From far up among the mountains bordering Loch Lomond, a long invisible boundary stretches along the fertile links of Forth; it barely misses the thronging streets of Stirling and ascends again the winding reaches of the Allan Water. To the south lie the undulating farmlands and moors of Stirlingshire; even the long range of the Stirlingshire; even the long range of the Stirlingshire Hills are smooth and grass covered, yet with a suspicion of the proximity of the Perthshire giants in the short basalt precipices which frown across the Highland border where the Grampians rear their craggy tops, a soft blue when the sun shines or gloomy and threatening when the wind hunts the darkling storm clouds across their desolate summits.
Out of Stirling a long white road sweeps north, skirting the low haughs of the Forth and below the rocky knolls of Dumyat until, at Bridge of Allen, it crosses the Allan Water and enters our county. Two miles farther on and we come to Dunblane with its ancient Cathedral reflected in the placid waters of the river. Like so many other old churches in Scotland, Dunblane owes its foundation to that “sair sanct for the Croon” King David I.
The well-cultivated fields and the woods of Strathallan and its open situation between the rolling uplands would point to its use as a main avenue of communication from earliest times. Along this highway, about A.D. 83, came Julius Agricola with his Roman Legions, to beat the Caledonians in the great battle of Mons Graupius, the location of which is still a subject of dispute among antiquaries.
The golfing attractions of Gleneagles appear to have obscured its claims to public favour as a place of great natural beauty. From the village an old road leads up the glen between the green slopes of the Ochils and down Glen Devon to the pretty village of Yetts o’ Muckhart which, although on the south side of the hills, is yet in Perthshire. Among the hills are lonely lochs, while the hill-tops, though mostly under the 1500 feet height, yet command extensive views of the midlands valley and the Firth of Forth.
The long straggling village of Auchterarder, the centre of a fruit-growing district, suffered heavily from the intermittent Highland warfare of the mid 18th century and was burned down in the ’15 Jacobite Rising. Beyond Auchterarder the River Earn comes down from the west, a slow winding water but much subject to floods. Undoubtedly the jewel of Strathearn is the little village of Forteviot, which was entirely rebuilt in 1925 – 1926. Forteviot strikes a note of colour which is all too often absent in our grey northern villages. On this site, it is believed, was situated Fortrenn, the capital of the Pictish kingdom and it was here where died the half-legendary hero, King Kenneth McAlpine, who united Picts and Scots.
The comfortable town of Crieff, sitting astride the Earn below the wooded Knock of Crieff, is the capital of Strathearn; its general air of prosperity successfully obscures its storm past, for it was here that the Drummonds, Stewards fo Strathearn, dealt out heavy-handed justice to the lawless Highland marauders.
Near Aberfeldy the countryside renews its acquaintance with the woodlands, and at Rumbling Bridge the road crosses the river at a deep wooded gorge, one of the many beauty spots of the district.
Westwards from Crieff the valley of the Earn narrows between the hills of Torham and Lurgan on the south and the peaks of the Breadalbane country to the north which culminate in Ben Chonzie, 3046 feet high, at the end of Glen Turret. Beyond the woods of Strowan lies in the little township of Comrie, which claims the dubious distinction of being Scotland’s earthquake centre owing to its proximity to a fracture in the underlying strata. Of course the periodical shocks are very slight. Five miles beyond Comrie the pretty village of St Fillans lies at the end of Loch Earn, which stretches its placid six miles of length up to Lochearnhead. From Lochearnhead Glenogle opens to the north, as if to contrast its sterile desolation with the smiling verdure of Loch Earn. The Glenogle road swings over to Glen Dochart and Loch Tay, which is described later.
Strathallan and Strathearn are populated fertile districts of Perthshire, a lowland invasion of what is essentially a Highland county. To the west and north stretch the lonely lands of Highland romance. Like a long barrier reef, the rugged Hills of Menteith close in on the flat fertile links of the Forth. They rise, first gently, from the placid waters of the Lake of Menteith with its island Priory of Inchmahome. Westward the hills increase in height and fairly tower over the little township of Aberfoyle with its quaint old bow backit’ brig over the Forth. At Aberfoyle we enter the country ever associated with Rob Roy. Here it was that the famous Highland cateran foregathered with the pawky but difficult Bailie Nicol Jarvie. From Aberfoyle starts the famous Trossachs Road, over to Achray. A broad highway now replaces the roughly metalled “Duke’s Pas” toll road. This road swings in great loops up the pass between rugged heathery hills, affording widespread views of low-lying haughs of the Forth with the terraced basalt precipices of the Fintry and Campsie Hills in the distance. Beyond the top of the pass the traveller is rewarded with extensive views of the Callander-Trossachs country with Ben Ledi and Ben A’an like outposts of the Balquhidder peaks away to the north.
Westward of Aberfoyle the Forth, now a gentle purling stream, flows beneath the immense crags of Craig Mhor; and beyond the roofless ruins of Jean McAlpine’s Inn we come in sight of Loch Ard, with its many little wooded bays embowered in trees. In and out along the loch shore the road winds through young forests of birth and pine with every now and then a glimpse of Ben Lomond’s graceful cone mirrored in the silvery waters of the Loch.
Farther north lies the picturesque little Loch Chon reflecting the craggy steeps of Ben Dubh, along the lower slopes of which lie the aqueducts which convey the waters of Loch Katrine to Glasgow. The road which continues north leads to two dead-ends, to Stronachlachar on Loch Katrine and to Inversnaid on Loch Lomond.
About two miles north of Stirling the Forth is joined by the river Teith near the old Brig o’ Drip, a venerable red sandstone structure and a favourite subject of the artist’s brush. Around the auld brig the ground is level and well wooded and affords fine views up the Teith where Ben Ledi, Ben Voirich and Stuc á Chroin raise their blue ridges over the green fields and woodlands around Doune, and just before entering this pleasant little country town the Teith is crossed by an old bridge at one of its well-timbered reaches and, looking south, the ancient walls of Doune Castle are seen reflected in the river and framed in trees. The old castle has had an eventful history; built in 1421 by Robert, Duke of Albany, it passed into the possession of the Moray family when Albany’s son was beheaded for treason. Again, it figured in the ’45 when Prince Charlie kept the prisoners captured from General Hawley at Falkirk.
Pleasantly situated itself, strung out along the base of Callander Craigs and on the banks of the winding Teith, which is crossed here by a graceful arched bridge, Callander is the gateway to the tourist districts made famous by the wizardry of Sir Walter Scott, and down near the junction of the Kelty Water and the Teith stands the house of Cambusmore where the great bard lived while writing the “Lady of the Lake.”
The Trossachs Road leaves the main road to the north at Kilmahog toll and crosses the tumbling Leny near the old graveyard of Kilmahog. The terraced mound of the ancient Caledonian fort, the “Dunmore of Bochastle,” is passed on the right and soon we are within sight of Coilantogle Ford, the site of the combat between James Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu. At Coilantogle Farm a line of posts stretching uphill marks the easiest ascent of Ben Ledi, 2875 feet. Loch Vennachar stretches its five-mile length between its wooded banks and in the shadow of the Menteith Hills to the south. At its upper end is Lanrick Mead, the mustering point fro Clan Alpine.
At the end of Loch Vennachar we leave the softer rocks of the old red sandstone series and enter the hard Highland shists, the difference becoming apparent in the gaunt rugged cliffs which frown over the little hamlet of Brig o’ Turk, a charming place of little cottages, some thatched, which straggle up the glen where the Finlas Water thunders down it deep gorge to join the Black Water under the single arch of the Brig o’ Turk which, tradition asserts, is where Scotland’s last wild boar received its quietus.
Half a mile from the Brig o’ Turk little Loch Achray is seen to advantage. The road twines tortuously along its verge, at some times skirting a cliff face and at others through thickets of graceful young birches.
Beyond the large hotel the Trossachs Road comes in from Aberfoyle. From this point the road leads through the Pass of Achray below the great rocky spike of Ben A’an, a narrow defile between steep wooded slopes, to the steamboat pier on Loch Katrine. The road may be followed on foot beyond the pier and the traveller who does so is rewarded with scenes of incomparable beauty. At first the loch is narrow, with precipitous banks covered with silver birch trees, but farther along the forested Ellen’s Isle floats mirrored in the loch, with the gigantic crags of Ben Venue dominating the landscape. At the foot of the peak is the Beal’-nam-Bo – the Pass of the Cattle – through which the herds were driven by the Highlanders after a lowland raid, while some way up the slopes is the Coir’nan Uruisgean, the Goblins’ Cave mentioned in Scott’s poem. Opposite Ellen’s Isle was Scott’s famous silver strand, but the level of the water has been raised 17 feet since Glasgow Corporation commenced operations in 1855. At the head of the loch, lies the farmhouse of Glengyle which occupies the site where, in 1671, Rob Roy McGregor was born.
From Kilmahog Toll the main road swings up through the fragment woodland bordering the Leny past the thundering Falls of Leny, and past the ruins of St Bride’s Chapel, where it suddenly breaks out of the woods and follows the shores of Loch Lubnaig, affording fine views of Ben Ledi across the water. At the head of the loch is the hamlet of Strathyre, and three miles farther up the valley of the Balvaig the long deep glen of the Balquhidder country opens up to the west. Here are the Braes o’ Balquhidder of the great Rob Roy, but more widely known, perhaps, from Tannahill’s well-known song which begins:
“Let us go, lassie, goTwo miles along the ill-metalled road which penetrates the long glen, the little hamlet of Balquhidder nestles among the quiet woodlands which clothe the shores of Loch Voile as if cowering from the stormy blasts which, on occasion, shriek down the braes from the mighty peaks which gloom the distant skyline. Three ancient carved stones cover the graves of the valiant Rob, with his wife and two of his five sons, which the McGregor Society have surrounded with a neat rail.
The road west from Balquhidder winds up through the woodlands, along the north side of Loch Voile and Loch Doine. About a mile beyond the end of Loch Doine the shepherd’s house of Inverlochlarig covers the site of Rob Roy’s farm. It is set amid scenes of stern mountain grandeur. To the north, half a dozen peaks surpass the 3000 feet level, while deep-set lonely passes give access to the Crianlarich and Glen Dochard area. The main glen leads westward up over the Pass of the Corpse, by which the Loch Lomonside McGregors in olden times carried their dead for burial in the ancestral cemetery in Balquhidder. It then descends the steeps of Parlan Hill into the sylvan depths of Glen Falloch, at the old inn of Inverernan. Neither road nor rail can spoil the inherent beauty of this long glen, well wooded at its lower end, stark and grand at the top and marked by features such as the Falls of Falloch and the Ben Glas Falls.
The “Fair City” of Perth, placed on its low-lying “inches” by the winding river and viewed from the wooded bluffs of Moncrieffe of Kinnoul Hill, is a noble sight. Quite apart from its situation, this old Scottish town is St John’s Kirk, parts of which are pre-Reformation. It is to the credit of the townsfolk of Perth that their war memorial took the form of an excellent restoration of its old cathedral.
There are few remains of the old Perth, but in the surrounding district many buildings remain to attest to the importance of Perth in olden times. Up the Crieff road, two miles from Perth, is Huntingtower Castle, two tall, square towers, the scene of the Ruthven Raid in 1582 when King James VI was held captive for a short time while two of his favourites, Lennox and Arran, were disposed of. The curious 16th century keep of Elcho, a few miles down the Tay, occupies the site of an older keep which gave protection to the national hero, Sir William Wallace. A fine large mansion now covers the site of Scone Palace, at Old Scone, two miles north of Perth, which was the principal residence of the Scottish kings and where they were crowned. In short, the history of Perth is the history of Scotland; and even the railways, dye-works and cattle-markets cannot obscure the air of respectable antiquity which permeates its clean-cut streets.
To the east of Perth lies the Carse of Gowrie, the richest farmland in the county, stretched between the gentle slopes of the Sidlaw Hills and the Firth of Tay. North of the Sidlaws the broad acres of Strathmore repeat the tale of agricultural fertility. Lower Strathmore is drained by the Tay, which is joined at Cargill by the Isla from Upper Strathmore, a great fruit-growing district centring on Blairgowrie. This little town is situated at the mouth of Glen Shee, the longest and most important of the southern glens of the Grampians. Here starts the Cairnwell, the highest driving-road in the country. It climbs steadily up the river Ericht to Bridge of Cally, and up the Black Water, between the grassy hills, broken up here and there with granite precipices. The Spital of Glenshee, reminiscent of old days when it was a “hospital” or shelter for travellers when wolves and wild boars abounded, is passed and we emerge on heathery muirland, and at a height of 1951 feet is the famous Devil’s Elbow, a dangerous hairpin bend. At the head of the pass, 2199 feet, the road crosses into Aberdeenshire and descends Glen Clunie to Braemar. This elevated spot affords widespread views of Upper Deeside and the Cairngorms.
It is at Dunkeld that, proceeding upstream, the Tay Valley begins to assume the character of a glen. This little cathedral city nestles picturesquely among the woods beneath the rocky steeps of Craig-y-Barns. The church, a religious foundation of great antiquity, was commenced in 1318 and completed in 1460. It suffered heavily by the misplaced zeal of the Reformers and again at the hands of Montrose’s Highlanders after their victory at Killiecrankie. Farther up the wooded valley the River Tay sweeps in from the west, being met by the Tummel at the village of Ballinluig, and farther still up our river lies the neat little town of Aberfeldy, about which Burns composed his famous song “The Birks of Aberfeldy,” although it would appear that the popular has now usurped the position of the birches of Burns’ time. The elegant Wade Bridge, which spans the river at this point, is perhaps the best monument extant of the great military road-maker and dates from 1733.
Kenmore, one of the prettiest villages in Scotland, lies at the foot of Loch Tay, where the River Tay issues from the Loch. Over the northern shore the bare rocky peaks of the Ben Lawers group rear up above the heather-clad muirlands which back the woodlands and the fertile chequer-board of fields by the loch-side – a riot of colour at any season of the year.
Killin, a pleasant little town, lies beyond the sandy flats at the head of the loch, just where the Dochart comes tumbling over its rocky bed in a confused cascade with a rugged pine-clad island in the centre – one of the most painted pictures in Scotland.
West of Killin the Dochart traverses the lonely glen of that name, and at Loch Tubhair passes below the mighty rock pyramids of Ben More and Stobinian, the culminating peaks of that grand mountain playground which lies between Glen Dochart and Balquhidder.
Above Crianlarich the Dochart is known as the Fillan Water, and Strathfillan is the site of that famous incident where Robert the Bruce, while engaged in a running fight with the McDougalls of Lorn, had to divest himself of his placid to escape from the clutches of a dying assailant. His brooch went with the plaid and is still preserved at Dunolly Castle. Strathfillan terminates at the little village of Tyndrum on the watershed and here our noble Tay suffers and here our noble Tay suffers another change of name. The turbulent little burn, the Choninish Water, which rises in the shapely corrie of Ben Lui, is really the head-stream of the great Perthshire river.
North of Loch Tay lies Glen Lyon, the longest glen in Scotland. At its mouth lies the pleasant tree-bowered village of Fortingall. The entrance to this glen is through an awesome defile, between steep rocky bluffs, well wooded, but beyond this gateway the glen opens up and, farther along, provides fine views of the grand corried peaks of the Ben Lawers group. About a mile above the Bridge of Balgie stands the ancient Castle of Meggerine amid some grand old trees. The road terminates at lonely Loch Lyon, and the only exit from the upper end of the glen is by a stalkers’ path over to Bridge of Orchy.
The Great North Road leave the Tay at Ballinluig and follows the low pass afforded by the Tummel. Six miles up the Tummel it passes through the pretty sophisticated little resort of Pitlochry, the starting point for the wonderful mountain beauties around Lochs Tummel and Rannoch, which lie north of and roughly parallel to Loch Tay. The river roars over numerous linns and the north road affords widespread vistas, embracing the fine conical peak of Schiehallion to the south and away to Buachaille Etive in Glencoe in the west. Ten miles farther west of Loch Tummel the road climbs to Loch Rannoch. Here we are in sight of the great Argyllshire peaks which hedge in the wide desolation of the Muir of Rannoch.
Beyond the Tummel, and two miles above the confluence of the Tummel and Garry, the latter hurls itself through the deep gash of the Pass of Killiecrankie, a narrow echoing canyon of great cliffs on which the trees seem to defy the force of gravity. On the level fields of Urrard, above the pass, in July, 1689, General Mackay’s redcoats went down like ninepins before the ėlan of a Highland charge to mark that confused massacre, known in history as the Battle of Killiecrankie. Three miles beyond the pass the River Tilt comes in at the charming little village of Blair Atholl. The Atholl is a modernization of Athfotla which is said to be derived from Fotla, the name of the son of the Pictish king Cruithne. Glen Tilt traverses some of the grandest scenery in Perthshire and is a long but otherwise easy pass over to Deeside. This is a land of deer-forest and moor, and indeed the shootings round Atholl are among the most extensive in Scotland. What little cultivable land there is lies in the river-valleys – strips of fertility in an otherwise barren region.
Beyond the Falls of Bruar, four miles above Blair Atholl, the road rises above the woods which have encompassed its course up the long river valleys, and the landscape takes on a starker look as the bare grassy hills send their long gully-riven flanks down to the road. Dulnacardoch Lodge is on the site of an old coaching inn. At Dalnaspidal the sombre Pass of Druimuachdar marks the county boundary, which here shades away into the mighty heather-clad peaks of the Forest of Atholl, a deserted region of grand heathery mountains and deep glens with roaring burns and lonely tarns. It is thus, among the blue shadows and wind-swept heaths, we regretfully take leave of our County of Perth.