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The Good Weather Continues...
I slept very well and woke up at what is becoming a regular time of 8.00am. I packed and was ready to leave about 9.00am, but the call
for Breakfast was too strong, and so I stopped at a little Bistro across the way and had a Scottish breakfast for £6. I also stopped at the Post
Office to collect some stamps, and post some postcards. I guess I finally got under way at about a quarter to ten.
It was another beautiful day. When I set off it was cool and foggy, but the sun was already burning the fog off. Once the fog was gone the whole day was
sunny but with a nice cool freshness in the air.
"Route 1" which I followed out of Pitlochry meandered along down small country lanes, through forest and over rivers and streams. The whole feel of the day
was completely different from previous days. The forest were no longer all pine, but some were decidious as well.
I followed the route until it split, route 1 continuing onto Sterling, at which point started following signs for route 77. The path remained on small
lanes, until finally it joined the A9 north of Little Dunkeld. At this point I thought it was going to continue alongside the A9 as cyle path, but instead
it doubled back and went over the river Tay and under the A9. At this point it went off road for 2 to 3 miles, through a country park, tracking by the side
of the river (Tay). I was wearing my sunglasses at this point and coudn't actually see where I was going in the gloom of the forest I was in. I stopped to
put my sunglasses away and then continued on. It turned out to be worse seeing where I was going than it was when I couldn't, so I put my sunglasses back on.
This part was lovely with quite a few fly fisherman angling in the slow moving water.
The path finally popped out in Little Dunkeld, and it turned out I had been in the grounds of a Hilton Hotel, which specialised in all those outdoor sports
that boys like; fishing, shooting, archery, off road driving e.t.c. Good venue for a conference perhaps?
The path again returned to country roads, having crossed the A9. At Bankfoot I took a small country lane towards Moneydie. At this point I could
have stayed on route 77, which would have taken me through Perth, and then on down into Kinross which was where I was planning on staying.
In the end I decided to keep travelling south towards Yetts o' Muckharts which is where I had now decided to stay. (My original plan to stay at the M90 services had fallen through)
This seemed a better line, and kept me on small country lanes, away from the lorries. This worked well, taking me through villages such as Metheven, Findo Geek and Dunning.
At this point I should mention the terrain... Out of Pitlochry it had been fairly flat, with a few long hills, but nothing too steep. However after Bankfoot the ground started to rise in
big undulations. The descents were fun, but at the end of each one, a new hill would be waiting to take me higher than the hill before. This slowed my progress and I made the descision to stop after
45 miles, which should have been the village of " Yetts O' Muckhart ".
I rolled into the village of Dunning at about 16.15 having done 39 miles. This was the penultimate village, and when I saw it was 9 miles to go and was going to be the steepest climb of the day my resolve failed.
I figured it would take me another 90 minutes, which would have been six o'clock which was really too late, and especially since the 1st building I in Dunning I came too was the Dunning Hotel, which did food, beer and accomodation...
The pub was closed, but Scott the ownered appeared like the shop keeper in Mr Benn, and I was soon installed for the night.
After the usual doings, I descended into the pub for a beer. As usual I was only going to have one and early to bed, but somehow another five followed, and I finally ascended when the pub was shut...
It still looks good for my arrival into Carlisle on Friday night,
so from Saturday onwards it
should be possible for anyone who wants to, to meet me along the way for a
day or two… Just drop me an email and we’ll try and sort something out.
Speak to you tomorrow Phil
(The pictures are still waiting for the right technology – tried to upload
them again today but failed.)
You can email me here. Send me
your comments and tips.
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