{"id":10217,"date":"1998-06-13T20:25:36","date_gmt":"1998-06-13T17:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/?p=10217"},"modified":"2016-09-07T17:10:02","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T14:10:02","slug":"edinburgh-to-pitlochry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/edinburgh-to-pitlochry\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh to Pitlochry"},"content":{"rendered":"

7:37 AM<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a most comfortable night. What I like about this B and B is that a whole family lives here (the owners, of course). I\u2019m getting a taste of what life is like for a family in Edinburgh. I\u2019m glad that Yvonne picked me up yesterday. The B and B is situated in this tiny courtyard called Coiney House Close, just off New Skinner Close. To get into the building, you have to open this great big barn-like door, go up 3 flights of stairs until you reach another<\/em> number 3 (the address is 3\/3). The courtyard is so<\/em> European, all cobblestone and stone buildings, very beautiful. I must say that finding this place was more than luck, it\u2019s the sort of thing you read about in travel journals but never have happen to you. Breakfast, though, was not great, it was adequate: oatmealy cereal with raisins (I ate it with milk) and (white, yuck) toast with pineapple jam (yum!).<\/p>\n

Of course, I never expected much sun in Scotland, so I didn\u2019t bring much in the way of sunscreen. You should see my nose! I also have a nasty scrape on my wrist from scraping it against the rough wall as I clambered up the stairs after Yvonne with my huge pack (I would soon become known by everyone on Haggis as \u2018the Canadian with the *really* small pack! I must say my packing job was *excellent*. I had nothing I didn\u2019t need, and I\u2019d only forgotten two minor things I could live without!). I have to make sure it doesn\u2019t get infected. I never thought I\u2019d be using the 1st<\/sup> aid kit so soon in my trip! Well, I\u2019d better be going. Haggis is expecting me in 15 min. Both Michael and the guy from Laval are with Haggis also, except they\u2019re doing 6 and 3-day tours.<\/p>\n

Later (from Perth or Pitlochry?)<\/p>\n

9:24 AM<\/p>\n

I\u2019m crossing the Firth of Forth.<\/p>\n

10: 32 AM<\/p>\n

We\u2019re driving through the very<\/em> pitiful remains of Birnam woods.<\/p>\n

\"map3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3:24 pm<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m in Pitlochry. It\u2019s very<\/em> beautiful. I\u2019ll most likely take a day trip or 2 from Edinburgh into Fife. I saw Perth and that was enough. I\u2019ll be staying here for two nights. Tomorrow, I plan on hiking. Scotland\u2019s smallest distillery is here, and I\u2019ll be visiting it tomorrow (supposedly we get a free dram at the end of the tour).<\/p>\n

Figures. I leave a big city for a town with a pop. of 2,000 and I find my 1st<\/sup> (and only, so far) stop sign and a \u2018real\u2019 supermarket. I\u2019ve got my next three meals covered (that\u2019s 4 in all) if I don\u2019t mind eating bread, cheese, peanut butter, apples, and water\u00a0for a while. I\u2019ve bought Galloway cheddar. It\u2019s delicious<\/em>. On the way here, we stopped to hike a bit. I saw \u2018Braes Folly\u2019 (actually I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s the real name, but \u2018Braes\u2019 and \u2018Folly\u2019 are 2 of the names associated w\/ the area. Lodging here is \u00a315… for 2<\/em> nights, breakfast not included. Even with the breakfast you can buy (\u00a32), it\u2019s still<\/em> cheaper than Glasgow or Edinburgh, and the sheets are provided.<\/p>\n

8:25 pm<\/p>\n

I attempted to do the \u2018Moulin\u2019 walk today, but somehow got off the trail! (during the summer, the sun sets incredibly late. You can go out for a long<\/em> walk\/hike after dinner, and be back before twilight!) I still got some great mileage in cow country and soon discovered to my relief that I wasn\u2019t lost but merely misplaced since I finally<\/em> ended up just where I should!\u00a0The countryside is so very much like the Cantons de l\u2019est, that must be why so many Scots settled there. On my walk, I crossed some very<\/em> noisy sheep and some stupid, staring cows. I also scared a… pheasant! Or something that looks a hell<\/em> of a lot like a pheasant. I also saw a hare.\u00a0I really got a taste of the \u2018freedom of passage\u2019 thingamabob. I was walking straight through fields of grazing cows for Pete\u2019s sake! I even had to open and close a few barriers and climb over another.\u00a0I ended up in some \u2018old\u2019 couple\u2019s yard. I was embarrassed but the lady only glanced up long enough to say \u2018hello\u2019.<\/p>\n

I called (my mother) tonight through \u2018Canada Direct\u2019. It was ridiculously easy. She\u2019s happy to have a more detailed itinerary. I\u2019m thinking of Aviemore for 2 nights, then Inverness and my long sought Ben and Loch Loyal up way<\/em> north! I\u2019m doing fine financially and time-wise (the former, yes\u00a0; the latter no, as I would soon discover to my \u2018horror\u2019!), so why not see if there\u2019s anything to be seen! Of course, once I enter the Highlands I\u2019ll enquire about whether it\u2019s actually worth going up there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7:37 AM I\u2019ve had a most comfortable night. What I like about this B and B is that a whole family lives here (the owners, of course). I\u2019m getting a taste of what life is like for a family in Edinburgh. I\u2019m glad that Yvonne picked me up yesterday. The B and B is situated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[646,636,652,18,3,56],"tags":[853,654],"class_list":["post-10217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edinburgh","category-europe","category-pitlochry","category-scotland","category-travel","category-uk","tag-accommodation","tag-hiking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}