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Thursday, September 23, 2004
Crieff & Strathearn Drovers Tryst Walking Festival
In that time of year between the end of summer and Christmas, when nothing much happens it is nice to see the Drovers Tryst walking festival returning to Crieff.
This festival runs from Saturday 9th October - Saturday 16th October 2004.
On top of a wide and varied program of walks to suit everyone will be live street theatre, live music, ceilidh, pipe bands and the farmer's market. Take part in abseiling, weaving, spinning and glassblowing or savor Strathearn's colourful whisky history.
Find out more about this festival at http://www.droverstryst.co.uk/
This festival runs from Saturday 9th October - Saturday 16th October 2004.
On top of a wide and varied program of walks to suit everyone will be live street theatre, live music, ceilidh, pipe bands and the farmer's market. Take part in abseiling, weaving, spinning and glassblowing or savor Strathearn's colourful whisky history.
Find out more about this festival at http://www.droverstryst.co.uk/
Friday, September 17, 2004
Maker for big tree country this autumn
There's no doubt about it, summer's over. Which is great, because I don't even have to pretend to water my window boxes anymore. I can just leave them to rot and call it autumnal foliage.
Went for a walk round the Knock on wednesday. The Knock is a delightful little hill at the back of Crieff that is just high enough to give you a view across Strathearn to Fife in one direction and all the way over to the high tops by Crianlarich in the other. Lots of trails go round the Knock and, I believe I read once that it is one of Ewan Macgregor's favourite places (not that I've ever seen him up there, but I'm sure I saw Ewen Bremner wandering about up ther one day).
Anyway, wandering about on the Knock brought home just how far away summer is now. The trees are turning. The blaeberry leafs are turning red and there are mushrooms growing everywhere. This got me to thinking - people the world over love to go to Maine and New England for the leaf peeping in the autumn. While that's lovely for some ( and I have done it), Perthshire for me is the place to enjoy autumn. Rolling rivers, beautiful foliage, wildlife and cozy pubs to stop in for a pint.
(I know I sell Perthshire a lot in this blog but if it wasn't so damn beautiful I wouldnae live here)
So come to Crieff & Comrie this autumn, visit Dunkeld and Aberfeldy, you'll have a great time, and remember to pack the Kodak.
Find out more about the autumn colours in Perthshire here.
Went for a walk round the Knock on wednesday. The Knock is a delightful little hill at the back of Crieff that is just high enough to give you a view across Strathearn to Fife in one direction and all the way over to the high tops by Crianlarich in the other. Lots of trails go round the Knock and, I believe I read once that it is one of Ewan Macgregor's favourite places (not that I've ever seen him up there, but I'm sure I saw Ewen Bremner wandering about up ther one day).
Anyway, wandering about on the Knock brought home just how far away summer is now. The trees are turning. The blaeberry leafs are turning red and there are mushrooms growing everywhere. This got me to thinking - people the world over love to go to Maine and New England for the leaf peeping in the autumn. While that's lovely for some ( and I have done it), Perthshire for me is the place to enjoy autumn. Rolling rivers, beautiful foliage, wildlife and cozy pubs to stop in for a pint.
(I know I sell Perthshire a lot in this blog but if it wasn't so damn beautiful I wouldnae live here)
So come to Crieff & Comrie this autumn, visit Dunkeld and Aberfeldy, you'll have a great time, and remember to pack the Kodak.
Find out more about the autumn colours in Perthshire here.
Monday, September 13, 2004
The Scottish Parliament
At the weekend we made an attempt to go and visit the new Scottish Parliament. Seemed like a good thing to do on a day when the weather was a bit foul.
First thing to note was that there was an hour delay to get over the Forth Road bridge! Crazy, so we diverted via Stirling. On getting to Edinburgh we parked up in Our Dynamic Earth (a fantastic, if costly visitor attraction) and wandered round to the Parliament building.
My goodness it is an ugly building. The architect must have been on acid when he came up with this idea, and Dewar must have seen the wrong plans to approve something like this. For something that cost 430 million trillion squillion pounds, a touch of class might be in order. As it is, the back is surrounded by something akin to the Berlin wall and the entire building already looks like it has come under heavy mortar fire with patches of different colours and scraps of wood and steel stuck all over the outside. I was trying to imagine what it will look like after the concrete has weathered for 30 years and it made me shudder. It's only going to get worse.
So eventually we found the front door in this "people's parliament", and looked forward to seeing inside. Except we couldn't see inside. Closed. At 3.20pm, the doors were locked and no-one was getting in. let me say that again. 3.20 in the afternoon and we couldn't so much as poke our noses in the building. Eh? I guess that's open access government for you. Spend your taxes then don't let you see what they've done with them.
Bugger them then. We got back in the car and drove over to Ratho Quarry, where the new climbing and adventure centre is. Now that's an impressive building. And it was open. If you're ever looking for somewhere to visit near Edinburgh, Ratho must be on your list. Even if you're not a climber, it is still impressive, and it helped us get over our annoyance at the parliament. You win some, you lose some.
3.20pm. Honestly...
First thing to note was that there was an hour delay to get over the Forth Road bridge! Crazy, so we diverted via Stirling. On getting to Edinburgh we parked up in Our Dynamic Earth (a fantastic, if costly visitor attraction) and wandered round to the Parliament building.
My goodness it is an ugly building. The architect must have been on acid when he came up with this idea, and Dewar must have seen the wrong plans to approve something like this. For something that cost 430 million trillion squillion pounds, a touch of class might be in order. As it is, the back is surrounded by something akin to the Berlin wall and the entire building already looks like it has come under heavy mortar fire with patches of different colours and scraps of wood and steel stuck all over the outside. I was trying to imagine what it will look like after the concrete has weathered for 30 years and it made me shudder. It's only going to get worse.
So eventually we found the front door in this "people's parliament", and looked forward to seeing inside. Except we couldn't see inside. Closed. At 3.20pm, the doors were locked and no-one was getting in. let me say that again. 3.20 in the afternoon and we couldn't so much as poke our noses in the building. Eh? I guess that's open access government for you. Spend your taxes then don't let you see what they've done with them.
Bugger them then. We got back in the car and drove over to Ratho Quarry, where the new climbing and adventure centre is. Now that's an impressive building. And it was open. If you're ever looking for somewhere to visit near Edinburgh, Ratho must be on your list. Even if you're not a climber, it is still impressive, and it helped us get over our annoyance at the parliament. You win some, you lose some.
3.20pm. Honestly...
Friday, September 10, 2004
Getting down and dirty
Something I haven't done in a while is go and watch any sports games. My local rugby team, Crieff Strathearn won every game they played last season and have been promoted up a league. Fantastic news, and it means some much tougher opposition.
This weekend they have an away match against St Andrews university and I'm very much looking forward to watching how the Braidhaugh boys fare against the students.
Rugby is a great sport to watch, and although the rules take a bit of learning, and it's incredibly rough on the pitch, it's good clean family entertainment.
League games all take place generally on a saturday afternoon at 3pm. You can find a list of fixtures and your local team at the Scottish Rugby Union site. If you're visiting Scotland from overseas, especially North America, it'll be an interesting change from all the helmets and set plays of American Football. Bear in mind though that it only appears there are no rules.
Come on Crieff...
This weekend they have an away match against St Andrews university and I'm very much looking forward to watching how the Braidhaugh boys fare against the students.
Rugby is a great sport to watch, and although the rules take a bit of learning, and it's incredibly rough on the pitch, it's good clean family entertainment.
League games all take place generally on a saturday afternoon at 3pm. You can find a list of fixtures and your local team at the Scottish Rugby Union site. If you're visiting Scotland from overseas, especially North America, it'll be an interesting change from all the helmets and set plays of American Football. Bear in mind though that it only appears there are no rules.
Come on Crieff...
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Where have Yew been?
This past weekend saw us take a trip up Glen Lyon. GLen Lyon starts just north of Aberfeldy and continues west for miles and miles with mostly single track roads. It is an amazingly wild and craggy glen with a lovely mix of fields, forest, river gorges and mountains.
At Fortingall not long into the glen grows the Fortingall Yew. A gnarly old yew tree reputed to be anywhere between 3000-5000 years old, it is the oldest living organism in the UK. Legend has it that Pontius Pilate was also born here. Whether or not this is true, it is nice to think that a Perthshire man was responsible for the crucifiction.
Next door to all this is the Fortingall Hotel. A lovely looking hotel that I quite fancy a night or two in so that I can explore this glen in more detail, and perhaps climb some of the many hills surrounding it.
About half way up the glen a road swings left and up and up over the pass to the Ben Lawers visitor centre, then down to the side of Loch Tay from where you can head back east to Aberfeldy, or west to Killin.
It's a fantastic day out and highly recommended.
At Fortingall not long into the glen grows the Fortingall Yew. A gnarly old yew tree reputed to be anywhere between 3000-5000 years old, it is the oldest living organism in the UK. Legend has it that Pontius Pilate was also born here. Whether or not this is true, it is nice to think that a Perthshire man was responsible for the crucifiction.
Next door to all this is the Fortingall Hotel. A lovely looking hotel that I quite fancy a night or two in so that I can explore this glen in more detail, and perhaps climb some of the many hills surrounding it.
About half way up the glen a road swings left and up and up over the pass to the Ben Lawers visitor centre, then down to the side of Loch Tay from where you can head back east to Aberfeldy, or west to Killin.
It's a fantastic day out and highly recommended.
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