Menorgysmy; Forest Bathing

Having left Edinburgh the morning after the choral recitation, my time was cut out for me. I had arranged to meet Arti in Dornoch by June 20th. This left me with four nights to find park-ups and travel the nearly 200 miles. Yes, I could have done it all in one day - but that's not how I roll. (This gets challenged, but more on that soon.) I've mentioned before, but reiterate, the maximum driving time that suits me on any given trip is 90 minutes or between 25 and 40 miles. This is to avoid fatigue and enjoy the places around the parking spot.

Admittedly, the first place on the way north could have been more picturesque. Cowdenbeath is one of the many Scottish towns that once thrived on mining but have struggled since. It does not have a particularly fine reputation. However, I opted for this because I needed another charge on Grey's battery, not having taken on power since leaving Stepps (Glasgow); the cost in Edinburgh was 53p/Kw compared to Fife's 15p per unit after a connection charge of £1.75 so it made sense just to drive to the next county and charge there. That said, the charger at the leisure centre gave me a complete top-up for gratis, zilch, and nada. It cost me nothing! Only a few days later did I realise there had been no invoice for the session. The centre was closed for upgrading and this was the only reason that could be determined for why the tower had not registered my session. Moreover, the car park there proved to be just fine for sleeping overnight. In the morning, it was a short drive to the supermarket to top up the groceries. I would certainly use this as a stopover again.

From there, I drove up to Dunkeld to visit The Hermitage. I wanted to start making proper use of my new shiny membership of the National Trust for Scotland. 

What a magical mystery tour I had among the trees and their roots. Had I read the board before setting off, I may not have made much of a walk, but I didn't, and as a result, I ended up with a nearly four-mile outing! The Rolls-later dealt with the very rough, uneven, occasionally boggy path very well, and I did take a couple of breaks, using the seat with gratitude. 

Leaving the car park, one first goes under the railway bridge.

The river Braan moves briskly along the banken from the path, and at first, the walking pulls one in, being relatively flat and uncluttered. 

If you visited the blog on Monday, you will have seen a few images from this beautiful forested area. The whole place is a nature folly created in the 18th Century by John Murray, Duke of Atholl. It was mostly inspired by and created in honour of a hermit bard named "Ossian".

There are plantings of many Douglas Firs, Scots Pine, Oaks, Aspens, Ash, Birch, Beech... just to name a few... creating a mighty canopy which successfully cuts down the light and temperature. 

About half a mile on, one particular stand on a bend in the watercourse forms what is referred to as The Cathedral. You saw one angle on that in Monday's post. The photo here today is from the 'altar' end. There was confetti on the ground from a recent wedding. This is a regular event, apparently. There is certainly no lack of dramatic romance in the setting!

As I contemplated the extremely dodgy steps leading up from the 'vestry' to the path that would take me to Ossian's Hall, I recognised them as one challenge too far. I would have to retrace a quarter mile and then rewalk that quarter to the point at the top of the steps, thus creating my first mile before even reaching that more traditional folly construction. Whilst making this calculation, I looked down and found that I had the company of a Bank Vole - right between my feet!!! I couldn't get my camera out and working in time, so I enjoyed this mini encounter and the value to my heart for sharing this moment.

Ossian's Hall and Ossian's Cave were built circa 1760. The hall has a balcony right above Black Linn Falls.

The 'cave' required a further mile and a half of walking over a rougher path. It passed some fabulous grottoes and fascinating little side paths. Finally...

It actually would make a grand meditation space! 

There was more walking to be done beyond this, but I had to accept that the return walk would be quite enough. As it turned out, I took a wrong turn, as well, and instead of a closer to three-mile return, the dog-leg track ensured that it was closer to four. I'd wandered onto the working logging track and had to jump into the ditch at one point to avoid being flattened by a flying truck! I wouldn't have minded settling in for the night, but the small car park here does not permit overnighting. I also required my next battery charge, so it was on to Newtonmore. The charge took until eight, and I had to make my tea right there in the car park. After this, we drove up the back track up the hill.

A perfect sleep there before getting back on the road. Stopped at Inverness for an energy top-up (security only, not really needed), then over the Kessock Bridge and up to Munlochy, on the Black Isle. The park here did me for two nights, as I needed a day of stillness. Used it for blogging and housework. Then came Thursday morning...

...TBC...