Sightseeing with the Tourists

Yesterday was absolutely one of the best days weather-wise, a high in the high 60s, light cooling breeze, full sun, blue skies, and Spielbergian cloud formations. We went to the Dalchonzie Strawberry Farm shop in The Ross and bought a few items, then drove to St Fillans Golf Course for a brief look at the gorgeous setting. Before leaving St Fillans, we rode up to the first public parking place which gave Jack and Kathy a glimpse at Loch Earn in its best light. Next stop was the Comrie Golf Course. Both golf courses were hoachin' (very busy) with folks taking advantage of the good weather. Next stop was the Crieff Hydro Golf Course which affords a spectacular view from high up a hill looking westward over the countryside and gentle rolling hills.

Gloagburn Farm Shop (almost to Perth) was our chosen lunch spot. We took the back road from Crieff to get there and had a nice light meal. Talk about hoachin', we had to queu for a table and ended up with one in the full sun where we baked. But the food was so good, we stuck it out.

The final sightseeing stop yesterday was Drummond Castle Gardens, which is always impressive, but on a day like yesterday, it was more dramatic than ever (as the photograph shows). We strolled through the grounds for more than an hour, taking our time and enjoying both the greenhouses and fruit and vegetable areas as well as the formal gardens and their statuary and fountains.

Following some afternoon naps, we went to the Royal Hotel Lounge Bar for a pub supper. It was nice to be able to walk to and from the hotel in the cool of the evening. Before heading home, we strolled a bit behind the town (on Back o' Toon Lane) and then down by the river, under the bridge, and then up onto the bridge. We stopped on the bridge for a wee while to watch a woman tossing a stick into the river for her golden retriever to fetch--again and again and again. We got tired just watching!

Today it is overcast and cooler. There has been a wee sprinkle now and then but not much more than that. We drove into Comrie for a browse through the charity shop and then got on the road for Balquhidder (Ball-WHID-der). On the way we went through St Fillans, along the length of Loch Earn to Lochearnhead, 12 miles away, where we headed south to Blaquhidder [http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/balquhidder/balquhidderglen/index.html].

We stopped first at the old Balquhidder Kirk (church) to see the gaves of Rob Roy MacGregor, his wife, Mary, and their two sons, Robert and Coll. The gravestones, as usual, had numerous plants and flowers on them with notes from Clan Gregor Association branches and members from all over the world. Ordinary folks also put token items on the gravestones, anything from coins from many of the world's currencies to pieces of heather. This time there also was a child's drawing, held down on Rob Roy's gravestone with a couple of rocks, a 5- or 6-year-old's rendering of the man himself in crayon. We took a short walk up the hill behind the new kirk to a small but lovely waterfall. As dry as it has been, we were glad to see there was sufficient water to actually fall.

Back in the car we drove along lochs Doine and Voil beside the Braes (hills) of Balquhidder and on past the hills called Monachyle Beag (small Monachyle) and Monachyle Mhor (large Monachyle). We kept going to the very end of the public road, some 12 miles, to the Inverlochlarig Estate where we got out and walked along the farm track for a while. This area is wonderfully scenic anyway, with the loch on one side and the hills rising on both sides, but today there was almost no breeze so that the surface of the lochs was smooth and glassy. We stopped several times to get out and take photos and just marvel at the scenery, especially the hills and sky reflected in the loch.

We stopped at Monachyle Mhor Hotel for lunch which we took on the terrace overlooking the spot where the two lochs meet. Just as we were finishing our lunch, a little rain shower came along and convinced us that we didn't need to drive any further but just go home. So here we are. Three of us are napping and I am about to join them. Tonight the Howells are taking us to the Deil's Cauldron Restaurant for dinner.