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Having driven to from Swindon to Lancaster, where I stayed over night, on Friday evening I had most of the Saturday to arrive in Scotland and make my way to Carrbridge. I also had enough time to stop somewhere on the way, my choice was for Dunkeld, just north of Perth. After leaving the A9 I drove through Birnam and crossed Thomas Telford's seven-arched bridge of 1809 into Dunkeld. Here a found a nice car park near the River Tay, where I had a late lunch while reading the newspaper. Then it was time to look around a bit.
Picture of a bridge with multiple arches over a river Picture of two statues of musicians in a garden
Picture of a view over a river, an arch bridge in the distance Walking along the River Tay towards the cathedral I had some nice views over the river (incl some people fishing) and the bridge. I also noticed an interesting display of two 'musicians' created from metal in a garden. One was wearing traditional Scottish dress and playing the bagpipes, the other one was playing accordion.

As there was a wedding just about to proceed I couldn't visit the choir which now serves as parish church, but I could still look at the outside of the partly ruined Dunkeld Cathedral. The fifteenth century nave remains roofless, only the tower is still maintained and has a roof (the bell ringers were busy while I was looking at the nave).

After looking at the cathedral I decided to continue along the river a little bit further, following the signs for a walk.
Picture of a cathedral Picture of arches in the ruined nave of a cathedral
Picture of a river flowing through a wooded landscape Picture of a path along a river dropping down to some kind of shelter
Picture of a well, partly overgrownThe walk took me through old woodlands for a short time, then emerging at the River Tay again. Walking along the river was very pleasant with the sun coming out occasionally. At times the path was higher above the river, at other times it dropped down quite close to the banks.

I passed a hotel (with another wedding party going on, Dunkeld seems to be popular for weddings) and the structure in the picture above right. Not entirely sure what its purpose is, may be just some folly or shelter.

After a while I turned away from the river again to hopefully get a nice view from King's Seat, unfortunately that wasn't to be. The trees in front of it and other plants had overgrown the view, so there wasn't much to see. I also stopped at St Colme's Well, also quite overgrown.

Late in the afternoon I returned to Dunkeld and my car, time to drive on to Carrbridge, my final destination for the day. Early in the evening I arrived at the Carrbridge Hotel, after dinner I soon went to bed. I was hoping for some nice hillwalking the next day...

Scotland Summer 2006 -> Next: Ben Macdui

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