Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

Kenmore Hotel

This evening, I am focusing on one of my favourite places -and hotels.

Kenmore is a small village located on the northern end of Loch Tay in Perthshire, Central Scotland. This is a wonderful place to relax and unwind in a semi-Highland setting. continue reading…

This morning, I collected a mini-coach group totalling 15 persons from central Glasgow and then proceeded as follows:

Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond

• Fisrt stop at the quaint and colorful heritage village of Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond. Here we viewed the immaculate cottage gardens together with vistas of Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond (mountain).
• Next we headed north tracking Loch Lomond then to Tyndrum and the desolate Rannoch Moor to the rugged scenery of Glencoe where we stopped for a photo shoot. Main stop was the visitor centre at Glencoe where we availed of some lunch before continuing north.

Glencoe

Glencoe View

• Our next target destination was Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness via the Great Glen. This was a nice trip in fine weather.
• Upon arriving at Castle Urquhart we spent about 1 hour admiring the castle and associated Loch Ness scenery which was quite impressive in the afternoon sunshine. Quite a few tour boats on the famous loch also.

Urquhart Castle

• After completing our visit to Loch Ness we doubled back down the Glen to Spean Bridge from where we turned into central Scotland and across to Dalwhinnie and the Pitlochry. Unfortunately, our journey was impeded by a long line of motorcyclists from Germany who were trundling along about 40mph.
• After Pitlochry, we turned right to Aberfeldy then, following the River Tay to Kenmore where we availed of a brief stop and then on, tracking Loch Tay, down through Killin to Crianlarich, Loch Lomond and eventually Glasgow . Here we parted company with fond farewells after a long day in the Scottish Highlands.

This morning our tour group departed Inverness, capital of the Highlands, in heavy rain. We drove down the A9 with first stop at House of Bruar near Blair Atholl. Bruar is a High End shopping experience. After some light refreshment we moved on south, down the A9 to the attractive and popular market town of Dunkeld which is located in the heart of Scotland.

At Dunkeld our main focus was on the Cathedral, which is part ruin and part parish church. The Cathedral is located on a very important early Christian site dating back to the 6th century AD when early Christians known as ‘Culdees’ established a place of worship. The first stone building was constructed by Kenneth McAlpin in ther 9th century and rebuilt in more or less its present form during the 13th-15th centuries with one Bishop Sinclair being particularly influential on the building works. The cathedral suffered major damage during the Reformation in the 16th century when the roof was removed. The Nave was never restored but the Choir was re-roofed and became the Parish Church which it remains to this day. Inside is a useful museum explaining the history of the cathedral.

Dunkeld Cathedral

After a lengthy appreciation of Dunkeld Cathedral we walked, on into town for lunch at the Atholl Arms which sits on the banks of the River Tay, Scotland’s longest river.

Next we drove about 45 minutes south to Stirling to visit its famous castle.

Stirling Castle

Great Hall at Stirling Castle

We spent about 1-2 hours at Stirling Castle, joining in one of the guided tours and gained an overview of the castle in context of Scotland’s history including:

• Local battles such as Bannockburn and Stirling Bridge.
• The Castle’s role as royal palace during the times of James IV and V.
• The Jacobite uprisings.
• Napoleonic Wars in early 19th century.
• Mary Queen of Scots, who spent her early childhood at the castle.
• Occupation by the British military through to 1964.

Stirling Castle

Since departure of the military in 1964, great effort has been made to restore the structure to its original condition, commencing with the Great Hall. Latest project entails a full restoration of the palace sections to their former glory at a cost of GBP12.0M. This work is scheduled to complete within 12 months when the public will be allowed access and should serve to further increase the popularity of this important visitor attraction.

View of Ochills and Wallace Monument from Stirling Castle

Around 5.30 pm we found our lodgings for the night at the Golden Lion in Stirling, a hotel which is very centrally situated.

This evening I am presenting an image of a successful day at Kinnaird, near Dunkeld, Perthshire.

The Tay holds records as:

• The longest river in Scotland ( 120 miles)
• Having the largest catchment area in Scotland of 2400 sq miles

It is famous for trout and salmon

Contact Catswhiskerstours for information on salmon fishing at Kinnaird, Perthshire