Photo Gallery - Logierait to Aberfeldy: 4^th Oct 2009 

Leaders: Linda Inglis & Iain McPhail

Photo Gallery - Pics taken by May Trescowthick & Charlie McGrillan
 

EK News Article: Charlie McGrillan   Even the coach journey was a delight for Duncanrig Rambling Club as they headed north past the sunlit rugged face of the Ochils to the east and the etched profile of the mountains from Ben Lomond to Ben Vorlich to the west for a pair of walks in the heart of Perthshire. Between Dunblane and Auchterarder long skeins of geese caught the eye against the cloudless sky. Both walks, the main one, an 8-mile route following the banks of the River Tay in a westerly direction from Logierait, and the alternative, a higher moorland walk east from Kenmore, finished in the town of Aberfeldy. The route of the main walk followed the track of a dismantled railway alongside Scotland's longest river passing the floodplain of the Haugh of Ballechin and the rapids upstream from Grandtully popular with white water rafters. Despite having to negotiate the occasional fence and five bar gate the ramblers had plenty of time to appreciate the grandeur of the surrounding scenery as they enjoyed the welcome rays of the autumn sun. The alternative walkers, meanwhile, enjoyed spectacular views along the dazzling blue waters of Loch Tay at Kenmore before engaging a low gear for the 1300 foot climb up a narrow tarmac road into the hills for a couple of miles to a little lochan where they turned north-west onto an excellent track which allowed them to cross moorland without the need to exercise the thigh muscles over knee-high heather. Visibility was so clear that you felt you could make out every needle on the nearby pine trees and, when your eyes identified the scar on Ben Dearg in the distant Beinn a'Ghlo mountain range, that you could see to infinity. The serenity of the afternoon was interrupted by a well-spoken gentleman wearing a protective suit in a sturdy 4x4 vehicle who gave the unlikely advice that the hikers should consider moving off the track for 100 metres to allow a truckload of bees to pass. Needless to say, this unusual occurrence gave rise to comment and one wit quipped that this was the first time that "a swarm of bees would meet a shower of B's on the hillside". The track followed the bed of the Urlar Burn for 4 miles down into the Birks of Aberfeldy where the 2 groups met for a noisy social hour before returning to East Kilbride.