Atholl Castle and surrounds

 Next day was a trip out to Pitlochry,  Blair Athol Castle and some scenic walks/sites

Pitlochry is a charming town, with lovely old buildings, a river, a Performing Arts centre which seems to be the centre for all sorts of shows and surrounded by amazing walks.

They are also proud of their flowers all over town. There is a trail you can follow, but my times was limited, so I only found a couple


Here's one


but there were flowers everywhere


There's a lovely river flowing through, with a Hydro dam and a Trout race. You can fish below it, and this bridge was a perfect spot to stop and admire the skill of the fly fishers




They even had a livestream and a count of how many has passed through this year. I didn't see any on the livestream.

If I had realised earlier in my planning how many amazing walks are in the area, I might have stayed here.


On to Blair Athol


It was built, destroyed, rebuilt, turrets added etc


The entry way was decorated with swords and shields in a pattern, but no photos allowed.
I remember that Glamis had a similar display

The hallways were decorated with stag antlers


Within 5 minutes of entering the castle, the fire alarm went off, and we all had to evacuate, so I moved off to investigate the Hercules Garden -  a walled garden with a statue of Hercules in front of it. 19th Century

The gardens were recently restored and were lovely.


The Entry gates, made for the 50th wedding anniversary of the Duke and Duchess





Some old and modern statues



They had some pictish carved rocks - I don't know if they were genuine or 'in the style of' 



and lakes,  and the obligatory Chinese Bridge 

There was also Diana's Grove with some magnificent huge trees which are Heritage protected (and impossible to photograph!)

\


And Diana in the middle


When I went back into the castle, my phone was running low and I realised that I had dropped my charger cable somewhere, so I wasn;t able to take any photos.

It was pity, because the rooms were well set out, and they had a series of displays of clothes - an original from the period, then an outfit from a movie or series. Quite a range of different shows, including Bridgeton of course.

I needed my phone for the car satnav - it wasn't built in - so I went back to Pitlochry to buy a new cable. That left me rather late to be going on any long walks, so I chose a couple of 'feature spots' : The Queen's view

'This famous vantage point looks out over one of the most iconic panoramas in Scotland, directly to the west along Loch Tummel from where, on a clear day, you can sometimes see the mountains surrounding Glencoe by the West Coast. A popular destination since Victorian times, it is often thought that the location was named after Queen Victoria who did, in fact, visit in 1866 . However, it is more widely believed to have been named after Queen Isabella the 14th century wife of Robert the Bruce who used the spot as a resting place on her travels'




and The Soldier's Leap.


This was also part of a long walk, so I did a short section down to a railway viaduct













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