Sunday 11th -- round Killin and relatives

Enough driving! Today we walk round Killin. And meet relatives.

I've been in email contact with a nephew who is currently living in Scotland. I suggest that we meet for lunch at noon, that we will have been walking in the morning and plan to visit an historic site in the afternoon. He replies, Okay, meet at 1pm and we can go for a walk after lunch. Hmmm.

We start the morning's activities after our usual hearty hotel breakfast. We set off on foot, to look for a geocache. Today I'm dressed for walking -- shorts and light shirt, running shoes -- and feeling comfortable. Cold, but comfortable.

The weather is good for walking. Occasional light showers, Deb's umbrella is enough. Temperature in the teens, I carry my sleeveless jacket, wear it when we are not walking. And in some places where we are exposed to the wind.

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First, we look for a geocache by Loch Tay. There is a marked track to Loch Tay, we had found it earlier, near the bus terminus. We walk betwen the hotel and the church. Sure enough, it leads to the start of the track. We turn left, to the loch.

There are puddles, some mud, easy walking. We cross the river on a solid iron bridge then turn right. Our track follows the river. It's a broad flat bare area inside a bend on the river. An area that looks as though it could be flooded by heavy rain. Our track has mud and puddles that we mostly can avoid.

A fence, a gate -- and our cache is under a nearby tree in the paddock... Our first cache for the holiday :-) Yippee!

Back to the path. We are still walking next to the river. A bit further... we reach the head of the loch. There's a lot of water flowing in the river. There's a lot of water in the loch. What more can I say?

We pass four other walkers and one jogger. It's a nice peaceful place for walking and jogging. Nice and flat :-)

Some of the trees have splits near the base -- with stones stacked in the splits, we wonder why. Support? Stone storage?

The path leads through a gate then turns left, towards the village. We follow the path... it is quite muddy... we cut across to the parallel minor road.

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There's a track leading of the road, up the slope. A narrow goat track. But well used. We follow it. After a short climb the track is a bit overgrown, the only plant I recognise is blackberry. I'm in shorts... We turn back.

We would have liked to go further. I'm nervous of strange plants. Deb politely says that she is not fond of tracks when we don't know where they lead.

A bit later there's a road coming in from the right. Almost hidden in the trees is a sign, Something Castle, private property, enter at your own risk. We enter.

It's the ruins of the castle and mausoleum of the Breadalbane family. With two large, relatively new stone crosses, for the last(?) Lord and Lady of the family. The castle walls are almost a metre thick. The living space inside is perhaps less than our own house, spread over several floors.

Back to the road. We soon pass the new cemetery... this is where we walked yesterday. We continue on, back towards the village.

Coffee would be nice, I think. There's a hotel, it is closed. Closed for Sunday, perhaps. The time is late morning.

We walk on, back to the hotel... but cross the road, to Breadalbane fields. That's where the games were held.

Across the oval and we find Fingal's stone. A single stone, a metre or so high. No-one knows why Fingal put it there.

There's a path past the stone, part of the Heritage Trail, we think. There's a hill above the path. A clear but rough track up the hill. Some people visible at the top of what we can see of the track. Why not? we think. We start walking. Up.

We pass several groups on their way down. Wow! we say to the man carrying a toddler on his back. It's not too hard, he says, I walk up the Munroes. Oh, okay. Those are all the standalone hills over 9000 feet. Or something like that. When there are two together they are known as Marilyns. rofl... No, that's not my own joke :-)

A family group say that they stopped before the top. A man says that coming down is hard on the knees. By this stage I am glad that my diseases are not heart related.

We slog on. Not to the top, but far enough. We may have passed the steepest climb. There seems to be  quite a way yet to go.

And... down again. Very enjoyable, we feel that we can now relax for the day... so we walk a bit further.

We follow the footpath which leads to a road through an area of quite new houses. There's a cat. Deb says, Here kitty kitty. The cat does not move. I suspect that it has warmed the spot where it is sitting and will not leave that spot.

There are cars, Deb says, so there must be a way out of this estate. Somewhere up the hill... We turn back -- down the hill -- to the path that we know leads to the village. We pass a man cutting the grass beside the path. We had passed him before, going up. He tells us that the road does indeed lead back into the village. We thank him, but decide to continue ... downhill.

And come back to the main street right next to the cafe where we will meet our nephew. And his wife and their dog.

We're early but we go inside. It's warm inside :-)

We order coffee while waiting. Americanos with cold milk on the side. A good choice when we are thirsty, as we are now.

We wait till after one, then order our lunch, soup and roll. We eat, pay, leave, walk up the street -- and the nephew arrives. The drive took far longer than predicted by gps... Not to worry, we walk up the hill to the Falls of Dorsach. To sit outside the pub.

Nephew and his wife eat lunch, Deb and I drink more coffee, lattes. Dog sits and attracts admirers. It's a golden retriever puppy, twelve weeks, very cute.

Then we walk a few hundred metres to the nearby cache. We explain a bit about geocaching. We all admire the stone circle which is near the cache. Then walk back to the hotel. The dog, being young, gets carried most of the way :-)

Nephew fetches their car, drives us back to our hotel. Nice people, it's been good to catch up :-) They drive off, we get in our car and drive to the Long House.

Turn at the sign, we had been told, At the house with a pink flamingo in the garden. We see the flamingo before we see the sign...

It's now raining, lightly, on and off.

The house is an original poor farmer's cottage. Built in 1865, lived in and adapted till 1940. 1960? Eventually bought by the National Trust and restored. Part of the interest is the 80 or 100 years of changes by the people living there. For example, more than twenty layers of 20th century wallpaper (and newspaper). The paper was decorative, it also added insulation and windproofing.

Back to our hotel. Relax. Eat dinner. Take a short walk. That makes almost 7km walked today. And sleep...

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And I think I am up-to-date with this journal. Time to go out and do something new... :-)

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
             Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." … Blazing Swan Survival Guide

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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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