Day 26: Pitlochry to Drummond Hill, Perthshire

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

30th January 2021: 95.31km walked today taking the total to 2607.75/8854km. 7.5% of 174 people's totals submitting 1270.77km.

Route 7: Comrie to Milngavie

The name Pitlochry comes from the Gaelic ‘Pit Cloich Aire’, meaning ‘place of the sentinel stone’, and was originally a Pictish settlement. The more recent growth of Pitlochry is due to General Wade who, in the early 1700s, built one of his main military routes north through the town, Queen Victoria who stayed at Blair Castle in 1842 and made favourable comments about the area, and the arrival of the railway in 1863.

As we walk west through Pitlochry, we turn down Ferry Road to the iron suspension bridge which was opened in 1913 to replace the Port na Craig ferry which had crossed the River Tummel here since the 12th century. After crossing the bridge, we visit the Pitlochry Festival Theatre known as the ‘Theatre in the Hills’ which opened in 1951.

Heading back to the River Tummel we head west on the south bank until we reach the Pitlochry dam and fish ladder. The Pitlochry dam was constructed across the River Tummel between 1947 and 1951 which was flooded to form Loch Faskally to the west. It is the last of 9 hydro stations in the Tummel Valley and can generate enough power for 12,000 homes. As the dam created an obstacle to salmon trying to reach their spawning grounds, a fish ladder was built, 310m in length with 34 pools.

We walk across the dam to reach the north side of the River Tummel before turning down the path to walk alongside the river/loch through some lovely woods before passing the end of the Clunie footbridge. Walking through Faskally Woods we skirt Dunmore Hill before walking along the west shore of the lily-covered Dunmore Loch.

We soon pass Faskally House, designed by William Burn and built in 1831 by the Butter family. It is described as the earliest surviving house to be designed by Burn in Scots-Jacobean style with crow-stepped gables, towers, broad mullioned windows, and tall chimneys. It has since passed through a number of different owners until it was purchased by the Faskally Christian Trust in 1996.

From Faskally House we turn left to head around Loch Faskally with views across to Clunie power station. We soon head away from the loch alongside the River Garry until we reach a footbridge and cross over to the other side. Heading down the west side of the River Garry, under the road bridge where people bungee jump in the summer, we soon reach the path where we can go and see the Linn of Tummel; Linn means waterfall.

We continue along the path which runs above the River Tummel until we reach the Coronation Bridge, a suspension bridge built in 1911 to honour the coronation of King George V. We don’t cross this but continue up the glen before heading away from the river to pass Bonskeid House. The land here was owned by the Stuarts from the 15th century but passed to the Barbour family through marriage. Bonskeid House, a Baronial mansion, was built by the Barbour family in 1881. They let it to the YMCA in 1921 to use as a hostel until 2001 when it was sold to become a private residence.

We reach the B8019 which we walk along for a short time, crossing the Glen Fincastle Burn before turning right to head along a path into Allean Forest. The path winds through forest of pine, fir, larch and spruce, taking us above Loch Tummel until we reach the Queen’s View. This is a fantastic viewpoint looking over Loch Tummel towards Schiehallion, where Queen Victoria visited with her servant John Brown in 1866. It is thought, though, that the name could date back to a visit by Mary Queen of Scots.

We continue down the road for a short time before heading back into Allean Forest. In this part of the walk, a partially restored blackhouse can be seen. A blackhouse is a stone building with a turf or heather roof and no chimney, so the inside is covered with soot, hence its name. We also pass a hillside ring fort dating back to 1000 AD. Skirting around the hill, Meall na h-Iolaire, we reach the Glen Fincastle Burn again. Once we pass where the Glen Fincastle Burn and Allt Fearn join, we turn north to pass near Fincastle House before following the path past Tulach Hill to Blair Atholl.

We head into Blair Atholl across the River Garry before taking a path which leads us to Blair Castle. The earliest part of this castle dates to 1269 but the majority of what we see today dates to the 1860/70s when it was remodelled in the Scottish Baronial style. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl. Blair Castle and its estate is now held in a charitable trust as the current Duke of Atholl lives in South Africa. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited in 1844 and she later gave the Duke permission to establish the Atholl Highlanders. The Atholl Highlanders is the private army of the Duke of Atholl, the only legal private army in Europe, which is garrisoned at Blair Castle. Before leaving we walk through the grounds which includes a 9-acre walled garden, a red deer park, a ruined church, St Bride’s Kirk, and a folly.

Heading northwest from Blair Castle, across part of General Wade’s military road, we then turn left to skirt Baluain Wood to reach the B8079. We walk until we reach the House of Bruar, a great place for us to stop for coffee and cake, before heading up the Bruar Water to the Falls of Bruar.

Initially, the path passes through pine trees, then more native trees such as birch and rowan. In the 18th century there were no trees here at all and it was only after a visit by Robert Burns, who asked the Duke of Atholl to surround the falls with trees, that the first trees were planted in 1796. We walk to the top of the falls before turning back, the river at the upper bridge before heading down the east side of the river.

Reaching the road, we walk back to Blair Atholl, through the village of Bridge of Tilt then on to Killiecrankie, where we take the path at Killiecrankie Visitor Centre down to the Soldier’s Leap. It was here, after the defeat of the Government Army at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, that Donald MacBean escaped his Jacobite pursuers by leaping across the River Garry where the rocky chasm, at this point, is 5.5 metres across! Following the path alongside the River Garry we arrive back at Faskally, then walk the path on the east side of Drumore Loch before heading back into Pitlochry.

Crossing the River Tummel on the iron suspension bridge again we leave Pitlochry and head south over the hills to Strathtay on the Rob Roy Way. First, we must cross the busy A9 before heading south through the Fonab Forest. At the top of the hill, we pass Clachan an Diridh, originally a stone circle of 4 stones, but now only 3 as one is broken. This would once have had fantastic views back over the River Tummel to Ben Vrackie but the view is now obscured as the stone circle is surrounded by trees.

Our path descends through gorse and broom beside the Tullypowrie Burn into the Tay river valley where we reach the villages of Strathtay, on the north side of the River Tay, and Grandtully, on its south side. We cross the River Tay into Grandtully on the old bridge, opened in 1868. This old steel and truss bridge, designed by the same engineer as the Forth Railway Bridge, used to carry the main road through the village, only one car permitted at a time, so was replaced by one made of concrete. From the bridge we can see a set of rapids that are used for international canoe competitions. If we are lucky, we will see canoeists negotiating the gates hanging above the river or rafters shooting the rapids. Once across we visit the Highland Chocolatier, a chocolatier, chocolate cafe and gift shop, for a fantastic hot chocolate and cake.

We then turn onto the footpath which runs along an old, dismantled railway line which once ran from Ballinluig in the east, to Aberfeldy in the west, but was closed in 1965. It is good for walks and runs through the woods beside the River Tay. We pass near Grandtully Castle, which is supposed to have been the model for Tullyvolan in the ‘Waverley’ novel by Sir Walter Scott before passing near St Mary’s Church at Pitcairn. This little church is remarkable for its well-preserved painted ceiling dating from 1626.

Halfway between Grandtully and Aberfeldy we leave the railway track and follow the narrow path along the River Tay where there are great views down the river and across to the Braes of Cluny.

At the edge of Aberfeldy we reach Dewar’s World of Whisky. This is the only Scotch whisky distillery built in 1896 by the Dewar family because they needed more single malt whisky to use in their existing whisky blend. There are a few reasons why they decided to build their distillery here: it had a natural water source in the Pitilie Burn, it had a railway line connecting it to Perth (the one we just walked along), and possibly because John Dewar, the company founder, was born in the hamlet of Dull only 3 miles from Aberfeldy.

After passing the distillery we head along Aberfeldy’s main street before walking down the B846 towards the bridge over the Tay. This bridge was built in 1733 and is essentially a humped back bridge but disguised by the ornate parapets and 4 obelisks. It is also known as General Wade’s Bridge, as it was one of the bridges built by General Wade as part of the new roads built after the Jacobite uprising in 1715. It still carries traffic today but only in one direction at a time.

Close by the bridge is the Black Watch Memorial. This is a very large cairn topped with a statue of Private Farquhar Shaw dressed in the original Black Watch Regiment uniform. The cairn was erected to commemorate the first muster of the Black Watch Regiment in 1740. This was formed from 6 companies of trustworthy Highlanders who had been initially brought together in 1725 and stationed across the Highlands to prevent fighting between clans.

We walk alongside the River Tay before heading back to Kenmore Street and turning right along Crieff Road to the Birks of Aberfeldy, made famous by a song written by Robert Burns. ‘Birks’ is the old Scots word for birch trees, and there are plenty of them around as you follow the path that follows the Moness Burn, past several small waterfalls up to the Upper Falls of Moness.

Following the Rob Roy Way, we head west from the top of the Falls towards Upper Farrochil with views across to Castle Menzies, seat of the Clan Menzies for over 500 years. This castle was built in the 16th century in a strategic location on the level lands commanding the east-west highway of Strath Tay and the road to Rannoch. During the second Jacobite rising it hosted Bonnie Prince Charlie on his way to Culloden and then only 4 days later hosted the Duke of Cumberland, commander of the Government forces. It was restored in the 20th century by the Menzies Clan Society and was placed into a charitable trust in 1993.

We pass through open countryside and woods with views across to another huge building. The incredible Taymouth Castle was built in the 19th century by the Campbells of Breadalbane in a neo-gothic style. It is surrounded by a golf course, but it and the castle are currently closed, as the golf course is being lengthened and the castle is being restored.

At Tombuie Cottage we turn down the road to reach the village of Kenmore which lies at the north end of the 22-kilometre-long Loch Tay, a great place for water activities such as canoeing, sailing, or fishing. You can also visit the Scottish Crannog Centre where this ancient type of loch dwelling, once found throughout Scotland, has been reconstructed. The prehistoric crannogs were timber-built round houses, built on stilts over the water, with a gangway which could be lifted in the event of danger. At the Scottish Crannog Centre, you can discover what it would have been like living 2500 years ago in the purpose-built replica.

From Kenmore we head east along the edge of Drummond Hill which is thought to have been Scotland’s first managed forest. Sir Duncan Campbell, Black Duncan of Breadalbane, planted it with oak, birch and Scot’s pine in the 17th century. Now it is rich in wildlife including red squirrels and capercaillie, the largest and one of the rarest birds in Scotland. We then take the minor road north alongside the Keltney Burn towards Glengoulandie.