Nature Walk

Our guest house in Kingussie had been a one night stay only, but our train was not due to leave until just before 2 pm, so after breakfast we took a walk along the trail that follows the Gynach burn that flows through the forest. The water from the burn once turned waterwheels that provided the power to run a number of mills in Kingussie. One such mill was our guest house, The Cross, which was a tweed mill in Victorian times. Today, The Cross, is an award winning restaurant as well as a guest house. The new owners wish to return their 4.2 acre property to the wild as much as is possible, by incorporating it into the wildlife corridor that runs alongside the burn. This will allow safe passage for all of the native wildlife that live along the burn and provide them with the plant species that form part of their natural environment.

We walked quietly along the trail, staying alert for any wildlife we might come across. A distance of probably only 50 metres separated the burn from roads on each side, but it was peaceful and calm in the forest and the only sounds we could hear were the calls of birds in the trees. Water flowed gently in the burn – there was certainly not enough volume of water to turn a single waterwheel today.

Sunlight penetrated the canopy and reached the forest floor in many places, providing an ideal environment for different types of flowering plants to grow. The forest was full of colour.

We knew that a good deal of wildlife might be found on the property and along the forest trail, but we also knew that much of it would be elusive. We could certainly hear a number of different bird species calling from the leafy tree branches above us, but it proved challenging to see them.

I guess we got off to a good start. From my bedroom window I spotted a large pigeon perched on a structure opposite. We’d seen plenty of pigeons, but they often flew off before I could bring my camera up and focus. Our host’s son had told us we might see a red squirrel if we looked closely at a couple of trees in the car park. While I was doing so, a bunny hopped across the car park and disappeared into the forest. We walked to the gate where the rabbit had gone and Neil spotted a deer right in front of us. He too soon disappeared into the forest.

We came across a couple of small birds that liked to scratch around on the forest floor and a tree that most likely housed a woodpecker, one of the common birds found in this patch of forest. There was a hole in the trunk suitable for the bird to make its home and the trunk was peppered with holes that I think were made by the woodpecker’s beak. We never saw a red squirrel, but our host pointed out some small blue tits building a nest inside a hole in some timber on the gable end of the guest house.

Our host dropped us off at the railway station in a couple of transfers, then brought the other group that are on the same schedule as us. I checked with the lady in the ticket box and the good news was that trains were only using the platform where we were dropped off. The first one would be heading south, but a short time later our train would come along, heading south. The first train never came. There was a series of announcements citing a signal fault, and the arrival time of that train kept getting pushed back.

When it became a 50 minute delay announcement, that meant both trains would be coming into the station from opposite directions within a few minutes of each other. And this meant that, ten minutes before our train arrived, we had to change platforms because switching our train to the other line would mean the two trains could pass each other, either at or near the Kingussie station. Of course, we did’t want to, and possibly couldn’t get our heavy cases up and over the pedestrian bridge to the opposite platform in such a short time, so we quickly marched out of the station down to the road, turned right and crossed the railway line, then went through a gate and marched along another path onto the platform, hauling our suitcases all the way. Five minutes later the train arrived to take us to Pitlochry.

Our train was going through to Edinburgh, but it only had four carriages. We got into the fourth carriage and it was really crowded. Just about every seat was taken. The luggage storage places were all full too. I managed to push a couple of cases aside and squeezed one of ours into a rack, but the other three cases wouldn’t fit in anywhere. So we walked to the end of the carriage where there was a wheelchair space with a couple of backpacks in it already. There was no one in a wheelchair on the train when we got on, so this was our only option. There was another wheelchair space directly opposite. Neil moved a couple of backpacks and pulled his case in there, but he had to stand all the way to Pitlochry and hold it. Directly opposite, Janie pulled her suitcase into the other wheelchair space and also had to stand alongside it all the way to Pitlochry. I moved a few backpacks and squeezed in alongside her. Marg couldn’t find a space inside the carriage at all, so she stood for the entire journey with her case in the vestibule between carriages. She shared this space with all the people lining up to use the toilet alongside her.

Despite the lack of seating and luggage storage space, it was a good journey, lasting just under an hour. The sun was out and the sky was blue. It was quite warm. A perfect day. The journey took us through some beautiful highland scenery, through Aviemore and past Dalwhinnie Distillery. There were some thickly forested sections and some river flats. Tall mountains, possibly munros, surrounded us at times. There were even a few patches of snow near the peaks of a couple of them.

At Pitlochry, a taxi driver with a large van picked us up and transferred us to our guest house. There were also a couple of Aussies on board, travelling with the same company as us, but with a different itinerary. We’re all staying at the same place tonight, as are the Americans. It’s at one end of the town’s main shopping street.

We took a walk into the town. Marg and Janie were taking their time looking at shops, so Neil and I decided to visit the fish ladder, which I’ll describe below. We followed a path that led to a 110-year old suspension bridge across the River Tummel, about 400 metres below the dam wall. The river here is broad and a popular fishing spot. Anglers catch wild brown trout, salmon, pike and arctic char here. Just a short distance downstream, the river forks and the River Garry becomes a major tributary.

Breeding salmon need to swim upstream against the current to spawn. At Pitlochry, the dam wall would prevent this, so an ingenious fish ladder has been built to allow the salmon to swim through a series of submerged tunnels passing through 34 chambers over a distance of 310 metres. Each tunnel has a one metre diameter. Each chamber they swim into elevates the water level by half a metre, so that by the time they have swum through all of the chambers they have climbed to the height of the dam wall and can swim through to the river on the other side and continue on to their spawning grounds. In each chamber a continuous flow of water fills the pools. It swirls and churns to replicate the rough passage the fish would experience in an actual river. Three larger ponds with less turbulent water allow the fish a chance to rest during their climb. One of these has an underwater viewing window. Each year between four and seven thousand salmon pass through the fish ladder.

On our walk back into town Neil spotted a red squirrel. It darted off along a branch. I could see it, but when I brought my camera up the automatic focus went straight to the leaves and branches. Before I had time to manually adjust the focus, it was gone.

On our way back to the guest house we stopped in at a whisky retailer and bought a couple of small bottles so we could finish the next few days with a wee dram in our hotel rooms. We had a bit of fun with the guy in the store, who was a bit of a comedian. The Scots sure enjoy a good laugh, which is something I really like about them. And then we called into McKay’s for dinner. I remember eating a magnificent salmon dish there for lunch four years ago and I was planning to have another one tonight. Unfortunately salmon wasn’t on the menu, but I did have another Scottish delicacy instead. It’s known as cullen skink, and it’s a very tasty soup made from haddock, potato and leek. Delicious.

Back at the guest house we finished the day with a dram of Edradour, made right here in Pitlochry from a farm distillery, while we made plans for tomorrow. We’re here for one more night, so we will try to visit Blair Castle tomorrow.