Perthshire - Loch Tay and Around

For the fortnight from May 13th, we were based at holiday cottage in Fearnan, above the NE shore of Loch Tay. Five years earlier, we'd holidayed  further down the River Tay at Pitnacree. Loch Tay is seventeen miles long running west-east. The head of the loch is at Killin, where it is fed by the rivers Lochay and Dochart, the latter being one the names by which the upper Tay is known. The River Tay is called the Tay when it leaves the loch at Kenmore. When heading to Aberfeldy the A9 and Pitlochry, we traveled along the road running close to the River Tay. I also walked along the stretch from Kenmore to Aberfeldy during the middle of the first week. I sketched by the loch at Kenmore and at the head and along the River Lyon which joins the Tay below Comrie Bridge. We walked in Weem woods bordering the Tay valley above Castle Menzies and Aberfeldy, and in the Birks of Aberfeldy, a wooded wood walk climbing up the valley of the Moness Burn. The very same burn which once powered the water mill, as in the Watermill cafe / bookshop / art gallery. 

Rock carving, Weem Wood

The Weem Woods walk went up to St. David's Well, a (trickling) spring. Views through the trees towards Aberfeldy and Wade's bridge across the Tay. Some rock carvings. The dragon near the end of the trail was still prominent, though the others were being weathered away and subsumed into the surrounding lush woodland.

Not far from Weem to the west is Dull. Shortly after our 2012 trip, they twinned with Boring, Oregon, USA. It now says so on the road sign on the B'road, though we didn't stop to take pictures as the road was too busy.

Amid the car flappery of Aberfeldy main street, we chanced upon Haggarts. Here an usual combination of printmaking and tweed. We didn't buy much (just a card) though we spent quite a bit of time in there looking round. As a printmaker, having done a fair bit of letterpress at Red Hot Press now, I saw that they had several presses, some relief in from Lawrence; several drawers of wooden and lead type. Ahead of the Etape, the theme of most of their recent print run was cycling, combining letterpress with woodcut.

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Kenmore to Aberfeldy, 17th May 

With bicycle in the car, my Cycling Man dropped me off at Kenmore about half-nine and continued on north to start his final training ride for the Etape on Sunday. I had a much more leisurely day, walking to Aberfeldy from Kenmore. I crossed the bridge where the Tay leaves the loch and followed the road round past the Kenmore Hotel and grand Taymouth Castle gates to the car park near the loch shore and boating centre.  Took a picture noting what I thought was a low water level the low water level. In the hot weather at the end of the second week, this was the beach, with people sunbathing, / bathing in the loch. Taking the track past the boating centre, I found a quiet stretch of shore and did a couple of sketches: looking along the loch westwards. Near mirror-perfect reflections, a fleeting bright arrow of light green, as the sun hit a narrow strip of the nearer hillside. Managed to capture the scene, in very loose watercolour, before reflections disturbed by canoeists, then the breeze getting up. Building work, no doubt: sketching soundtrack banging and clunking coming from somewhere beneath the trees on the nearer northern hillside. Second sketch: trees and tree roots amid low water levels. Worked the trees loosely with ink, and a dropper. Tree roots stranded by the fallen water level (sketch at very top).

Crossing back over the bridge, I turned right onto the footpath along the river, following it past a chalet park and up into a pleasantly shady beech wood above the river, golf course to left. Some sort of monument raised above the path on steps. River divided into two channels around an islet, channel steeper here, flow faster.

 At the eastern end of the wood, corner of a wall. Path took a ninety degree turn to the left, continuing above the valley. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss any signs here, but this brought out to the Comrie Bridge road. I thought in 2012, I'd followed the river to the Lyon confluence, then over the Comrie bridge. I'm pretty certain, I didn't have to walk along the road as I did now. Near where the path met the road and maybe might have gone back down to the river, an off-putting holiday park with chalets was under construction. Though it didn't say PRIVATE KEEP OUT, they weren't exactly encouraging people down there either, the site being worked on right now. Certainly much more development creep up here now - Thanks Be to Midges, perhaps? The road to Comrie bridge wasn't as busy as the B'road it comes out on just across it. Even so, enough traffic to make it annoying, including a lorry and vans.

 

Sketching by the Lyon

After crossing Comrie Bridge, it was a relief to get onto the path along the Lyon.  Pleasant with wildflowers growing on the banks. Bluebells still good. Quick sketch on a convenient bench, looking down the Lyon to the junction. From then on, to the confluence, and all along the Tay into Aberfeldy, uninterrupted riverside path. Rounded the confluence and continued along the Tay. Mountains clear behind, including Ben Lawers. A few anglers.  This stretch somewhat rushed as I was running late (through sketching for one thing) and my Cycling Man was running early.

This stretch of the Tay still flowing relatively subduedly (see notes from Perth, 15th May). Very shallow in places. Pebble banks high and dry in others. The rain (mainly on Monday) has brought levels up here, up a bit, though only a bit. Last night (16th May), according to SEPA: the Tay at Kenmore up from 0.42m Sunday to 0.46m; the Dochart at Killin up from 0.21m to 0.471m; the Lyon at Comrie Bridge 0.43m earlier on Tuesday, though falling by the evening. No change on the Tummel at Pitlochry. Even with the rain, the ground for much of the way still very dry. Very noticeably so along the ploughed / cultivated fields adjoining the Tay downstream of the Lyon, the bare soil bone dry.

From the road east of Aberfeldy, glimpses of the Grandtully ("Grantly") where there is a short stretch of river with white water rapids, the river narrowing and the bed gradient increasing as it passes over an outcrop of harder rock. Strids in formed in the rock carved out by the water. It is a prime spot for canoeists, including Olympic athletes, and white water rafters. Activity centres in the area. Though the water flow increased after the rainfall during our second weekend, it looked relatively tame. Certainly compared to the BBC DVD footage (broadcast 2009 or 2010) of Griff Rhys Jones (Rivers) tackling them, albeit during much wetter autumn weather, and probably compared to when I looked five years ago. It looked OK now for relative beginners, but I wondered if more experienced people with higher expectations might have been disappointed. If they were, they have my sympathies as someone into rivers, albeit in a more sedentary, bankside way as an artist.

Met up with My Cycling Man, in the cafe at The Watermill, now ready for their particularly good loose leaf tea, having been walking in the sunshine all afternoon.

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