More waterfalls, Birks and Cows

Friday
Rained overnight, but still mild, so decided to walk up the side of the River Tay, on the opposite side to Taymouth Castle. At first we thought it might be a very short walk as the path was flooded

But we soon climbed higher and got away from the bank.

Came across a folly on the way - presumeably from the Castle estate.

Lovely walk, high above the river for a lot of the way, but you could hear it rushing beneath us.

The colours were fantastic, and for a lot of the way we were walking through an avenue of lime trees.

The only problem was the amount of rhododendrons, which I know look pretty when they are in flower, but they are not native, and grow so thick they choke native plants, and also form a barrier so you can't appreciate the views.

The path finishes at "Chinese Bridge" which was designed to take you on a circular walk over the Tay, past the castle and back into Kenmore, but unfortunately it's currently closed for maintenance, although there was no sign of any maintenance actually being carried out!

We took a short detour to see "Rock Lodge" - a deserted dwelling in the rocks, and then walked back the way we came.

Also came across a rather splendid dog called Dougie who delighted in running full pelt into the river to chase the ducks. Especially near the bridge where it was flooded, and children were waiting to feed them..

 Back in the village we popped into the church, which has some rather interesting windows - etched glass rather than stained glass.

After a soup lunch in the cottage we drove up to Fortingall where we saw the Fortingall Yew - estimated at 5000 years old it is probably the oldest living thing in Europe. Protected by a wall it had a diameter of 52 ft a couple of hundred years ago, but then it was damaged by tourists taking parts of it, and locals lighting fires in the trunk. Now it is properly protected.

The nearby church has a barrel vaulted ceiling, and some interesting celtic crosses in the graveyard.

Then we drove along Glen Lyon, apparently the longest glen in Scotland. It was beautiful.

More waterfalls

And cows who were most interested in me and my camera. I don't think they get much entertainment up there!

Back for the early evening ritual of whisky mac and Pointless and then out to the Kenmore Inn  for dinner - the oldest pub in Scotland and there's a poem by Robbie Burns by the fireplace which he apparently wrote whilst staying there.

Saturday

Drive to Aberfledy for a walk round the Birks O Aberfledy. A lovely circular walk up one side of a Gorge and down the other. Again made famous by Robbie Burns who wrote a poem called the Birks O Aberfeldy. Even the parking barriers have his head on them....

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We climbed high on the first part of the walk for some amazing views

and saw many waterfalls and rapids.

Crossed a bridge at the top over an amazing waterfall, and then quite a steep climb down to river level for the walk back.  We saw the stone seat where Robbie Burns had written his poem

And even caught up with the man himself at the bottom!

Into Aberfeldy where there was a little festival on - live music and a market in the town square, and then lunch in the Fountain.

There's a good independent bookshop in a converted watermill which was great to browse around, and we drove to the distillery to buy some more whiskey cake, but they had sold out! Still we did see some pretty good fungi on the walk up there.

Back home, and we picked up some hampers which we had bought for Christmas from a great shop opposite - we had picked out the contents and they had gift wrapped them. My first Christmas presents bought!

Back home, and shock horror, no Pointless. Still there is Strictly and Doctor Who!