We knew that the weather wasn’t going to be hot and sunny for our week off, typical, so how we ordered our days out was going to be governed by what the weather report said the evening before.
Today we are heading south east driving down the A82 and A85 until the turning for Killin on the A827. We have not been on this road before so it’s all new sights for us. At Killin are the Falls of Dochart which we wanted to see but it was very crowded and at the time not much water coming over the falls so they will be on our next bucket list.
First stop was the old Yew Tree at Fortingall. It is believed to be Europe’s if not the world’s oldest living thing. Scholars believe the tree could date back 5000 years. In 1769 it had a girth of over 56ft/17m. Sadly it attracted many souvenir hunters who removed sections of the tree so it now has a wall around it to protect it. We didn’t realise that further on was the village itself which has thatched cottages so coming back to here will be going on our list too.
Leaving Fortingall we saw a sign for Glen Lyon which we will explore another time. It is supposed to be one of Scotland’s most beautiful glens and is packed with history. It is infamous for having been the home of John Campbell of Glen Lyon who was responsible for the Glen Coe massacre.
Driving on we came to our next stop which was St Mary’s Church just outside Grandtully. My cousin Graham, whose landscape photos are on this website, had suggested this place to us. Tucked behind farm buildings is a low level building, a simple rectangular chapel which has a 400 year old painted wooden ceiling. It was built in 1533, though there was an earlier church here in the 1200s. During a refit in 1636 the painted ceiling was added. It was used as a place of worship until 1892 and then the building was divided with the Stewart family vault at one end and the other became a cattle byre. Thankfully the building has now been cleaned up and the ceiling is lighted for full affect.
A few days before our trip I was watching a programme with Tom Kerridge and he mention Iain Burnett The Highland Chocolatier who happen to have a place in Grandtully. In we went and indulged in a chocolate feast, some of which we had to bring away with us in a doggy bag. Managed to pick up a few Christmas presents too.
Instead of retracing our steps we headed on to the A9 and joined the A86 at Dalwhinnie to Spean Bridge and then back on to the A82 to home.
