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My Highland Travelogue Welcome to my Highland Travelogue Page. My passion is to explore the Scottish Highland Upland Lochs. When time permits, I will drive to a remote location, park the car, fasten on my backpack and trusty camera, and trek a few miles to discover a hidden Loch or Lochan. My pleasure is to explore the smaller, hidden Lochs and Lochans, rather than the larger, well known ones that are already well documented. I think that certain places are "healing" , and I begin to understand why when I sit by a lonely stretch of water, with nobody and nothing around for miles. So far, most of my expeditions have been in Highland Perthshire, for logistical and economic reasons, but I hope to travel further as time passes. I think that maybe I am frightened that my Highlands are threatened and that they may vanish. Perhaps to record them on photograph is my mission? When I stumble unexpectedley on one of those jaw-dropping views, I have mixed thoughts - firstly, I want to share it with the world, then, when I think on, I selfishly want to keep it all to myself. Often I just stand a while in wonderment. I am no scientist, but many of our small inland Lochs and Lochans are in decline. I dont know how long they will be there for us, but I have to record them as they are now. Above all, I feel priviledged to be allowed the honour to walk on this sacred land - I am finite, my footsteps will soon vanish, but this wonderful place will stand for millions of years. I will try to describe my adventures as best as I can and I hope that I can share my wonderful Highlands with you. "Enjoy Life's Journey, But Leave No Tracks" (Cherokee Wolf Clan, with thanks to Sue) "Your travelogue helped to influence our choice of destination as your pictures and details are superb and really do give that `get away from it all feeling`- Martin Rutherford Like a large Highland Loch on your wall? - click here! If you have any questions about the places I visit, please e-mail me and I will do my best to help!
Life is fragile. Very fragile. I discovered this last Sunday, 2nd September 2007. There is a large tract of land between Dunkeld and Aberfeldy, mostly impenetrable conifer forest and bogland. It holds a few very, difficult to access, inland Lochs. I last tried to ingress unsuccessfully from the East side, from the road that runs on the left bank of the Tay between Dunkeld and Grandtully. This met with failure when the bogs proved too much for me. This time I tried from the West side, from the road that runs between Amulree and Aberfeldy. There is a small loch halfway up the road and a good car park opposite. An information board and style leads to the forest path. My target was Loch Kennard, maybe 2 miles inland. The forest was full of motorbikes doing time trials etc, and I was annoyed to have the peace spoiled by their noise and the smell of fuel everywhere – however – I was to come to be grateful to these people! I seldom enjoy forest walks – endless miles of conifer trees with no landmarks is not attractive to me, and so it turned out. I steered well clear of the bikers. After a couple of miles of boring track and no sign of Kennard, I grew frustrated. I decided to climb Grandtully Hill to get a fix and a sighting. The climb was good – some bog, but mostly hard heather and a few rocks. The climb was well worth it – magnificent views of Vrackie and Shiehallion, North and North West respectively, and the Lomond Hills away to the South – fantastic!
This is where I made my (almost) fatal mistake! I left the track. I descended from Grandtully Hill on the South side, I knew Kennard HAD to be there somewhere and I wasn’t going out without finding it. Eventually I came to a deer fence, and crossing it and looking left, I saw a glimpse of water down the hill, which I followed to find Kennard. Kennard is lovely, but surrounded by dense forest on all sides, very hard to find. By the time I reached it, the light was starting to go and I still did not have an exit strategy – I had to take a few hurried photographs – which annoyed me – and find a way out.
The only egress was a firebreak and I followed it.
The going deteriorated into deeper and deeper bog. I was getting more and more tired by the exertion. I could hear the motorbikes off to my left, not too far away. For some reason, I headed into the forest and the inevitable happened – I couldn’t get out. Now expert trackers have told me that you can find your way out of anywhere – but I challenge them to get out of that place. The forest is claustrophobic – it closes in on you and sucks out the light. You can get a sun fix, and I had the map and compass – I just couldn’t get through the trees. I crawled on hands and knees for an hour to get under the branches. Eventually, as the light was going, I flopped down exhausted and had a cup of tea. I decided to have one last effort, otherwise it was going to be a long cold and wet night. I pulled my jungle hat over my face and hit the trees at full tilt, head down. At last, covered in scratches and a very sore eye from a branch, I emerged onto a motorbike track and saw three men walking. They stared at me in amazement – I must have been quite a sight! They were from the motorbike trials and I followed them back to their camp, where I hitched a ride back to the main road. I learned some very hard lessons that day: – Revise my pack urgently – I had no proper means of overnighting in an emergency. Stay on the track when in a forest (In a forest,nobody can hear you scream!). You can die 1 mile or 50 miles from civilization. Altogether a sobering experience, one from which I hope I have learned a lot. I will certainly respect the boss (nature) much better from now on in. However, I will not be beaten, and I will be going back in! If any readers have similar experiences, I would love to hear from you. BackComments
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