Autumn Festivals in Dunkeld (1)

Decorated Wheelbarrow Procession

The Decorated Wheelbarrow Procession is part of Dougie Maclean's Perthshire Amber Festival. Wheelbarrows representing local business, community groups, families and individuals, were pushed from the car park opposite the Taybank music pub, up the Boat Road, right into Bridge Street and then left into The Cross (High Street). The parade was led by the wonderful Edradour Pitlochry & Blair Atholl Pipe band.

This year's event was compered by Fiona Richie of The Thistle and Shamrock fame, and participants were interviewed before demonstrating the maneuverability of their decorated wheelbarrows by driving them through a figure-of-eight course.

Here's our take on the first part of the event. Enjoy!

Christmas Day in Birnam and Dunkeld

Genie and I had a quiet Christmas at home in Birnam. Very quiet. It's probably the only day of the year that the pubs are shut, and either folk are away visiting family and friends or they are celebrating at home. The streets are deserted.

Unusually for the time of year there was no snow to be seen here. The heavy rains of the previous days had melted it all. We decided to walk to the Hilton Hotel (Dunkeld House) in the afternoon for a couple of drinks, and I took the new Sony HDR-CX730 video camera – my Christmas present from Genie and myself. In this short film you can see the River Tay from Telford Bridge, The Cross in Dunkeld High Street, Dunkeld Cathedral, and the river walk from the cathedral to Dunkeld House.

The River Braan and Rumbling Bridge

We often visit Rumbling Bridge, sometimes on the way back from a trip to Aberfeldy or Crieff with our little Nissan Micra packed with visitors; other times on one of the many walks that can be taken from Birnam. You can get there from The Hermitage following the River Braan upstream, or from Birnam via Birnam Glen and the Inchewan walk.

Like most places of natural beauty, the Braan looks different every time we visit. The waterfalls change their appearance not only according to season but also according to time of day and recent weather. They are at their most dramatic after a heavy rain.

Just upstream of Rumbling Bridge there are pools of still water which are popular with bathers. I tried to fish there once but didn't catch anything. Later I was told that it was a rubbish place to fish. "That's okay," I explained, "I'm a rubbish fisherman."

The name Rumbling Bridge needs no explanation if you just stand on the bridge and listen to the deep sounds of the river crashing down the falls. What impresses me more is to lay my hands on the stone wall of the bridge and feel it vibrate.

The Inchewan, Birnam Glen

Walks in Dunkeld

I'm lucky to be living in Birnam, Dunkeld. Within five minutes of leaving the house I can be far enough up Birnam Glen not to be able to hear the A9 traffic. This valley walk follows the winding course of the lovely Inchewan Burn and is the starting point for many other walks including the Birnam Hill ascent. You can also choose to walk a short loop through the forest or go further afield – Rumbling Bridge and The Hermitage on the River Braan can both be reached from here.

The Inchewan

My wife and I walked up Birnam Glen one evening in late August after hours of torrential rain. The Inchewan looked fit to burst its banks – brown water crashing down the glen, completely hiding even the larger rocks on the burn's bed. The light was fading fast, otherwise I'd have nipped home to grab a video camera, and I decided instead to come back the next day. In the morning the Inchewan was at its most beautiful – a vigourous stream of pure, clear water dancing over and around the rocks. I walked as far as the footbridge with my Canon XL1, recording all the way. Here are the edited highlights.



See also Inchewan Falls (the next post).

Glasgow to Rhodes

Booking

Genie and I booked our trip to Rhodes online. We'd been to Greece only once before – to Alykes on the island of Zakynthos (Zante) in October 2010, which we'd booked through Thomas Cook. That had been our first ever "package holiday" and was a great success, so we took the same route again and looked at last-minute deals on the Thomas Cook website.

After researching Rhodes online I reckoned we ought to be looking at accommodation about half-way down the east coast: Lindos or Pefkos. The whole of the east coast of Rhodes island is sandy beach broken up occasionally by rocks. My wife and I are in our 50s and the peace and quiet afforded by these more "out of the way" places appealed enormously. We booked for Pefkos, staying at Stella Hotel (self-catering). A good deal, as it turned out.

The Flight

Our flight was from Glasgow International airport on 6th June at 6.45 am. As we live in Dunkeld, Perthshire, we decided to travel by train to Glasgow the evening before and to stay at the Holiday Inn Express, which was inexpensive, comfortable and remarkably quiet – really handy for catching our flight the next morning. It's only a two-minute walk to the "check-in". Supper was bought at the airport's Tesco and eaten in our room watching rubbish TV, which reminded us why we chose to get rid of our telly 20 years ago.

Rhodes

Landed at Rhodes airport mid-afternoon and two hours ahead of UK time. Within 20 minutes we were on an air-conditioned coach to Pefkos, and an hour later, settling in to our apartment at the Stella Hotel.

Stretched our legs and checked out some of the local beaches and restaurants. The sunset was stunning from the beach.