[October 16-20, 2025; Loch Tay, Scotland Trip]

October 17, 2025 Dallas and I arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland in the early morning, having taking an overnight flight out of Newark. We took the Tram to Katie and Hannah’s apartment on Albert Street, in the eastern part of the city. The sky is overcast today and the temperature is in the low sixties, Fahrenheit. Edinburgh and New York seem amount even in terms of the progression of the seasons. Scotland/s fall colors are near their peak. They are dominated by yellows from its Beech and Larch Trees. We catch a few hours of sleep and then have lunch, eating bagels, cream cheese and lox. Dallas bought the bagels in New York, yesterday. I bought the cheese in New Jersey. And Katie bought the lox here in Edinburgh.

In the mid-afternoon, we drove to Fearnan, a hamlet on north shore Loch Tay. Katie and Dallas drove in Hannah and Katie’s Renault Kangoo and Hannah and I and Estel-the-dog drove in a rental car, for we judged the Renault too old to handle all the weight. We went by somewhat different routes, with Katie making a stop for Dallas to swim in one of the lochs (lakes). Much of Hannah and my two-hour drive was on highways, but the fifteen-mile stretch between the towns of Aberfeldy and Kenmore was on the one-lane-total road B846, for the main road A827, which is one-lane-in-each-direction was closed for repairs. We spotted a couple of Pheasants in fields by the roadside. Lock Tay is a long and narrow body of water, about fifteen miles long and a half mile wide.

We checked into our rental condo "Sealladh Cnoc", one of a row off conjoined cabins on a hill above the Lock, just off of Route A827 in Fearnan. It has two floors, the lower with three bedrooms and two 2 baths and the upper a large, open combination living-dining-kitchen room, a bath and an exterior deck. The living room and deck have nice views of Loch Tay. We cooked dinner and spent the night at Sealladh Cnoc.

October 18, 2025. We wake to an overcast sky. We drive to the town of Killin, at the western end of Loch Tay and take a long (eight mile) hike up onto the hill adjacent to the south shore of the loch. We begin by walking over to the Bridge End Mill, and old mill with a big (and operational) water wheel. Katie and Dallas tour the mill, while Hannah and I stay outside with Estel, admiring the scenery. We then view the Falls of Dochart (really more of a cascade) on the River Lochay, standing atop the Route A827 highway Bridge. The water cascades over shallowly-dipping phyllite ledges, dividing around a mid-river island. The river bed is full of potholes, some two feet across. The Clan Macnab Burial Grounds, with its old stone archway, is adjacent to the bridge. Dallas remarks that she and Hannah are descended from Clan Macnab. We then head up Rob Roy Way, a hiking route that follows paved one-lane roads up onto the hillside. At lower elevations, the vegetation is dense, damp and green, with a few flowers, such as Thistle, Cow Parsley and White Clover still surviving. We pass a few Heather plants, but these are mostly gone to seed. The road is bordered by old and deteriorated rock walls. We then enter a working forest, mostly consisting of evergreens but including a few Larches in their amber yellow fall colors. After leaving the forest, we enter high pastureland inhabited by many white sheep and a few black ones. We have goods views of surrounding hills. Looking southward, across the loch to a high valley, we can see the big concrete dam of Lochan na Lairige (actually a reservoir). Even though she is fifteen, Estel is pretty peppy on the hike and is tugging at her lead. Dallas, who is feeling a little tired takes the reigns and gets a boost. Finally, we reach our destination, the Breaclaich Dam on Lochan Breaclaich (also a reservoir). It is earth-filled with concrete facing on the reservoir side; Katie says that it was built in 1961. I poke around the shoreline, inspecting outcrops of phyllite. We then head back the way we came. 5:50.

We eat a late lunch at the River Inn in Killin. I have lamb kabob and Tennant’s Lager. We spend the night at Sealladh Cnoc.

October 19, 2-25. The sky is overcast with occasional drizzle. We drive to view the hamlet of Fortingall and view the famous Fortingall Yew. It is thought to be about five thousand years old and is said to be the oldest tree in Great Britain. It is in a church-yard, protected by a sturdy fence made of stone and wrought iron. It is not especially tall – thirty feet, or so. Though it is very gnarled and deformed, its leaves are green and healthy-looking. 0:20.

We then drive to the hamlet of Acharn, on the southern shore of Loch Tay and hike to the Falls of Acharn, taking a steep gravel road that ascends straight up the hill, following the western bank of a substantial stream in a heavily vegetated gorge that passes through otherwise open pastureland. The fall colors are particularly beautiful around the gorge. We walk through the “Hermitage” or “Hermit’s Cave”, which is more of a stonework tunnel than a cave. Katie explains that it is a “folly”; that is, a faux ruin constructed purely for decoration. One passageway leads to a viewpoint with a terrific view of tall and fairly narrow waterfall on the side of a deep bowl. The other passageway returns to the gravel road. A little further on, a wooden walkway and bridge allows us to descend to the base-level of another waterfall. It is not as high as the first, but the force of the water is very impressive as it gushes through a narrow and twisted slot in the rock. We are now on the eastern side of the gorge. We have to crawl under a fallen tree to continue. A little while later we come to a second bridge and cross back to the western bank. Katie mentions that a set of Standing Stones are further up the hill. However, Estel has been pretty slow today, so we decide to head back lest we overstress her. We spot a grouse (or maybe a pheasant) in a field on the way back. 1:20.

We then visited the Scottish Crannog Center in the town of Kenmore at the western end of Lock Tay. A Crannog is round house built on stilts over the loch; Scotland is said to have had about five hundred of them during its Iron Age, but most are now only ruins. After a coffee break at the Center’s cafe, we take a guided tour of the Center’s little museum, which has artifacts in glass cases. One of the most interesting is a scrap of fabric, a few inches square, that exhibits very sophisticated weaving. Afterward, we toured the outside exhibits, including five thatched huts that are “working reproductions” of Iron Age habitations. They were staffed by artisans in costume who demonstrate Iron Age crafts. Katie did a bit of woodworking with tools of the period and succeeded in scraping the bark off of a branch. I tried to mill barley on a curved stone, but did not succeed in making much flour. The Center’s reproduction crannog is being rebuilt after having been destroyed by fire. Some hundreds of tree trunks have been driven into the muddy floor of the loch by hand to make the platform, but construction of the hut itself has not yet started.

We had lunch at the Waterfront Inn in Kenmore. I had beef stroganoff and Tennant’s Lager.

We hiked along the River Tay (the outflow stream of Loch Tay), starting at the highway bridge in Kenmore and then taking a pedestrian path that follows its north bank. Although only one lane wide, the bridge is a very substantial stone affair, with the roadway decking a series of four arches. The path is lined with large and beautiful Beech Trees which, sadly, are falling to pieces from age. Some are being consumed by mushrooms of many varieties. We came to Maxwell’s Temple, a thirty-foot tall folly said to have built in the late Nineteenth Century in honor of Mary, Countess of Breadalbane. Katie ascended it though a narrow interior staircase while the rest of us looked on. We made a brief detour to view two horses grazing in a field. They were white and dark brown in color and had very long hair, especially on the necks and hooves. We followed the pedestrian path until we reached a spur trail that led across a country road to a second folly called Rock Lodge - a small castle-like building reminiscent of the Women’s Federation Monument in Palisades Interstate Park (New Jersey). We then headed back the way we came. We noticed a beaver-gnawed tree near the river. 1:00.

We (sans Estel) visited the Taymouth Marina Spa Resort & Restaurant. Their sauna is in a boat on Loch Tay. The boat’s interior has been lined with wood planking. A wood stove with wet, hot stones provides the steam. After ten minutes of warming, we exited the boat and jumped into the 50F water of the loch. I did this three time, and on the third even managed to swim a small circle of ten back-strokes. Dallas, who is an excellent and enthusiastic swimmer, paddled quite a bit longer, managing seventy strokes or so.

October 20, 2025. Katie, Estel and I leave Sealladh Cnoc at 5AM, for I have a 9:30AM flight back to the US out of Edinburgh Airport. Dallas and Hannah will leave later, for Dallas is continuing on to Sweden. The air is full of light fog. We spot a badger and an owl. Although the driving is tough, Katie drops me off at the airport without incident, and early enough for me to buy a breakfast sandwich and coffee in the terminal. I arrive back in Tappan at about 4PM (New York time).