Scotland part two - Loch Lomond, Callendar, & Pitlochry
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From Stirling we drove to the Loch Lomond area, generally north of Glasgow, where the Scottish Highlands begin. Once at the Trosachs National Park visitor center Doris & Paul took a downhill lakeside trail while I tried the short summit climb to Conic hill.
I found good views of Loch Lomond and surrounding topography, but didn't get to the top because of a ferocious wind. The higher you walked, the stronger it became and finally I could not walk any further, a condition I've never encountered before. It felt like a 45-50 mph wind.
But it was an enjoyable walk overall, with a lot of well-built wooden stairs going up & down. It was overcast, too.
Later we drove awhile and ended the day at a B&B in Callendar.
note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.
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a Scottish National Park |
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ferns & woods |
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fall fern colors |
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lots of steps on this walk |
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famous Loch Lommond |
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the big picture |
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Conic Hill at 361 meters | ||
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local landscape, see note below |
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in a little town somewhere | ||
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Highland cattle |
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late afternoon arrival to the Callendar area |
note - The orange fall color in the landscape is provided by faded out ferns, which are just about everywhere.
In Callendar on Wednesday morning (after breakfast) we walked down the main street to the Rob Roy visitor center, in a light rain. Callendar is a low-key gateway town to the Scottish Highlands.
The B&B owners were personable & the husband used to be an active Highlands ice-climber in the winter, for years, before he became a B&B owner, and he is very knowledgeable about local terrain. He runs the B&B, while his wife is a school teacher in a nearby village. She was off to get two kids to school, who we briefly met while having breakfast.
He said they get the most overnight business in winter, when climbers with crampons & ice picks attempt the local summits, mostly between 2,000 and 3,000 ft. in elevation. He said this remains a popular winter sport in Scotland, perfect for a three-day weekend. He added that Callendar is an easy two-hour drive, or three-hour rail trip, from Glasgow or Edinburgh.
This was a modest and pleasant small town and we seemed to be the only tourists there.
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another historic & elegant B&B |
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Callendar main street |
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the river Teith (tay) |
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unknown bird, at the time... see note below |
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old Kirkyard |
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bikers in town |
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at the official Rob Roy visitor center |
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on the drive from Callendar to Pitlochry we | a rails-to-trails bike way |
note - This bird is a Pied Wagtail. What caught my attention was its sudden acrobatic moves to catch bugs; it seemed to flip upside down for a few seconds.
Pied Wagtails are a small bird species native to the UK and almost nowhere else except a few UK-facing shorelines in France & Spain.
Taking back roads to Pitlochry, we stopped at the creek-side town of Killin, a very fitting name, given the long history of Scottish clan warfare in this area, and, throughout the Highlands.
An ancient MacNab family burial ground here is located on the creek bank, close to the bridge. It is posted "enter at your own risk" and a sign tells you to get the key at the tourist center.
A different sign at the entrance to the graveyard shows a MacNab Clan Coat-of-Arms which depicts the severed head of a local enemy clan leader.
We enjoyed being the only mid-afternoon customers at a small tea room in Killin. From the start of this trip, with our big daily breakfasts, we had learned to skip lunch, instead having a scone w/butter & jam, and tea or coffee, around 2 or 3 pm. As you might imagine, this new habit quickly established itself.
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Killin downtown |
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doors cont'd |
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mill sluice wheel | |
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downstream look |
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sweethearts on the bridge |
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river hydraulic carvings |
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nice little tea shop |
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scones |
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Paul, our driver, needed a break |
Due to a main back road closure we had to take a secondary back road, barely one lane wide, on the south side of Loch Tay, heading for Pitlochry. Lucky for us there was no traffic at all, and we saw maybe two cars coming towards us during an hour's drive.
At the east end of the Loch we arrived at the picturesque small town of Kenmore, which has nothing to do with refrigerators or washing machines, and on a whim we walked to a private modern castle shown on Paul's map.
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drive along Loch Tay |
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Paul |
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what is he doing? |
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Loch Tay |
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arriving at Kenmore |
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Scotland's oldest Inn, established in 1572 | |||
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Taymouth property |
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un-used golf course |
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the castle | |
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project on hold |
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this area is rented out for weddings |
Some visitors from Edinburgh who we chatted with at the modern Castle said the golf course/hotel concept, along with 100 proposed custom homes on the course, fell to pieces when the property bubble in Ireland burst in 2007-08. They said the golf course was in operation for maybe two years but then went under. Now just part of the Castle can be rented out for weddings. A failed business venture & unfortunate timing....
We arrived in Pitlochry at dusk on Wednesday and settled in at a very comfortable small Hotel for two nights.
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Wellwood House B&B |
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a monument in town |
go to next page - Scotland, part 3 - Pitlochry
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Postscript - as for gorgeous Scottish Highlands scenery, in the Callendar & Pitlochry areas, we were in the Highlands, but we didn't know it. The heavy cloud cover lasted for our entire visit.
Later at home I found the following web photos of the local Highlands on better weather days.
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low resolution image of Blair Castle, at Killiecrankie |
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Loch Tay |
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Lock Tay with Killin below |
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another view |
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upper part of Loch Lomond |
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Atholl Palace (hotel) near Pitlochry (see next page) |
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walking in the hills above Pitlochry |