This is a blog that I simply forgot to write at the time! Oops.
I have to cast my mind back for this one, to June 2018. After one of the worst, late winters we’ve had thanks to the “Beast From the East”, we were enjoying the best summer we’ve ever had. May and June were absolutely spectacular. Coincidentally, we had booked a few days away at the Loch Rannoch Hotel. Going away for a hotel holiday in Scotland is only really something that I’ve done since hitting my thirties. When you are young, you tend to want to get away from the place you grow up. I mean, I still do. In fact my ideal set up would be to have one big foreign holiday and several smaller domestic getaways every year. But the domestic part is only something that appeals now that I’m a bit older and not so interested in getting as far away as possible from my parents to let my hair down.
Holidays in Scotland are expensive (another reason it didn’t appeal 15 years ago) so we tend to go places when we have some sort of voucher to bring it back down to prices that I consider acceptable. And this was one such occasion.
Map from Google. The area between the two end points is the Rannoch Moor.
We’d be visiting the Loch Rannoch Hotel. I wasn’t familiar with it but I was familiar with the name Rannoch. You pass through the Rannoch Moor when heading in to Glen Coe on the A82. I’ve driven or ridden through it dozens of times. This would be at the far eastern side of the Rannoch Moor than the Glen Coe side. You are actually only separated by 15 or 20 miles as the crow flies but you can’t drive directly there so it’s a 2 hour drive away. So I was looking forward to seeing an area that I had visited a load of times from a different perspective.
We took our time heading up. It was easier to just jump on the A9 and take a left at Killiecrankie but I try to avoid the A9 when I can. It’s not technically a motorway but for large parts it functions as one and that’s not fun. So we took the long road, stopping in Aberfeldy for lunch at The Tay cafe. I don’t really remember what we had but we both left impressed. I do remember the chips being fantastic, though.
We arrived at the hotel and checked in/dumped bags etc. The place was really nice. We had been to a few other places on vouchers that were nice but could have done with a lick of paint but there could be no complaints here at all. At least not in the reception and bar area. It was definitely old fashioned but I like that. Gives it character.
There were a couple of bits once you got up into the room area that were a bit scuffed here and there but nothing major stood out. In fact, we were both pretty impressed with it. Right up until I decided to look out the window at our “loch view”.
It’s behind there somewhere. I don’t advocate cutting down trees but I had opted to pay more to get the view. I think in the end the price was only a few extra quid so I didn’t bother complaining, having enjoyed the stay. And it wasn’t like we couldn’t see anything. There are still hills out there and it’s better than looking out the back to the bins and generators etc.. Still not great, mind you.
We figured that we should drive along the loch to get to the far end, towards Glen Coe. I had no idea what was along that way. For all I knew, it could have been a dirt track that only allowed for access to farms. But we’d soon find out.
What’s kind of funny is that it’s not immediately obvious how big the area is when you’re looking at it from Google Maps. The Hotel is a full 40 minutes way from the A9, which caught us out a couple of times, when we were going for a drive. Especially because you’re likely to get stuck behind a tractor or something on the narrow roads. The western end of the road is half an hour further. So the area is actually pretty remote.
This interesting little building is called Eliean nam Faoileag. Good luck pronouncing that if you’re not familiar with Gaelic (hint, you won’t get it and I can’t help you get it). It’s a crannog, which is a man made island. The building on there now is a 19th century build, based on the original, which was supposedly a prison. If you had a boat, you could go visit it but from what I could tell, there’s not much there beyond a load of nesting birds. Makes for a good photo, mind you.
The crannog is stones, sitting on top of a sandbank so the building looks a bit wonky, when you look closely.
The other pleasant surprise was the beaches that were sprinkled along the edge of the loch. You could park your car right on them if you wanted as they were right next to the road as well. They’d definitely make a great place to have a picnic and a dip, if you’re feeling brave. Maybe next time we’re up that direction.
After reaching the train station at the end of the road we turned round and headed back. There was a small restaurant there that is well reviewed. We didn’t go in, though. Off the top of my head they had quite specific opening times (as is often the case in the highlands) and we couldn’t fit it in. Another one added to the ‘next time’ folder.
It wasn’t a productive first visit to the Queen’s View as far as the photography was concerned
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was nice but a bit too expensive and then went to visit the Queen’s View. It’s a well known location and thus a popular spot for photographers. Sadly, by the time we arrived it was dark and the weather had taken a turn for the worse and a low lying fog had set in. In addition to this, I was eaten alive by midges so I didn’t stay long.
Day two and we were back on the road. This time we stopped off at the Queen’s view while the sun was shining. It looked great but it was not ideal for photography, though. Middle of the say sunshine really isn’t a good time to do landscape photography. You get this harsh light coming down straight from above. This means that you don’t get the interesting shadows or soft light that comes with the sun being lower in the sky at sunrise or sunset. Probably more importantly, when the sun is lower to the ground, there’s more atmosphere for the light to travel through which is what creates all the nice colours that you get at either end of the day. So we admired the view while I grabbed a reference snapshot and we headed off to our destination for the day.
On the edge of the Cairngorms National Park, sits Blair Castle. I’m sure you can Google the history if you want, but the design is mostly Georgian and it’s full of guns, antlers and a million stuffed animals, including a polar bear.
I have no photographs from inside the castle as we had to surrender our cameras and bags before being allowed in. I made sure I got a secure area to keep my bag safe.
The grounds are beautiful, though. Like most houses of the period, the area of land that surrounds it is vast and has well kempt gardens as well as a forested area that features a load of huge trees from around the world. I went for a walk through the forest part myself while Pamela grabbed a tea and a seat in the cafe.
I think the tree above is the tallest Red Fir Tree in Britain. I say think, rather than know because I didn’t take a photograph of the information board next to it and can’t remember. I did take a photo of the map though, and the location of this one would suggest it’s that one, rather than the 5th Tallest Douglas Fir in Great Britain (also an attraction of the grounds, if tall fir trees are your thing).
Apparently it was common for wealthy aristocrats to travel around the world and bring back various exotic flora to show off in their gardens. The Georgian equivalent of a fridge magnet from Benidorm, I guess.
St Bride’s Kirk. A 16th century building, sitting on top of Celtic era foundations. The kirk fell into disrepair when a newer church was built in the local town in the early 19th century. Guess who remembered to photograph the information board for this one!
The rest of the day was spent wandering around House of Bruar, wondering if we would ever spend lots of money on clothes from the Edwardian era, even if we could afford it. Then I found a bright red leather trench coat and realised that if I had thousands of pounds spare that yes, I would spend it on unorthodox clothing because I thought it quite suited me. I thought it made me look like Hellboy, though Pamela suggested that I looked more like a “Young Santa”. I did splash cash on an ice cream, though. And very nice it was, too. Buyer’s regret never extends to ice cream.
Then we had dinner next to the river Tay in Grandtully. This was the second time I got caught out by the remoteness of our location. I picked a place that I thought was nearby which turned out to be nearly an hour away. D’oh! Still the place was nice and had a great view of the river.
On the way back, we stopped at the Queen’s View once more to see if I could photograph it in conditions more favourable to photography than to sunbathing.
We got there just in time.
It’s said that The Queen’s View was named after Queen Victoria when she visited the area but she might have just been winding people up, apparently. No matter who it’s named after, it’s a nice place to spend an evening, I’ll say that.
Amusingly, Pamela accused me of leaving her in the car for nearly an hour, when I thought it was nothing like that at all. I argued my case but she was adamant that I had abandoned her. When we got home, one of the first things I checked was the time of the photographs on the computer. Sure enough, the time between the first photograph I took and the last one was less than 20 minutes. Taking the time it took to set up my tripod and walk the 50 yards from the car to the spot and it might have been 25 minutes total. I was able to prove my innocence. Digital photography to the rescue!
Day three and we’d be taking our time heading home. We’d stop into Dunkeld for a late lunch. We’d been there before and I quite wanted to get a look at the Cathedral that’s there. It’s funny when you go for lunch in Scotland. You don’t have to go very far north before you find places that stop serving food quite early. This was a little before 3 o’clock in June but most places were either closing for the day or at least stopping service for a few hours until dinner starts up again. You really don’t get that in the central belt. You’ll get a menu change between lunch and dinner but service continues. That’s what happens when you have fewer staff to cover breaks, I suppose.
We ended up having lunch in the same place we’d gone the last time we were there. While we were in, some guy came in who turned out to be one of the most ignorant customers I think I’ve ever seen. I can’t remember the multitude of ignorant, entitled whining that we got treated to but it started by him leaving to go buy scones from somewhere else because he liked the look of them but wanted to eat them in this cafe. He then tried to complain to the waitress that his latte was no longer foamy (he had ordered it before he left). Instead of apologising to the creep, she smiled and informed him that it had been lovely when she made it, before he had wandered off to buy stuff from elsewhere. The guy didn’t have the balls to keep pushing for a remake. The girl later got a phonecall to say that she’d passed her exams. She is going places, I’m sure.
There was extensive work being done to the Cathedral, sadly. Sadly for me, I guess. I’m sure the Cathedral was happier about it. So while were able to go inside the more modern part, the older, crumbling part was mostly scaffolding so we could only view it through locked barriers. Still, it’s a great building and another visit another time will hopefully yield better luck.
Driving about in Scotland in this weather is among the greatest pleasures that I have, in life. And a privilege, too. We took a long route home and enjoyed the sunshine.