Pitlochry

Pitlochry is a delightful little town that some call the gateway to the Highlands.  It’s just up the A9 from Edinburgh and on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park.  We picked it for our base to explore the highlands, which is the crux of the research we were doing.  Well, that my mom was doing, I was just her assistant/driver. 

There have been villages around Pitlochry on record going back a thousand years, Pitlochry itself is more of a Victorian town that really popped up after Queen Victoria declared how much she enjoyed Scotland and bought Balmoral.  The name likely is an association with the Dunfallandy Stone, with is a carved Pictish stone dating to around the 8th century.  It sits on a farmers land but there is a path one can take to see it, which we did towards the end of the day. 

There is a smaller road that one can take if you want to avoid the A9 for a more picturesque drive.  Called General Wades Miltary Road, as it was build by General Wade after the Jacobite Risings.  If they wanted to keep the Jacobites down, the monarchy realized they needed to be able to travel faster through the highlands so a major road was built including lots of bridges through the passes. 

I was not up for a lot of driving again today, so we decided to keep it local, staying on the smaller road..  There is a fair amount to see in the area.  We drove up to Blair Atholl.  The castle there was the home of the Dukes of Atholl, until the death of the 10th Duke as the heir, a distant cousin, lives in South Africa.  The 11th and 12th Dukes stayed there, though they visit every year to inspect the Atholl Highlanders.  The only private army allowed in the UK, it apparently is mostly estates workers used as a tourist attraction with their own pipe band and everything. 

As we didn’t really feeling like walking around another castle today, the next stop was the Blair Atholl Watermill. The current building is from the 1800s, though a mill has likely been on that spot for centuries. It is still a working mill that is both museum and cafe serving delicious scones made from flour they milled themselves.  They were the best scones of the trip. 

Further up the road was the House of Bruar, which is a posh little shop and food spot near a path leading to the Falls of Bruar.  Probably a gorgeous waterfall, but up a trail that was a bit longer than I thought I could manage with my ankle, and my mom decided to stay with me, so we bought a few little whisky’s and gins to to take along and headed on. 

We stopped at Killiecrankie Pass, which is famous for a 1689 Jacobite victory along the River Garry.  You can walk along the river a bit to Soilders Leap, where it is said one of the fleeing soldiers leapt across the gorge a fair distance to escape pursuit.  There is also a small section of Victorian Viaduct along the pass.

 Driving back along the older road, we kept our eyes peeled for more standing stones, there was one in a field near Killiecrankie, just interesting that its a slab of granite in a field but apparently someone put it there thousands of years ago, and everyone just lets it be.  We drove along to the Pictish stone, which is a little more than a slab in the field with beautiful carvings still visible.  There is a layby where one or two cars can park and then follow the lane to a farmers field.  Up a small set of stairs is a small family cemetery and the Stone.  Historic Scotland has built a glass case to protect it, but it is amazing to see the carvings that are over a millennia old still visible on the old sandstone. 

Driving back to the hotel we checked out the little town of Moulin which was just up behind our hotel, spotted another standing stone in a field, and scouted out the Moulin Inn and Pub.  The pub first opened in 1695 and now has its own micro brewery in what was once the stables.  My mom was in the mood to explore a bit more, and I was in the mood to explore some beers, so we dropped the car at the hotel.  She walked down into Pitlochery to see more of the town and the old churches, and I walked back to Moulin to see the Pub.

It was a really classic pub feel to me with great staff.  I tried a flight of their beers from the classic pull draughts, as well as a gin made for them from local botanicals.  I ended up chatting a lot with the bartender between other customers. I can see why locals have been coming here for 300 years!  We already had plans to go down into town to the Old Mill Inn for dinner, but I thought Moulin Inn would be great for the next night, we had a longer day planned and the flattish walk would probably be more appealing!

The Old Mill was a beautiful 18th century mill, shocking I know, that is now a restaurant and hotel.  It was a delicious dinner, though very busy!  Clearly a popular spot in the middle of a popular town!  Then we had to climb back up that hill to the hotel for a night cap in the bar. 

Ardnamurchan and Beyond

Our last morning in Mull started the same as the last, a nice breakfast at the hotel and then a drive up to Tobermory.  Our plan was to take the ferry from Tobermory on the north end of Mull to the town of Kilochaon on the mainland on the peninsula of Ardnamurchan. From Kilchoan it was a lot of winding single track roads through the winding northern mountains, with sheep and cows occasionally dotting the landscape. And road. 

For the most part I really enjoyed the driving, thought it was a little intense.  It was such a beautiful and wild landscape.  Eventually we got closer to civilization, with more cars going the other way and sometimes even a two laned road!  There was not much to see alone the route here, stopping once or twice for gorgeous outlooks that appeared as we drove.  I had hoped to stop at the Glenfinnan Viaduct, a masterpiece of Victorian engineering for a rail bridge curving across the valley.  Twice a day a Jacobite steam train still crosses the track.  I really wanted to stop for photos, but unfortunately that same Jacobite train doubled as the Hogwarts Express and the little town is overwhelmed with visitors. With no where to park we were unable to see the viaduct nor the Jacobite memorial on the other side of the road.  

So we carried on into Fort William.  We stopped at the Steps of Neptune to see the great lock system there, and then drove into town for lunch.  There isn’t too much to Fort William, the fort that was the prison of the Jacobites is now just some gentle low rock walls along the shore.  The town centre has some nice pubs and lots of sporting goods stores for those set to challenge Ben Nevis.  We tried to stop at the Inverlochy Castle, but it was fenced off due to repairs needing to be done to the mortar. 

The drive was fairly straight forward from there, past Dalwhinne Distillery, which I know from my cousin's love of fine whisky, down the A9 to Pitlochry.  It is known in some parts as the gateway to the highlands, a perfect little town on the edge of Cairngorms National Park.  We did learn that Pitlochry has a theatre festival that has just come under the attention of Alan Cummings.  Unfortunately he was not in town when we were, but would be back for a spooky Halloween event this year!

Settling into the Pitlochery Hydro Hotel, another old building with a slightly modern spa area, which was set at the top of the hill.  It was an easy trek down to Auld Smiddy’s Inn for dinner, with a slightly arduous trek back up the hill after we were full of a delicious steak pie!

Tobermory

For our second day on Mull, we had a loose plan of driving up to the northern part of the isle and the town of Tobermory.  I still laugh a little bit since I learned there was a Tobermory in Scotland.  There is a town in Ontario not far from me with that name, and I always thought it was an indigenous word, or at least based on one.  When I saw an episode of Time Team where they went through Tobermory I was shocked!

The forecast for the day was less promising, but our hotel also had a fancy spa with pool, sauna and hot tub so we kept that in reserve for the afternoon.  We did start the morning in Craignure though by going to the Duart Castle overlooking the Mull Sound. Built in the 13th century it was the ancestral home of the MacLean family.  They castle passed out of their hands in various conflicts, but was reaquired in 1911 and rebuilt by the MacLeans and has hosted many clan gatherings, and the family of the clan chief still live there.  

Next was the drive north started with a two lane road before dropping down to a single lane for the second half.  This road was also busier with coach buses so it was it was a bit of an adventure.  When we got to Tobermory we parked and went for a little walk.  The town is on the coast with the ferry we would be taking the next day.  The buildings that face out to sea are all painted bright cheerful colours. With the rain coming down we were happy to duck in and out of the little shops and the stop in at the Tobermory Distillery.  I had seen their gin before back home, and as I was driving I couldn’t do a proper taste.  But I did try a splash of the special gin they don’t sell anywhere else and was suitably enticed to buy a bottle. 

Next we drove out of town towards the Glengorm Hotel on the northern coast of Mull.  A majestic castle from the Victorian era, there were stories of a stone circle walking distance away.  It was a pain to find the walking trail with only “park by the coffee shop” as instructions.  Eventually realizing the “coffee shop” was an unmarked building on the grounds of the hotel, we found the trail to the stones.  It was another trail through farmers fields, though this time the livestock didn’t get very close.  With a dodgy ankle fettering me, and the rain deterring my mother, we got close enough for some pictures before heading back to the car. 

A little damp and cold, we stopped back in Tobermory for a light lunch at the Gallery, a stunning restaurant in a converted church on the main road across the harbour.  Then we agreed to just head back to the hotel and bask in the hot tub and sauna at the hotel. It was nice that the pool actually doubles as a community pool and there were some adorable munchkins with shark fin floaties having lessons.  The sauna at least was just for guests of the hotel, so less crowded.  Then we had a few drinks in the lounge, and as we had reservations tonight, dinner in the dining room overlooking the harbour.