Tag: Perthshire

Wandering through my lens: Highlights of 2025

Dec 27th, 2025

Last year in December, struggling to think of a post, I decided to pull together and share some of my favourite pictures from the past year; many o them I have not shared before, or have only done briefly in an Instagram story. It struck me that this might be a nice tradition to start.

Throughout the year, wherever I am and no matter how tired I am, taking pictures of the beauty around me keeps me inspired. And so in this post, I would like to share with you MY favourite pictures that I have taken this year, and a bit of why they are special to me. They are, for the most part, entirely unedited except for some cropping.

When I was young and growing up in Massachusetts, every autumn we would go apple picking, and the apple of choice was McIntosh. So, I grew up eating them in pies, applesauce, and of course straight off the tree. They are seldom found in Scotland though, and so when I found these at House of Bruar, I was overjoyed.

We visited House of Bruar on a cold January afternoon, and we left in time to drive home mostly in daylight, with the hilltops frosty. I love winter and this picture reminds me of that lovely day in Perthshire.

St Andrews is one of the most photogenic places on earth, and I used to get up early just to catch the sunrise here. Fortunately, in January, the early part is not required.

We had very little snow this past winter, but on visiting Loch Leven we discovered a dusting had made it inland. I loved this hill half-hidden by cloud.

The winter months are by far the best for night sky, if only because it gets so very dark. Nonetheless, this picture was taken in the middle of an unlit field and shows the rather extreme light pollution here in Fife.

I decided to show off my new camera case patch with this posed picture on my walk along Tentsmuir. Love how it turned out.

Dundee is not always thought of as the prettiest city, but on this day walking from Tayport to the bridge, we caught the river in stillness as the tide turned. I love the reflections.

I have 100s of versions of this view, but this is one of my favourites, with frost just touching the flowering gorse on a grey and silver morning.

Sunrise over a frosty field. Does it get better?

I did this walk every day in lockdown, and it is still the best way to start off any day.

In March we drove up to Ballachulish for a long weekend, and stopped at the Loch Ba viewpoint. The loch is behind me, but this view of the sun fighting through the clouds was just as impressive.

Our favourite snack spot in Glencoe since our first weekend away in 2009. Great coffee and an even better view.

On our first morning, the cold night had left a heavy frost over everything, and there is nothing I love more than white mountains against a crystal blue sky. Also shows our hotel’s excellent location.

Frosty mountains are definitely one of my things…I can’t not take a picture. Just as my other half.

On a clear night, we drove to Loch Achtriochtan in Glencoe to try to get some excellent star pictures. A full moon rising and the busy road made for far too much light pollution, but I like this picture anyway, especially as that isn’t the sun setting behind the hills – that light is just from the moon.

April blossoms, stunning colour contrast.

I spent my childhood playing on this island in Marblehead, long before it was cleared or with a bench to enjoy the view. Still, it brings back so many fond memories to see it.

One of my favourite views in Marblehead, overlapping Colonial houses and rocky gardens. The old town in a nutshell.

Old North Bridge in Concord MA, the location of the shot heard round the world.

Mostly I just love reflections.

May was the month in which I really focussed on my fitness and in making a dent in my Coastal Path plans. The weather cooperated most of the time, but not always, like this rainy day when I walked from Newport to Balmerino. It is Scotland after all. No one would believe me if it was always sunny.

That said, most of my walk WAS sunny. Cellardyke harbour on this Saturday morning was calm and quiet, and just the epitome of the East Neuk.

I love a good flower against the sun picture. Had you noticed?

The walk into Crail is simply stunning, and when I completed this section the poppies were just blooming. The town is in the background, but the stunning red was the subject for this picture.

San Antonio in June. Whose idea was that?

Taken relatively early in the day, this picture shows the heat that would come.

I fell in love with the Riverwalk in, and I have plenty of daytime pictures. But this one shows what is clearly an old building, just as the evening begins. So much promise of the night’s entertainment to be had!

While I was visiting my father in Puerto Rico, we climbed a mountain. We hiked up through the cloudy mist, and never quite came out above it. It doesn’t matter if you get rained on here, and I like the mysterious feel.

Flowers and castle ruins.

I did several more chunks of the Coastal Path in July, and there was no shortage of these small yellow beauties.

I also visited London, where the roses were in full bloom around St Paul’s Cathedral. I can’t miss a rose.

Durham Cathedral and Castle from the train. The sun was setting and the medieval stones glowed orange and yellow. Breath-taking.

Most towns in the East Neuk have small gardens planted in or around a fishing dinghy, like this one. One of the many echoes in this area of New England.

Who doesn’t enjoy a photobomb by a seagull? Well, I sure do.

Sea roses are a special kind of delicate, and remind me of summers on Cape Cod. This picture could be taken on either side of the Atlantic (though it was of course in Fife, near Kinghorn)

It was such a dry summer in Scotland that the leaves started to turn an orange-brown even in late August. Super calm water, and you can just see St Andrews in the distance.

Summer late light. I cannot resist.

One cool evening in early September, four of us trooped out to West Sands to see if we could catch the Aurora. We did.

Plane views are a big thing with the amount of travel I do now. The flight into San Francisco included these fantastic vistas of the mountains of eastern California and western Nevada.

Pure Americana, in the perfectly mid-west town of Columbus, Ohio.

Another plane view!

I have visited and enjoyed many cities, and would happily live in many of them. But none will ever surpass Boston (even with a cloud obscuring downtown).

A misty late September morning – five minutes later this had cleared. Silver and grey again, just beautiful.

To me, this picture is the epitome of Florida: palms, beach grapes, a pool and a hotel. I loved even this small hotel view.

Travelling in Connecticut in October reminded me why New England is famed for its autumn. I’ve even written a post about it. I stopped the car briefly coming out of a parking lot to take this – gorgeous.

Autumn colour in Perthshire. Always gold and orange, even in a dry year like this one.

I absolutely fell in love with this view of the sun rising over Mexico City’s distant mountain barrier. They were never as clear as before the sun rose, and an hour later were obscured by haze.

I was fascinated by these mountains, peeking out of the otherwise civilised centre of Mexico.

My one coastal path walk in November was on a cloudy windy day, with the sun fighting through. I loved this view with crashing grey waves and some blue sky.

A heavy frost on my morning walk. I took so many plant pictures this morning…

Full moon rising – just managed to catch it before it disappeared into the clouds again.

Rising sun in Marblehead on the shortest day of the year, taken across a partially frozen Redd’s Pond. Gorgeous morning to be out and about.

And finally, to wrap up…

This is my absolute favourite picture I took all year; I’ve shared it before, but I want to share it again – the snow, the light through the clouds, the still loch. And the memories it evokes, of a lovely weekend away hiking and enjoying late winter in the Highlands.

Loch Leven and Glencoe, Scottish Highlands

I hope you have enjoyed this photographic trip through my year! Have you checked out my online shop yet?
Hermitage Woodland Walk

Sep 7th, 2024

In spring of 2021, Scotland had been in pandemic lockdown since Boxing Day 2020 (the day after Christmas). Then finally, in April, the word came – we were for the first time permitted to leave our ‘local area’. We could leave Fife!

A walk was the most inevitable choice for our first out-of-county adventure, as there were still plenty of restrictions in place and staying outdoors was ideal. So, we chose for our first adventure a walk we had never tried before – the Hermitage Woodland Walk.

Through reading various websites, we opted to drive to the Rumbling Bridge end of the path and walk down towards Ossian’s Hall. At first, it seemed an excellent choice – the path was quiet, and the day was pleasant and sunny. But, as we made our first turn onto the Hermitage walk proper, we discovered that we were far from the only people with this idea – hordes of walkers, many clearly not used to such excursions, were enjoying being outdoors. We passed numerous people in flip-flops and carrying take-away coffee cups, girls in sundresses that were not designed for woodland walks, and families with young children and prams that were struggling on the rocky path. In fact, it was so busy that we only just reached the hall before turning back and fleeing to the quieter, further away paths.

River Braan above the bridge

A quick note about the route we took in 2021: parking in the Rumbling Bridge car park – which requires turning up the A822 before you reach the Hermitage car park – allows you to hike downhill first, then back up to the bridge, and also to explore the River Braan as it tumbles over boulders and small falls. When walking from the ‘proper’ car park, it is easy not to venture all the way up to the Rumbling Bridge, but I definitely recommend doing so, particularly if you have a liking for rivers and waterfalls. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

More of the river above Rumbling Bridge

My second trip was with a work Step-Count Challenge group about a year later, and it was on this trip that I think was truly able to enjoy the beautiful path. My third trip, also with friends from work, was equally lovely, and we found – several years after the end of pandemic restrictions – a set of picnic benches, coffee and donut wagon, and port-a-loos that were passably clean, all right beside the main car park. Starting here, the path passes under the rail line and follows the river through majestic trees.

This area is wide and mostly flat with only the slightest incline, though the hillside rises sharply above the path. In a short time, there is a fork in the road, and taking the left-hand option leads to the highlight of the visit – an almost Tolkien-esque stone bridge and Ossian’s Hall. It makes sense first to take the short trip down the hill to stand on the bridge, where you can get a stunning view of the Black Linn Falls as well as the large pond beyond the bridge.

If you cross and follow the path to the right, you eventually find yourself with a perfect view back towards Ossian’s Hall. The hall was constructed in the 1780s to replace a summerhouse. In fact, the entirety of the Hermitage is not natural landscape, but was designed as a pleasure ground for the Dukes of Atholl. Once one is aware, the towering Douglas firs do seem a touch too perfectly planted, and indeed the almost elvish or fairy-like forest is a touch too magical.

The view of the falls is even better from within the hall, though at busy times you may have to wait your turn for the best view, as the viewing balcony allows only about 5 or 6 people comfortably. Beyond the hall, there are several places where you can look back at the hall and bridge. I have seen drone shots of the falls where the drone has flown down the river and under the bridge, something I wish I could do myself!

Once you have had your fill of the fantasy land around Ossian’s Hall, you can continue up the path, which starts to gradually ascend as it follows the river. On several occasions I was driven to remark on how much it reminded me of rivers in the White Mountains in New Hampshire – rocky, the water tumbling over the rocks to form peaceful pools and swift rapids, blue sky and trees growing almost out of the riverbank. When hiking with the Step-Count group, we had brought a picnic and found ourselves an ideal picnic spot on some rocks along the river, with views in both directions.

Gradually the path lifts away from the water, as the river sits in a gorge many feet below. There are several side-trips one can take as paths cut closer to the edge of the water (sometimes a steep drop into the gorge) or into the woods to the right. A notable detour is Ossian’s Cave, another constructed portion of the pleasure grounds (called a folly) where, if one is brave, you can duck into the rock construction. It is arguably more pleasant from the outside.

From here the trail continues through varying types of forest as it climbs, and after a slightly steeper ascent through more pines, one reaches a T-junction. Almost immediately ahead is a small stone house that is almost Bob Rossian in its placement amongst the trees, with a stone wall running along the path. It’s a good place to pause in the trees before crossing a small bridge across a burn, into the open. Just beyond a stand of rhododendron is a wide meadow with a grassy hill on one side topped by a rock formation, and gentle slope down on the opposite with views across the hills and valley.

view from the rock formation

If you have had enough walking for the day this is a good spot to catch your breath for a few moments before heading back down towards the car park. If you’re not done yet, it is only about five or ten more minutes to the Rumbling Bridge. You will notice a lone house on the hill above, which I have learned from Google Maps is in fact a small hotel. In the days of the pandemic, it looked quite lonely – in retrospect I imagine the views are spectacular.

Here the road forks again, and you will want to follow the left fork down the hill towards the bridge. This is an active road, so it is worth being careful to listen out for vehicles who may not see you easily. The bridge itself provides views of the river in both directions, as you would expect, and sits almost directly over the falls, so the ground seems to drop away quite swiftly on the downriver side.

If you make your way to the Rumbling Bridge car park, you will find a map similar to the one at the top of this post with plenty more walk options should you wish to keep going. Or, you can do what we did and spend some time climbing on the rocks out into the river, if you are in to such things.

A visit to the Hermitage is highly recommended for anyone who loves a good walk in the woods. The lower section to Ossian’s Hall is manageable for walkers of almost any ability as it is flat and the path well-kept, while the higher section offers a bit of a climb and some beautiful views. The circuit to Rumbling Bridge and back is not particularly long, but can be boggy in places so sturdy shoes are a must. Prior to my last visit I may also have cautioned about more basic comforts but there are now the port-a-loos available as well as the small van, so you can probably even manage without refreshments. That said, there are some perfect picnic spots along the way, so I would recommend bringing something with you. As long, of course, as you are willing to follow the camping rules I recall from the White Mountains – pack it in, pack it out! It is a shame to see litter on the trails, as we did in 2021.

Another small caution is in the driving; when arriving from the south, it is an easy matter to turn left into the Hermitage park or onto the A822 to reach the Rumbling Bridge end. But, coming back out can be a bit of a challenge. Waiting for a break in the traffic so that you can speed across onto the far side of the A9 is not for the timid or indeed the impatient – it can take quite literally 5 minutes to get back out onto the highway and unfortunately I am not aware of anywhere close by that you can turn around further north.

If you have been on a good walk and are interested in another short wander or something more substantial for food and drink, the town of Dunkeld is only a few minutes away and has plenty of options. It’s a charming wee town to walk around and has remains of a cathedral – what’s not to like?

Don’t forget to check out my online shop!
Queen’s View and Allean Forest Walk

May 27th, 2024

The Queen’s View over Loch Tummel in Perthshire is one of the most famous views in Scotland, and one of the most photographed. It is not hard, when visiting, to see why, though actually getting to the viewpoint can be a bit of a challenge.

Not, I should point out, because it is physically difficult to reach – on the contrary, there is a large car park (not free!) and well-maintained path that leads to the main viewpoint (though occasionally you must fight to the front for the best view). The visitor centre is closed, and have been since the pandemic, but the area roundabout is kept up.

Rather, it is the road to the viewpoint that offers a challenge.

The advantage of Perthshire is that so much of it is just stunning, and easily reachable from Dundee, Edinburgh and Fife. Pitlochry, the nearest town to the Queen’s View, is less that two hours’ drive from Edinburgh or Stirling, and offers oodles of options for accommodation: guesthouses, B&Bs, lower cost hotels, luxury hotels, and a camping and caravan park. Pitlochry is a regularly-used base for exploring the area and only 14 minutes from the Queen’s View.

What is the problem then, you ask?

Simply that the short stretch of road between the A9 and the view is one of the windiest and narrowest that you will find on a two-lane road. Further, you are competing for space not just with other cars, but with large camper vans and coaches that offer tours throughout Scotland.

I have now been on the road twice, once as a passenger and once as a driver, and both times I found myself clinging to the door handle and searching for an alternate route back. (Note, there are alternate routes via the other end of Loch Tummel, but they are also quite narrow and add considerable time to a journey). I feel I should point out that I am making this observation after having explored the Highlands, Skye and Mull, so not without some experience on narrow and winding roads.

Once you reach the car park, there is a short walk and then the view really is spectacular. When Queen Victoria visited the spot in 1866, she assumed that it was named in honour of her – a view to match her greatness. What no one likely told her at the time was that it was almost certainly named well in advance of her arrival, and for Queen Isabella, wife of Robert the Bruce.

Standing at the viewpoint, you are looking down Loch Tummel, almost due west, with the peak of Schiehallion, one of the more popular hiking mountains in Scotland, in the distance. Even further, one can just make out – on a clear day – the mountains of Glencoe.

As you can see, the view is phenomenal in the sun but just as atmospheric in the cloud and rain; visiting earlier in the year may also mean less foliage growth between you and the water.

If the view has only whetted your appetite for Loch Tummel and the surrounding hills, I highly recommend continuing only minutes along the road to the Allean Forest, where there are two hiking loops you can follow up into the trees.

The car park is sizeable, and there is even a toilet block – warning though that it is a latrine that was far from well kept when I last visited. It was a ‘medieval’-style experience that I could well have done without. My hope is that in the years since the end of the pandemic, the facility has been improved.

Of the two available loops, one is shorter – about an hour – while the other is more like 1.5 to 2 hours in total. Both start off in the same way, climbing away from the car park through the trees and leading to several viewpoints over the mountains and down the loch.

We did this hike in August, so the greenery was lush and at its height, though many of the spring and summer flowers had passed. It was not a hugely challenging hike but did have a decent amount of gradient, and my father decided he wanted to opt for the longer route. This turned out to be an excellent decision, as it took us past the ‘Family Circle’, ruins of an Iron-Age stone wall that enclosed a timber roundhouse.

The appeal of this area of Perthshire clearly runs back at least 2000 years, as the plaque by the circle told us that this area of Scotland features more settlements of this type than almost anywhere else in the country. Excavated in the 1970s, the site shows evidence of being used in more recent times as well, for ironworking and drying corn or grain.

This particularly intrigued me, as family research I have done indicates that at least one branch of Scottish ancestry (don’t all Americans have at least one?) came from the area around Loch Tummel. It is a romantic thought that the area appeals to me because of that family connection – I have always loved the Loch Tummel and Pitlochry area – though it is also stunningly beautiful, as these pictures show. Perhaps it is a bit of both.

Loch Tummel from a bit further down,

While the Queen’s View is a natural tourist draw and invites visitors from all over the world, the hills and forests around Loch Tummel are a recommended addition for walkers and hikers. They are not as challenging as many others, and the views are not as dramatic as further north, but the proximity to Pitlochry makes Loch Tummel a good place to explore. A few recommendations if you are attempting this journey are to ensure your driver is confident and comfortable on narrow roads, and to bring your own snacks and refreshments – the closest place I could find when visiting was Pitlochry, though new locations may have opened up since then.
Kenmore Hill circuit

Dec 18th, 2023
I have had every intention of publishing this post almost every day for the past two weeks, but a combination of leaving work and a bout of Covid continued to set me back.

The Scottish Highlands are legendary for their stunning hills, lochs, and the hikes and paths that allow you to view them in a way you can only do by foot. Not long before the start of lockdown, we spent a weekend at a self-catered cottage in Aberfeldy, allowing us plenty of time to explore the surrounding hills. This walk, on Kenmore Hill above Loch Tay, was both stunning and a touch disastrous.
Why was the walk a touch disastrous? It started with the car park which, at the time we visited, was inaccessible without a 4×4 (I do have hopes that it has been re-done since then!). We ended up having to stow our car just off the road and the end of the drive up to the car park, but fortunately our car at the time was tiny and we managed relatively well.
Kenmore, Perth, Scotland
From the edge of the road we walked up through the car park and almost immediately enjoyed splendid views back over the valley, particularly down towards Taymouth Castle and estate.

The sign in the car park offered three routes, and the one most clearly described by Walkhighlands was the red route; all three started in roughly the same place so we headed upwards, beginning a steady climb up the hill on a path that reminded me of a ski path without snow – rocky and lined with trees.

Eventually signs for the red path turned us right and we emerged from the trees, finding ourselves on a grassy area with a treeline on the ridge above and promises of views over the valley.

We were hampered a bit at this point by the fact that we had, the day before, done the Birks of Aberfeldy walk, which had been steeper and with more stairs than expected. The other half was suffering a bit with his knee from an old injury, and as we climbed up the hill towards the ridge – a relatively steep walk – he found it becoming more and more difficult.

We reached the top of the ridge in time and the views were indeed spectacular – the snow-topped peaks in the distance stood out beautifully against the blue sky, and we planned to continue the red loop towards the final cairn, where I know you can see down towards the other end of Loch Tay.

The discovery that we had forgotten a knee brace meant that we really could not continue to potentially cause even more damage, and so we agreed to return to the blue loop, and follow it back to the car.

Here, of course, is where slight disaster struck. We did as planned, found the blue path and intended to allow a quick run up to the marked viewpoint. Instead, as we followed the blue markers and the gap in the trees, we gradually realised that we had not seen a marker in a while, and that any sign of a trail had vanished. Both of us are relatively experienced hill walkers who had been paying attention, and yet could not determine a place where we could have deviated from the trail; we had two versions of a map and the picture of the trail, but found ourselves completely lost. We back-tracked a bit, and still could not confidently identify a marker. Standing at one of the last clear points, we established where the path should be, and where the road was, and decided that as long as we headed down and towards the road, we would reach it eventually, as it loops around the hill.

What followed was a rather steep and haphazard descent through brush, heather, and the occasional small trickle of water. I would not normally condone leaving a trail like this as it can cause damage to the wildlife, but we really did not have much of an option. We decided the trail lost us as much as the other way around. It was similar to a hike I had once done with my father, when we realised a touch too late that the trail we were following was in fact a dry creek bed – on that day, like on Kenmore Hill, eventually common sense and perseverance (perhaps even stubbornness) won out and we found our way to a clearly marked path.

On Kenmore Hill, this ended up being the last loop of the red trail, though we still cannot work out we managed to get there. Relieved, we found our way back to the car park and our car, the beacon we had just made out from higher up. While it was certainly not the most comfortable climb, I have every intention of making my way back and completing the red loop at some point, as I have seen from other hikers that the views from the other side of the hill are spectacular. It also seems to be the perfect length of hike – about two hours, with enough climb to get some proper views and the heartrate up a touch. I also have hope that in the years since the pandemic, the path has been kept up and perhaps improved, though a peek at Google Maps indicates that the road to the car park may still be in questionable shape.

After our slightly chaotic hike, we decided to take a drive down the loch as it was a beautiful day, and below are a few of the pictures I took along the way; Loch Tay really is a beautiful spot and while the mountains are less dramatic than further north, they are no less impressive. We in fact drove all the way to Killin and stopped at an Inn by the Falls of Dochart – a post for another time.

I look forward to an opportunity to try to this hike again!