The Cateran Trail: Day 5 ~ Alyth to Blairgowrie

As expected, Day 5 began with porridge. And it was good.
I asked Eileen, & she told me you should soak the oats overnight to make it taste creamier. 
I have done this since (when I remember), & it really does work. Cheers Eileen :-q

We said Bye to John & he set off on his 16 miler. 
We went 6 miles in the other direction in a taxi. 

Fornethy House was owned by Glasgow City Council who sent kids there for a holiday. Hazel remembers going with her sister, & wanted to have a look & a reminisce.
The taxi man dropped us off at the edge of the estate, & we walked down the drive amidst evidence of tree felling. The house is now empty, but I don't think it's that long ago it was used.

Fornethy House

We walked right round it, peering into windows etc. Then we had a wander in the grounds & there was a broken wooden playground with an old seesaw & a swing Hazel remembered playing on. 

Out to the north of Fornethy Wood was a lochan. I don't think it was natural, as it was straight along the east edge, but Hazel remembered going swimming in it. 
Good grief! They'd* have a fit if you let kids do that now! Those Glaswegian kids were obviously toughies!
* "They" being those in charge of not letting kids have fun!





During our wanderings I took some pics of the spring flowers. It comes late up here.

As we walked back to the main road along the drive, I managed to find the souvenir stick I'd been looking for, & stripped it of its bark & twigs while we walked to the B954 , & then south along it to Reekie Linn which is a fairly big waterfall just east of the road at Bridge of Craigisla. 

The bridge over the Isla at Bridge of Craigisla.
Stunt Day-sack & Stunt Stick give you an idea of scale ;-p

btw ~ Bridge of Craigisla is a hamlet & not just a bridge.
Left along the road goes back to Alyth & right takes you north to Dykends (great name) & the B951 to Kirkton of Glenisla ~ where we'd started the Trail the day before. 
After that the road heads back west past Forter, Dalnaglar & out to Lair ~ which is on the A93 due north of Bridge of Cally (which is also a village & not just a bridge).

Not sure if this is before or after the falls?
~ but the Isla's clearly in a hurry

The taxi man had told us to call him when we needed picking up, but we figured we should eat something here rather than in Alyth, & have another stop in Drimmie Woods later.

So we wandered along the river path & found a little plateau overlooking the falls.
Handily, there was also a fallen log which doubled as our seat.

After our muesli bars (again :-/ ), I had a wander a bit further along the path to see if I could find a good spot for some pics of the falls.
I got some pics of trees, too.
Well, I like trees as much as I like water, so I was loving it at Reekie Linn :-)
btw ~ Reekie is an old Scottish word for smoky or misty, & Linn is Gaelic for a deep or dark pool. So I suppose when the river is in spate, the mist over the pool beneath the falls would be misty with spray.
Dunno really: just my interpretation?

Shirley the tree-hugger.
Did I mention I liked trees?

The one above & this one's taken from our lunch plateau.
The Isla's cut a great gorge through the rock.

These next 2 were taken rather hanging out over the gorge. I think Hazel was having a quiet fit at my antics ;-p

Taxi-man was due, so I went for a quick paddle near the bridge, before we headed south along the road & our appointment with the Alyth taxi.

Another pic of the Isla gorge

He dropped us off at the other side of Alyth, near a place called the Den O'Alyth. This is a wooded area which drops down to a path along Alyth Burn. We met a horse being exercised there & said hello.

It was lovely there, in the woods & by the water :-D

The path climbed away from the burn & then we went left onto a little bridge (Bridge of Tully~ which is a bridge & not a hamlet!) before meandering uphill along a road to Drimmie Woods.
After >mile we ran out of road (well ~ the tarmac went sharp left, & we could see the path down to the woods straight ahead of us).
Initially, Drimmie Woods wasn't very woody, but as the track descended, there were more trees either side & we saw a deer in a little meadow. I took a pic, but you can't really see it :-(

The deer is hidden by the little branch running on the / diagonal,
 & just above & left of the 3 black things in the middle!

Ah well, I know, cause I was there (to paraphrase Max Boyce ;-p ).
Shortly after that it opened out again & we found this little lochan. I Gmapped it, but it doesn't seem to have a name :-(.  Shame it's cute.
Anyway, we sat down for lunch part 2, & I had another paddle :-).

After lunch we followed the track again which went south of the lochan for a bit, & then turned north west through conifers for nearly a mile. It was so quiet in there & it was lovely to see the sunbeams dropping through the trees & into little meadows. No more deer, though.
We also saw some wooden sculptures & statues in this bit of the wood. Some were a bit battered, & some were a bit spooky, but overall, Drimmie Woods were lovely.
I liked Drimmie Woods :-D

Sadly, we came out the other side to find ourselves on a road high above the Erith valley: John was out there somewhere!
Also sadly, we now had to walk the 2 miles back towards Rattray down tarmac, but the sun was shining & there was hardly any traffic. When we got to the A93 we crossed it & noticed a sign for a footbridge. This would take us back to the other side of the Erich, & on to the path John should be coming down. According to VisitScotland it's known as the old army bridge or the Keathbank bridge, locally
Once we'd crossed the footbridge we turned left to town & came to the way-marker post where we'd begun on Monday morning. Hazel had the idea to walk back along the river & meet John, so we did, & we hadn't got far than there he was striding out towards us.

As it was still pretty early, there was time to check in & do another quick Charity Shop shop before the pre-prandial ablutions.

Dinner was at the Royal, where we were overnighting, & where they'd let John leave his car for a week while we walked. That was nice of them, wasn't it? :-)

I can't remember now what I ate. Something with meat & malt, probably?

The next morning there was no great rush to get away, so I had a look round town & tried to find a present for my cat sitter. Well, I'd hardly seen a shop for a week!

Then it was into the car & the drive back to Stirling where I caught the train to Edinburgh ~ another Reekie: this time Auld Reekie.
What happened next is in the Kiltwalk blog, so for now ~
OAO