Scotland Autumn Dispatch - Tuesday, 7th October 2014

Dear Everyone, I left you on Saturday heading off for a walk into Pitlochry with a couple of tasks to fulfil. I had bought Wes new bamboo socks for this trip, but we discovered they were dress socks, not walking in boots socks, and totally unsuitable, so we found ourselves visiting every shop on Atholl Road in the hope we could replace them. Eventually we did and he is much more comfortable walking around. We also visited the second-hand bookstore at the railway station, where we managed to find 4 books we couldn’t live without, had a cup of tea and slice of fruit cake at a very friendly little café, and finally walked along the river to the Festival Theatre to see Perfect Days.

I don’t know if I have explained that this season of plays is Scottish (not including The Scottish Play however), so we are occasionally challenged by very quick dialogue, but usually able to work out the gist of what is being said. This play is a brilliant slice of life with the main character a 39-year old career woman keen to have a baby before it is too late. It is funny, sad, insightful, provocative and ultimately uplifting. The author, Liz Lochhead, is a poet and novelist and currently holds the title of Makar or National Poet of Scotland.

After the play we wandered to the Old Mill for a very yummy dinner – steak pie for Wes and fish cakes for me with an Australian shiraz to wash them down. We had the best seat in the house right next to the watermill, and although this restaurant hadn’t been highly recommended by our host, we enjoyed it very much. Our B&B is a very short stroll into the heart of town, so we were home by a very reasonable hour and able to read before bed.

The next morning, after another lovely breakfast, we headed off for a walk along the dam and by the Fish Ladder, which I utterly love and completely don’t understand at all! Wes keeps explaining, but it’s a bit like locks, a mystery to me. We arrived at the Explorers’ Garden, which is owned by the Festival Theatre and celebrates the achievements of early Scottish explorers, doctors and botanists, who travelled the globe to bring back rare and exotic species of plant life. Our guide, Pat, was very knowledgeable about all things Scottish, but not so knowledgeable about why some of the imported plants and trees weren’t thriving – you have never seen such pathetic, spindly gums, thoughtfully planted under the shade of spreading trees and overwatered into the bargain.

After our tour, we invited another couple, Malcolm & Marian, from England, to join us in a cuppa at the Theatre café and enjoyed swapping stories with them. He nearly became a £10 Pom in the early 50s and was attracted to Melbourne, where there were jobs advertised as tram conductors. Now he feels too European to even consider travelling to Oz. They belong to a very active and educational U3A and, like us, had come to Pitlochry for the plays.

After we left them, we set off to walk along the river to Killiecrankie, site of a famous battle and much-recommended by one and all. We found the lack of signposts very frustrating, ended up in Faskally Wood, (where preparations were in order for the night’s Enchanted Forest performance), and finally found a sign which told us we were ¼ mile further from Killiecrankie than when we started! We walked the mile or so back in the other direction to Pitlochry in Scottish mist and vowed to try again the next day.

We came back to dry our wet clothes, have a cup of tea and rest before it was time to go back into town and find an early meal. We chanced upon another very good restaurant, where we enjoyed lightly fried calamari followed by a pork chop & crunchy vegetables for Wes and smoked haddock linguini for me. This time we had a Spanish tempranillo as our drink of choice.

Then off to the meeting point, queue to join the queue to join the next queue, until we were all safely on buses and taken to Faskally Wood for the Enchanted Forest. Buses arrived and departed at 5 minute intervals, which made sightseeing easy, and we did two rounds of the circuit before catching a bus back here around 8pm. Wes took some wonderful photos, but nothing does justice to the magic of the transformation of the woods and water.

Yesterday morning we awoke to find real Scottish weather had set in and our plans for a walk to Edradour Distillery had to be shelved. We had breakfast then came back to our room to catch up on computer work and read and wait for the rain to ease a little. By the afternoon it was dry enough for me to walk into town as I needed to visit the chemist, buy tickets for our train journey to Edinburgh next Saturday and buy a box of yummy Scottish shortbreads to accompany our frequent teas and coffees.

We went back to Strathgarry for dinner and discovered that without our lovely Swedish waitress, things were quite different. Three gay guys patrolled the floors, chatting to themselves more than to the guests and totalling ignoring service until insistent bells from the kitchen sprang them into action. As well as that, the potatoes had been salted at least twice and everyone was complaining. Our waiters insisted it was a matter of taste, but we pointed out that everyone was having the same taste issues, so hopefully that was sorted by the next round of meals. Boy, will they pay on Trip Advisor by the time Wes has finished with them!

On our walk to Killiecrankie

Our play last night was called Passing Places and comprised a journey from bottom to top of Scotland, channelling the lives of two young men as they coped with life’s slings & arrows – or at least that is how I saw it. We enjoyed it very much, lots of great lines and as we have driven to, or plan to drive to most of the places mentioned, we weren’t lost by the allusions.

This morning, after a good sleep, I’ve had a lovely long phone call with Leanne, who is doing very well. After breakfast we hope to do the walk to Edradour Distillery – although it is very Scottish outside, the rain has stopped and we have a completely free day, with no plays and nowhere we have to be at any time – bliss!