Be it the likes of Gaza, Ukraine or Nagorno Karabakh, I’m undoubtedly pulled towards places where awful things happen in daily life.
Yet when home, I’m drawn to such calming destinations as Royal Deeside and in particular Loch Muick.
Perthshire is not so far away from anywhere in Scotland. For sure, I’ve driven through it, but can’t say I’ve ever been there, as in visited properly.
I decided to head off for a few days, and drove down the new Aberdeen bypass.
I still marvel at this road. Why did it take so long to happen though?
It used to take an eternity to get through and over Aberdeen’s Anderson Drive. By the time you got to the small bridge at the River Dee, you felt like you’d been on the road forever, yet you’d only just started your journey south.
Now, of course, once you get close to Aberdeen airport, you simply turn onto the new road, and hey presto, you magically find yourself south of Stonehaven. Brilliant.
I continued down the A90 and, close to Forfar, turned off the dual carriageway. A perfect opportunity to use the roadside McDonald’s there.
Clean toilets and I have to say an excellent fresh takeaway coffee.
Back in the car I dove cross country heading towards Coupar Angus. What stunning countryside.
I drove through small villages and hamlets, places I’d never heard of or ever been through. Picture perfect they were.
I don’t use sat nav. I prefer to use my eyes, brain and road signs. It’s worked for me the world over and I’ve driven in numerous countries, where an old-fashioned map was my best mate.
If I can drive solo through countries such as Bosnia, I can easily do Scotland.
However… I got lost.
I made it safely to Dunkeld, but was so taken by the scenery I took my eye off the ball, took the wrong road and ended up in Blairgowrie.
What didn’t help was that I saw no road sign for my destination of Aberfeldy. Not once.
I doubled back and forth, twice actually, chatted to a lady with a dog, who pointed me yet another way, and on to the main A9. Am I going to end up in Inverness?
Finally, I spied a road sign. Aberfeldy was nine miles away. Well, it was the longest nine miles I’ve ever driven.
What didn’t help was that bucket-size McD’s coffee was now taking effect and I needed to pee, but with such small windy country roads, there was nowhere to stop. Seriously crossed legs time.
At 4pm, I checked into the Moness Resort outside Aberfeldy and headed straight to the “facilities”.
So, I’ve made my way successfully round the likes of Siberia, Central Asia, Iraqi Kurdistan, but got lost on the road to Aberfeldy. Ah well.
The Moness Resort is a countryside house hotel type of thing. I didn’t stay in the actual hotel though, but in a cottage in the grounds.
It’s very much an Aviemore style place.
My little cottage boasted a seriously comfy bed, and being deftly quiet, I slept like a log.
The internet connection, as pre-warned, is not the best due its rural location. Yet, that suited me fine. I had no intention of sitting in a cottage online all day anyway.
Overall, all I’d say it was slightly outdated, yet not in a bad way, kind of quirky, even twee. Is that still a word these days? No idea.
After a breakfast of scrambled eggs cooked in my kitchen, off I headed, towards Aberfeldy.
Regarding my breakfast of choice, my life advice to anyone if they ever asked would be: “Never scramble eggs in a non-stick pan, life is just too short.”
First stop, and literally a few hundred feet from my resort, I found the town’s connection with Robert Burns.
On a visit in 1787, Burns was so taken with the local Falls of Moness and surrounding birch trees, he wrote song lyrics The Birks of Aberfeldy in honour of it.
Aberfeldy is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, and has a population of around 2,000.
I was interested to learn that the word Aber is an old Pictish word meaning river mouth.
Not unlike Inver with regard to say Inverurie, ie at the mouth of the river Urie.
I spent three days walking this utterly charming town. It feels like how Scotland used to be.
No massive out-of-town malls, no huge chain shops dominating the high street. Instead, and thankfully, Aberfeldy boasts a plethora of local shops, while the houses are grand and hark back to another era.
Long may Aberfeldy stay the way it is.
A mile or so out of the town centre sits the impressive distillery. Founded in 1896 by John Dewar & Sons it produces such whisky as Aberfeldy 12, 18 and 21-year-old single malts.
Did I sample the amber nectar? No. Can’t stand the stuff. I don’t mean Aberfeldy’s whisky, I can’t stand any whisky.
This is something that confuses my friends abroad, especially Russians. “But you’re Scottish!” they say, baffled that I don’t drink whisky.
“Well,” I reply, “It’s a bit like saying all Russians walk around wearing fur hats and drink tea out of a samovar – not all Scots wear kilts and drink whisky you know.”
Not that’s an idea for a column: “Our preconceptions of others.” Coming soon…
What surely is an iconic spot in Aberfeldy is without doubt Wade’s Bridge.
A category A listed building, it was designed by William Adam and built in 1733.
Its original purpose was as a military road linking numerous garrisons. The building of it was ordered by the British Field Marshall George Wade who successfully fought in various wars before going on to lead the construction of roads, barracks and of course bridges.
General Wade considered this bridge at Aberfeldy his greatest achievement.
I’ve only just scratched the surface of picturesque Perthshire. There’s much more I want to explore, in particular, Pitlochry and its surrounding areas.
At only a few hours’ drive away from most places in Scotland, Perthshire really is a beautiful part of our country. Especially Aberfeldy.
I highly recommend a visit.
Just don’t get lost on the way, and bearing in mind those long windy country roads with no laybys or “facilities”, do yourself a favour and don’t drink a large coffee in the car either.
