Friday, 15 December 2023

Blairgowrie - Day 5

We packed up and left the house.

We had thought we might go for a walk at Glenshee, but when we got to the ski area the weather was pretty dreich so we decided to leave it for another day.

We drove home, stopping in Perth for some shopping on the way.




Thursday, 14 December 2023

Blairgowrie - Day 4

We first drove to the village of Kirkmichael, about half an hour away. From there we planned to do a circular walk, partly on the Cateran Trail, a long distance path, and taking in the summit of Kindrogan Hill.

Just after the start we were diverted off the path because of timber working, so had to walk through the woods for a bit then a stretch on a muddy forestry track.

Eventually we got off the diversion, and headed up to the top of Kindrogan Hill.


We went down the other side through the woods. We'd hoped to go to Loch Curran but unfortunately that path was closed because of the forestry working.

Further down we came upon the bit where they were actually doing the felling.

As we got further down we passed a large log cabin village.




We got back to Kirkmichael and had a look round the village before driving back to the house.

Later for dinner we made rack of ribs with fried potatoes and salads.




Wednesday, 13 December 2023

Blairgowrie - Day 3

We walked from the house today, a circular walk mainly along the River Ericht.

First we walked into town and across the bridge.


We then passed a lot of polytunnels filled with fruit bushes.



Further on we were closer to the river bank, and came upon loads of trees chewed by beavers. We didn't see any beavers though.


The river had obviously been much higher recently, as there were bits where it had burst its banks.


We crossed the river at Kitty Swanson's Bridge, then headed back up the other side. A lot of the time we were walking on top of the flood defences.

There were more polytunnels, this time with strawberry plants.


Once we got back to the house we decided to drive into town for a walk round the shops.

Later we got a Chinese takeaway from Taste of China. We had a mixed starter then the main courses were duck with orange sauce and chicken and ham fried rice, it was pretty good.




Tuesday, 12 December 2023

Blairgowrie - Day 2

It rained more or less all morning, so we stayed and pottered around the house.

After lunch we went into town in the car, and parked at the car park at the riverside.

We walked up the path beside the River Ericht to Cargill's Leap, a narrow bit of the river where Cargill is reputed to have jumped across.


Further upriver there are a few old watermills.


There's a footbridge and a big weir with a waterfall.


We then left the river and walked uphill to the top of The Knockie, and completed the circle by walking down into Blairgowrie. We then drove back to the house.

Later in the evening we walked in to the dog-friendly pub the Ericht Alehouse for a couple of pints, then walked home again.

For dinner we had pizza and garlic bread.





Monday, 11 December 2023

Blairgowrie - Day 1

We'd booked a cottage in Blairgowrie for 4 nights. We left late morning and first stopped in Perth for a walk.

We parked in the car park at Bellwood Riverside Park, and walked down towards the river.

We crossed onto Moncrieffe Island using a footbridge next to the railway.

At the northern tip of the island is a causeway, but the river would need to be much lower for this to be usable.



We walked down the island, it consists mainly of some allotments and a golf course.

We couldn't walk round the golf course, so we went back to the river bank and walked north for a bit.



We drove on to our cottage in Blairgowrie, the Gregorton Coachhouse. It's a lovely 2 bedroom cottage in the grounds of a bigger house.





After unpacking we decided to go for a walk into town, about 1.5 miles away. We had a wander round, and would have gone for a pint except the only decent pub is closed on Mondays.

After walking home again we had lasagne and garlic bread which we'd brought with us.