First night of our two night stay in Pitlochry.

A relaxing good morning to you all. After a lovely sleep, we awoke to the sounds of bird’s chirping away and the odd cockerel!!!

Breakfast in our room this morning!! Scheduled to arrive between 8am-8.30am, a knock on the door at precisely 8am quickly got us out of bed. The waiter entered with a large tray, there was a coffee pot, cups and saucers, slices of toast and condiments, “I’ll be back with some more items” and off he went. Five minutes later and another knock on our door, this time there’s two of them, each carrying three plates. As they left, we eyed up our breakfast….porridge for me, poached egg, haggis and hash brown for Nisha. In addition, we both had mixed fruits (sliced grapefruit and oranges, prunes and a fig, all freshly made), and a bowl of yoghurt. Honey was mixed into our porridge and we both tucked in. This has been the best breakfast so far, a comfortable 10 / 10!!!

A few minutes to digest our breakfast and time to shower and get ready for our day ahead…

And what a days it been!!! At the precise stroke of 10.39am, we exited the hotel to my car, I needed my walking boots…I put them on but then realised I still had my jeans on and forgot to put my walking trousers on…back into the hotel o went, up the stairs to our room and after a quick change I was back in reception. This time we were ready…on we walked towards the hotel gates and turned a sharp left towards Pitlochry Golf Course!! Yes yes, I’ve already seen several top notch courses and yes I’ve wanted to play golf at each of them!!! God damn shoulder!!! We read the signs for the walk we intended to go on - to the top of Craigower Hill, approximately 1.5 hours to the summit. Our hike would take us through the middle of the golf course!! I was in heaven, even started chatting to the local golfers!!! Scots are such lovely warming people…shame their golf play isn’t as warming 🤣🤣🤣. We walked along the 4th hole and as we reached the end of the path, the view back was beautiful…

The path then weaved its way though an alpine forest. We came across another sign, this one read - The summit is 0.5 miles ahead with an ascend of 150 metres. In other words it’s going to be very very steep and you’re going to be knackered while struggling, I mean walking up!!! As ever, the budding Nisha (David Attenborough) kept pointing out the new buds on trees and the lichen on the trees, I think it was a tactic just so rest for a few minutes 😜😜

The summit was close, I was sure of it, it had to be, we must have walked 0.5 miles by now!!! They didn’t warn us about the last 30 metres of steep steps among the fern and pine cones….a side step here and a side step there, it was more like doing a bad imitation of a ballroom dance!!! We reached the summit and followed a well trodden path on the grass,

Another sign, this one telling us to beware of reptiles - lizards and snakes. Yep, that’s exactly what the sign said. Undeterred, we continued to a viewing platform to see a spectacular scene.

In the photograph above, the water is Loch Tummel with Loch Rannoch in the top right corner of Loch Tummel. In the far distance (approximately 75km away), we also saw the feint shape of Ben Lomond which sadly isn’t shown in the photograph.

After absorbing this scene, we walked along another trek to see this view…

Now the descent…we found the guide markers and off we set…the path in the centre of bracken!!! No lizards or snakes were seen, it was too cold and wet, yep, a light drizzle had started but I swear I was becoming a Scot, I was in my polo shirt and feeling fine which Nisha was all wrapped up in her jacket and hat.

We eventually hit a gravel road which we followed . There were tall alpine trees to the left and right of us and so many different kinds of birds, I even had one model for me…

As I said thank you, it flew away, such a kind bird. For the rest of the descent, only a quick glimpse of a deer was had, no other wildlife. The rain was coming down harder and so my jacket had to come on!! We eventually made it back to the golf course and this time we took a detour when we arrived at the 4th tee. We took a left and followed signs for Pitlochry, only 1.5 miles away!!! This time the path was a road with sheep and baby lambs on each side, lovely animals. Nisha called them cute but I swear I saw her licking her lips….haggis!!!! 🤣😜🤣😜. I think that was why we missed a turning and ended up walking an extra 15 minutes. We passed a hotel with a hydro spa (we visited it the last time we were here, and if this is a hydro then Kris, stick a paddling pool in the Ritz garden with a hot tub and you’re sorted!!!).

Hitting the Pitlochry High Street, food was needed!!! After a quick Google search, Victoria’s was recommended. A 4 minute walk…just down the street. We arrived, the attentive waiter showed us to a table and handed us menus. I chose salmon filet with pearl barley with a side of goats cheese, beetroot and greens. Nisha had penne pasta with a side of vegetables.

Drinks were oat milk decaf latte’s. During the meal, the rain came and went, sunshine came and went…at least no snow or strong winds!!!

Now, back to the hotel we headed…all uphill and still raining, we eventually got to the hotel gates, totally soaked!!!

A brief pit stop to freshen up and leave our backpack, we headed out again but this time we went in our car to Iain Burnett, The Highland Chocolatier. We parked up and entered, Chocolates everywhere!!! Through the store we went until the cafe, they call it the Chocolate Lounge appeared. The maitre’d showed us to a table and gave us a menu. Who knew chocolate could be added and used in so many things!!

Nisha opted for a classic hot chocolate, comprising of dark chocolate and milk, with a side of 4 dark velvet truffles. I ordered a vegan hot chocolate, comprising of dark velvet chocolate and oat milk, with a side of rocky road - pistachios, berries and dried fruit rolled with white chocolate. Everything was amazing…the result was more than a sugar rush!!!

We had to work off the calories so a quick walk along River Tay had to be done. We know about River Tay, that’s we’re, five years previous, we had our first experience of white water rafting!!! The river seemed quick calm today.

Quick walk finished, we headed for the car and on the way back to the hotel, we took a detour to Killiecrankie, another place we had visited five years ago!!!

We walked along the river path, this was River Garry, a very calm river. After a 20 minute walk we arrived at the junction where River Tummel meets River Garry.

That was the end of our walk so we headed back to the car, another 2 mile walk added to our daily total!! Total so far for today is 10 miles!!!

Now back at the hotel and in the bar, both with a dram, Nisha has a local malt called Ballechin by Edradour (she wants a bottle to take home) while I’m having a Caol Ila, maybe two 😜😜😜

That’s the end of today!!! Tomorrow is the actual start of our North Coast 500 trip!!!

In the morning…On to Cromarty!!!

Finally got a pic from Nae Limits…