Scotland - the undiscovered country

After breakfast we said goodbye to our most splendid hosts at Greycroft and departed Alnwick in the trusty Vauxhall.

My car and driver

A small detour to the walled town of Berwick-upon-Tweed didn’t even warrant getting out of the car as, after Alnwick, it didn’t seem very remarkable at all so we pressed on.  After passing the ‘last public house in England’ we very soon crossed the border and passed the ‘first pub in Scotland’.  Ah Scotland – the undiscovered country (for me anyhow).

Not that the first 90 minutes of Scotland were all that amazing as it was pretty much all motorway driving while we negotiated the ring road around Edinburgh.  Into Perthshire and the countryside got more wild, mountainous and green.  We passed the City of Perth and (wisely as it turns out) didn’t make a detour into town.  It seems Perth regardless of where it is on the globe has the reputation of being pretty but, well, a little boring. By lunchtime we reached our destination for the day – the small town of Pitlochry.

We were too early to check into our accommodation so we parked the car and walked into town.  It started to rain so we were quite wet by the time we stopped for lunch at Victoria’s café (recommended).   Pitlochry is a beautiful place with its high street lined with stone buildings and surrounding hills.  We walked to the end of the street and had a peek at the Atholl Palace Hotel – a grand old Victorian building set in beautiful gardens.

The old gatekeeper's residence at the Atholl Palace

The Atholl Palace Hotel

The interior looked quite grand and we made a mental note to perhaps return for dinner in the evening.  Heading back into town we strolled to view another town sight – the magnificent Festival Theatre perched high on the hill and in front of it the Pitlochry Dam and ‘fish ladder’ constructed to assist the salmon upriver on their journeys to spawn.  For us, it was novelty alone seeing a dam with water behind it!

Pitlochry dam

The rain stopped and we even got some sun but then (uncharacteristically?) it got quite warm so we headed back to our accommodation at Torrdarach House.  We were treated to a cup of tea in the guest lounge with its spectacular view of the garden.  We are in for a treat at breakfast tomorrow morning with an absolutely stunning room that overlooks the grounds, the bird feeders that our hosts have installed in the fringing trees and promises of possible sightings of the increasingly rare red squirrel.  So far the ‘reds’ still inhabit this area – a good sign which means the more common grey squirrel hasn’t yet invaded – but estimates are that within 20 years all the reds will be gone.

View of Torrdarach House garden

Breakfast room at Torrdarach House

Our host imparted some useful local knowledge and dissuaded us from returning to the Atholl Palace for an evening meal, instead booking us into Fern Cottage, a restaurant in town that has received much better reviews.  Safe in the knowledge that we had a nice meal organised for the evening, we had a restful afternoon enjoying the comforts of our room and the sound of birds singing in the garden below.  So far, Scotland impresses!