Cairngorms & Perth, Jul 2021
Cairngorms camping and Perth foraging
Contains 168 photos, the last of which were added 3 years, 4 months, 12 days, 6 hours, 17 minutes, and 5 seconds ago.
A couple of nights camping in the Cairngorms. It was one of the hottest weekends of the year, which is a good time to go to the Highlands, but the midges were out and they were hungry.
We had a late afternoon start, so the first night we ended up pitching the tent a bit after dark which was not ideal. After several hours walking, we found a good camping spot where the paths forked by a stream under shade of some trees in the early afternoon, and left the tent there. After the sun had peaked, we climbed Beinn a'Bhuird and looked for smoky quartz crystals. On the way back to the tent we took a "shortcut" which led to a fight through undergrowth taller than me.
The next day we skirted around the base of Beinn a'Bhuird, enjoying the landscape and flora, then packed up and walked back more or less the way we came. On the way we found a beautiful stream for a swim. Max made it his mission to grab every single rock and take them out of the riverbed.
Chips in the evening from Blairgowrie, which has been promoted to my new favourite Perthsire village (Dunkeld & Birnam is down to number 2). The chippy has a full vegan menu! And it has the tallest hedge in the world!
A wee Perthshire (and thereabouts) adventure. Water from Scotlandwell, a deep and clear natural spring. A wander around the shore of Loch Leven, which was too full of blue algae for swimming. Walk through wild orchards in Perth, along the river, through the heather gardens, over to the island. Found some boletes, possibly lurid or scarletina, but they were too old.
I've never been to Perth before. On a hot sunny day, with the river-beaches and beautiful treeline, it really felt like one of several eastern european cities. I didn't actually go into the city center though.
