The delights of the Hermitage
ACCORDING to ancient weather lore the dog days of summer are characterized by stagnation and inactivity.
This was generally regarded as an unwholesome time of year. I can't speak for any of that but blooms are fading and plants are beginning to regress and, out and about, a few trees are showing the first tints of autumn.
The Monday outfit has been walking in Perthshire recently. A fortnight since we did a few miles in mixed woodland and open country at The Hermitage, not far from Dunkeld.
These walks, maintained by the Scottish National Trust, run along the banks of the River Braan. Here lies Ossian's Hall, a folly constructed on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Black Linn Falls. It was originally built for the Duke of Atholl in 1758 and is presently undergoing restoration.
Continuing up the bank is Ossian's Cave which is man-made and cleverly built to represent a hermit's shelter. Ossian was a semi-mythical poet who is supposed to have written his heroic verse around the third century.
Further along the track we came to Rumbling Bridge (not to be confused with its namesake near Dollar) and near here came across a stone tablet that confused us. It bore the legend, "Z Coy HSF. Raised Oct 1982, Disbanded Apr 1992".
Subsequent investigation reveals that it referred to the Home Service Force which was, I guess, a successor to the Home Guard. They ceased their activities after the Cold War.
It was a fine day, warm even, and we encountered plenty of birdlife; greenfinches mainly and peacock and red admiral butterflies, which are very colourful. This season seems to have been a good one for butterflies. Back along the road someone had spotted a red squirrel; any sighting of this species is always encouraging. (OS Landranger Sheet 53).
It was back again to this area during the following week; a bit further west we parked the vehicle at Amulree. This hamlet lies in Strathbran at the head of Glen Quaich on the A822.
According to locals it can sometimes become cut off during winter snows. For all its isolation it has an interesting history.
The Amulree Hotel was erected in 1714 and lay near the junction of several drove roads. Drovers would come from the Highlands and Islands en route for the markets at Crieff and Falkirk.
Prior to Culloden, Bonnie Prince Charlie is reputed to have stopped here and the inn, as it was then, changed hands between Jacobite and Government Forces. General Wade's redcoats constructed a bridge and military roads nearby. Still later William Wordsworth conferred immortality on the place in his poem "The Lonely Inn" written after a visit there in 1803.
We completed eight miles this day in grand weather; warm but with a slight breeze. We were walking alongside Loch Freuchie.
A light shower came on at the same time as we were passing a barn half full of hay bales. A coffee stop beckoned.
In we trooped - all fifteen of us. Comfortably seated we were getting wired into the piecies when rats appeared. There followed five minutes of frenzied activity as vermin and walkers scooted about the place in a kind of eightsome reel accompanied by skirls you could have heard in Brechin.
We sped on our way rejoicing. We started the return leg by climbing a track up Craig Bheag (about 1600 ft) and from this elevation you got a different perspective on the scenery. Someone compared it to the Lake District minus the hordes of folk. I'd go along with that.
In the far distance Schiehallion loomed large; scene of an adventure for some of us a decade or so ago.
Over a year some outings stand out more than others. This walk in a back-of-beyond location will, I think, live in the memory - maybe it was the cider we had at The Lonely Inn afterwards. (I used sheet 48 of an old Bartholomew's Map).
In between trips Billy and I went up Mt. Keen. It was a dry day but what with fog, wind and wildly fluctuating temperatures (it was very chilly on the summit) we experienced the four seasons on the climb.
We met and chatted with a party of lassies doing their Duke of Edinburgh's Award and, later, fell in with the leader of a group of Air Cadets from Dalgety Bay who had lost his charges. Not having heard anything on the news to the contrary I guess that, like the good shepherd, he eventually found his flock.
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Weather for Brechin
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
