A bit of a walk



And a bit of an absence from blogging.  I've been ill, annoyingly.  The very Victorian-sounding ailment of pleurisy.  Stupidly I've tried to keep working through it, which hasn't helped.  

This had an impact on a weekend away we'd planned.   The intention had been to climb 'a few Munros'.  This was our daughter's idea - she's a keen hillwalker and decided she would get her parents out of the city and out onto the hills.  For anyone who doesn't realise the significance of the Munros bit, the Munros are Scottish hills over 3000 feet.  The classification dates from 1891, when Sir Hugh Munro published his Munro tables.  There's now a popular Scottish...sport?interest?obsession? of 'Munro bagging', as hillwalkers try to climb all 282 summits. 3000 feet may not sound very high by Alpine standards, but some of them are ferociously difficult, requiring compass navigation - no tracks - and knife-edge ridges.  

With my dodgy breathing a Munro was beyond me, so we settled for a bit of a walk up into the hills above Aberfeldy, in Perthshire (and managed 8.6 miles all the same).  The start of the walk was up through beechwoods, a walk made famous by Robert Burns' poem 'The Birks of Aberfeldy'.  And here's a statue of Burns, enjoying his birks in perpetuity.  He seems to be multi-tasking in the way of today's teenagers, holding a tablet or Kindle while also reading a book.  


We took a look at his paper reading material.  Anyone recognise it?
 


 We came across prehistoric-looking trees. 


And waterfalls, celebrated by Burns in his poem:

The braes ascend like lofty wa's,
The foaming stream deep-roaring fa's,
O'erhung wi' fragrant spreading shaws-
The birks of Aberfeldy.
The hoary cliffs are crown'd wi' flowers,
White o'er the linns the burnie pours,
And rising, weets wi' misty showers
The birks of Aberfeldy.  

 



And then it was up onto the open moor.
 


We saw a huge number of black grouse, which was encouraging given that they're in a category of a globally threatened species.  They don't exactly help themselves by being supremely bad at being unobtrusive, breaking cover at the slightest noise, and making their distinctive harsh call.  I didn't have enough zoom on my camera to get a good shot of this one, but you can hopefully see it perched on the wall, with its red comb standing out against the heather.
 


As so often now in Scotland, there was a wind farm on the horizon.  I'm very ambivalent about windfarms.  Clean energy is good, but the impact on the landscape is huge.
 

Even less scenic was this row of dead moles, strung on a fence in a sort of medieval visual deterrent.  I wasn't aware that Mr Mole was considered a pest, but having googled it I discover that if silage is cut in a field with mole hills it cases listeriosis in the livestock that eat it, which can kill them or make them abort.  This puzzles me about this upland thin grass, as it doesn't look too good for silage. 
 

And we had a spot of spring heather burning - this is done to keep the heather young and vigourous.  The practice is known as 'muirburn', and it's governed by legislation.  The  green shoots of the new heather growth are eaten by grouse, so the burning is part of a larger cycle.
 


And finally, an unusual sight now in Scotland - a thatched roof.  
This was very near the very lovely bed and breakfast we stayed in.  If you're looking for somewhere to stay in the Aberfeldy area, I'd recommend The Steading.


In my next post, I'll give you a glimpse of the view from a Munro.

Comments

  1. Pleurisy! Oh that can be a very serious thing indeed. I do hope you are taking care of yourself. Your walk looks amazing - funny about Burns multi-tasking. I had booked a little getaway for myself in Aberfeldy, hoping to to walk in those very woods, but then my Dad died and I travelled a long way in the other direction. I will get there some day! Thanks for the B&B recommendation. Would you be able to stay there if you weren't travelling with a car? I had planned to go by public transport. Also, there is a word in Gaelic for the smell of the heather burning: "falasgair". It is a very distinctive smell and I remember my friend teaching me the word when he smelled it on a walk in Aberdeen. You can smell it even in the city if you can recognise it.

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    1. I hope you get to Aberfeldy before too long, Christine. The B&B is a few miles out of Aberfeldy. Not sure whether there's a bus along that side of the glen, so it may not be the best bet.

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  2. Considering your condition, I'd say you did quite well with this walk. Quite lovely views!

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    1. I was tired afterwards, but it was good to get out. The views were very therapeutic.

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  3. What a lovely hike and the thatched roof looks like a pleasant place to end. Hope your B&B was just as nice.

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    1. The B&B was ultra modern, eco-construction, wood-burning stove to cosy up by in the evenings. It was lovely!

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  4. Gorgeous pictures and scenery and all the more impressive that you managed this walk with pleurisy. Hoping you get better soon as it is not a condition to be messed with and that you feel better,

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    1. Thanks for your good wishes, RedSetter. It's been very annoying to be ill and I still feel below par. I guess it's going to be a slow recovery and I'll just have to be patient.

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  5. Thanks for sharing photos from your walk. I really enjoy seeing a little bit of Scotland.

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    1. I was glad to get out of the city and show something other than Edinburgh on my blog. I'm getting very weary of city life!

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  6. Oh, how BEAUTIFUL!!!
    I do so hope you are feeling better soon How can you not - with such beauty around you??
    Still.....life happens! I loved seeing your photos!

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    1. Hi Linda, being outside for a good walk certainly made me feel better. My doctor said that going for a good walk up a hill was the right thing to do. Better than any medication!

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  7. I have never been in this part of Scotland. It does like somewhere I would like. I do hope you are feeling better soon.

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    1. Scotland has so many different landscapes, it's hard to get round them all. Similarly, I've never been to places you show in your blog and I realise how little I know of my own country. Thanks for your good wishes. I'm now at the 'impatient to feel 100% again' stage.

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  8. Well, your 'bit of a walk' looks very much more informed than my 'bit of a walk'! It looks lovely. Wonderful waterfalls and a statue of Burns. Poor moles all lined up neatly in the sun. Yes, windfarms are on the move and they do cause a great blot on the landscape...I have mixed feelings! Sorry to hear you've been unwell good to see you back again. Get better soon.....

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    1. I only got informed when I sat down to write the post - blogging can be very self-improving sometimes!
      Thanks for your good wishes. Recent sunny days are making me feel a bit more alive.

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  9. What a beautiful area to hike in!

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    1. It was a discovery for us, and I'm sure we'll be back to do some more walking in the area.

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  10. The moles make for an eye-ctaching though rather gruesome image. Hope you're on the mend, pleurisy doesn't sound pleasant (had to google it to find out the symptoms).
    As to my camera, I bought a Fujifilm FinePix S8200. I've not used it enough to say whether I'd recommend it. It was a choice between it and a Sony HX300. I couldn't find the macro setting on the sony and nor could the shop assistant so I plumped for the fuji - I could use it straight away as the controls etc were surprisingly similar to my original compact camera, plus it was £100 cheaper. The camera I didn't like had no macro setting and kept focusing on the wrong things for me so I decided I wouldn't make that mistake again. Good luck in your search. I hope the weather improves so I can test my camera properly soon...

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    1. Thanks for the info about the camera. There is too much choice! I thought at first that I would like a DSLR, but I haven't got on at all well using the one we have, so I'm looking for something with more zoom than my wee compact, but not complex to use. I hope you'll be happy with your choice.
      Pleurisy has been rather yucky. I would just have liked some time to be ill, but work has been so busy that it's been too much of a luxury to take much time off.

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  11. Oh, the bonnie hills - my heart aches! So lovely - except the dead moles, of course. GROSS! What, are they feeding the crows and hawks? Excellent that you caught a grouse on the wall where it's visible - once they're on the ground, you'd never be able to see them in a photo. I'm not sure why people make such a huge deal about the windfarms... nor why they can't place them in the ocean, where the wind is constantly blowing. That way, it wouldn't take up land or mess up the view, or whatever people are complaining about. It's free energy, people!!

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    1. Glad to have made your heart ache ;). The windfarm argument is huge. Free energy, but concerns about impact on birds and bats. Something to do with disturbance of the air.

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  12. Poor you, hope you feel better soon - looks like you had a good walk despite it, though :) I love Burns' poetry,so was pleased to see him enjoying his surroundings! The moles are very gruesome, and reminded me that when I was a child on a family walk we saw some dead crows hung up in a field, presumably meant to be a deterrent too. Love the Scottish scenery :)
    Cathy x

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    1. I really don't understand the deterrent bit. I mean, what mole is going to pop up, see its dead friends and family displayed and say to itself 'I'd better remove myself from this field if I don't want to end up like that'.

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  13. That is beautiful! Here in Colorado we have over 50 peaks over 14,000 feet, locally called 14ers, and people love to climb them; you can drive to the top of two of them, one nearby. They're all climbable without technical gear if you've got a head for heights, easier than some of your Munros. I've climbed a few 14ers myself and if I can get myself back in shape I want to climb at least one again this summer.

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