruthven until 1600, the castle was home to the Ruthvens until that time, then the Murrays from 1643 until 1767. Mary Queen of Scots took her honeymoon here with Lord Darnley in 1565. The building was once 2 separate tower houses until work was undertaken in the 1600s to join them. You can read its fuller history online. The castle is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, who must also deal with the castle’s messy lodgers; a large colony of pipistrelle bats along with long-eared brown bats and natterer’s bats!

From the castle, we walk past the Huntingtower Hotel along the banks of Town’s Lade which joins the River Almond. The Lade was dug out between the Rivers Almond and Tay in the 12th century to supply water to the bleach works, dye works, and mills located between Huntingtower and Perth. We continue alongside the River Almond for 3.5 kilometres until it joins the River Tay in Perth. We follow the Tay southeast into the city passing through the North Inch Golf Course.

From North Inch we head south into the City of Perth. The name Perth derives from a Pictish word for wood or copse and, at one time, it referred to the whole area around the city. There has been a settlement in the area since prehistoric times as it is on a natural mound sitting above the flood plain of the River Tay where the river could be crossed at low tide. Until the mid-17th century the town was known as St John’s Toun or Saint Johnstoun, as the church at the centre of the parish was dedicated to St John the Baptist. The church still exists today, St John’s Kirk, and is one of the oldest buildings in Perth with parts of it built between 1440 and 1500. It was here that John Knox gave his famous impassioned sermon in 1559, launching the Scottish Reformation. The name St Johnstone is not lost altogether as it is still used by the city’s football club.

Perth was the capital of Scotland from the 9th century until 1437 when James I was assassinated, and the capital then moved to the safety of Edinburgh and its castle. Perth is also known as ‘The Fair City’ since ‘The Fair Maid of Perth’ by Sir Walter Scott was published in 1828. However, it lost its city status in 1975 due to local government changes, but officially became a city again in 2012 to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

At one time Perth was a port city but due to silting of the River Tay it had to change to other industries, so Perth became famous for her cattle markets, whisky production, linen-making, and glassware.

The first place we visit in Perth is the Black Watch Castle, (Balhousie Castle) and Museum. In 1631 the estate was sold to George Hay, Earl of Kinnoull, and he started construction of Balhousie Castle soon after, probably replacing his original seat at Kinnoull Castle across the river. The castle was an L-Plan Tower House overlooking the River Tay but by the mid-19th century it was in a ruinous state. In 1862 it was rebuilt by the then Earl of Kinnoull, George Hay-Drummond. The tower was remodelled in the latest baronial style with added turrets on the corners. The castle was requisitioned by the army after World War 2 and in 1962 it became the headquarters for the 42nd (Royal Highland) regiment, the Black Watch. It still serves as their headquarters and contains the Regimental museum.

The Black Watch was formed after the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion when 6 companies of troops from clans loyal to the British Government were deployed across the Highlands to bring stability. This ad-hoc military group was reorganised into a more traditional regimental structure in 1739 under the command of John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford. They were called the Black Watch due to the dark colour of the Regimental tartan and due to their original policing role across the Highlands. Even when they were reclassified as the 42nd (The Royal Highland) Regiment, they still used the name Black Watch. The Regiment is currently known as the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

From the Black Watch Museum, we head south before turning left along Atholl Street then turn right to visit Perth Concert Hall. The design of the Concert Hall was decided by the Perth 2000 International Architectural Competition and the 1200 seat hall was opened in 2005. Prior to it being built, an archaeological dig was carried out where they discovered evidence of a medieval castle, a chapel dedicated to St Laurence, an arched stone bridge, clay-lined tanning pits, and stone-lined wells, as well as smaller items such as pottery.

Before leaving Perth, we visit the Perth Museum and Art Gallery in a building called the Marshall Monument. This building was erected in 1824 to hold one of the oldest public collections in the UK, collected by the city’s Literary and Antiquarian Society. The building was dedicated to Thomas Marshall, a former Lord Provost, who was credited with building Perth’s ‘new town’. He was instrumental in building the areas immediately north and south of the centre of Perth, which boasts some of the town’s best Georgian architecture. In 1915 the building was gifted to the city as long as it remained a museum or library; an extension to the building was opened in 1935. As well as the museum showing the social and natural history of Perthshire, there is an art gallery which contains famous paintings including Loch Katrine by Horatio McCulloch and works by Beatrix Potter.

After leaving the museum we walk to St John’s Kirk before crossing over the River Tay at Perth Bridge, also known as the Smeaton Bridge. It was designed by Smeaton and built in 1771, featuring 9 pink sandstone arches, 2 of which are on land serving as flood arches. The flood arches were built as the river here is prone to flooding; previous bridges having all been washed away and, at one time, there were only ferries for a period of 150 years. In 1773, just after this bridge was completed, there was a severe flood which destroyed a lot of the quays and walls along the river. The bridge held and has since survived further floods.