Day 3 Stirling to Fortrose

We managed an early start today as we were trying to avoid the breakfast rush – there was a tour bus at our hotel!

First stop was Bridge of Allan to check out a cave claimed to have been the inspiration for Ben Gunn’s cave in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”.  We located the track but it was really wet and a local told us that the bridge had been washed out some time ago (sounds more like “Black Beauty” to me) so we decided not to push it.

Dunkeld was our next stop (on Jan Butler’s recommendation). A lovely little town with lots of interesting shops and very helpful locals.  

The weather had really closed in by now and was not looking good.  I have decided that straight hair is a lost cause here!  We saw signs directing us to the Dunkeld Salmon Shop so had to check it out. We spent quite some time here discussing and tasting salmon and ended up buying some for our dinner. I am keen to compare the wild caught cold smoked salmon to our Tasmanian product.

The driving was easy but there were speed cameras every few miles. I couldn't resist a few stops for photos (chilly out) as we made our way through the Cairngorms and by Kingussie the cloud had lifted and we had blue sky and sunshine.  

We left the highway to make a stop at the Ruthven Barracks part of which dates back to the 12th century then the Insch Marshes –a popular and well set up bird watching site.

We made one more stop on the way at Loch Morlich which had an extensive sandy beach and snow on the mountains in the distance. In one section of the beach the sand is liberally sprinkled with broken glass – obviously old from the smooth edges. Evidently the area was used as a training ground for Norwegian resistance fighters in the Second World War and the glass is what remains from their throwing petrol bombs practice.  Milk bottles were their weapon of choice so I guess the locals were encouraged to drink lots of milk to keep up the supply.

We arrived at our B&B then went down to watch the dolphins feeding at Chanonry Point.  The dolphins were only about 15m off the shore and were feeding on salmon as they come in with the tide. Local beers in a local pub rounded off a busy day.

I have left my cables for the camera in the car so haven't been able to upload any of my photos from today. We might add some more photos to this post tomorrow if the photos are worth it.