Location: Perthshire is the region of central Scotland where the Highlands meet the Lowlands. Due to this reason, the region offers the best of both worlds.
Pitlochry is the largest town in this region. This writeup will focus on a couple of places west of Pitlochry but does not include the town itself (read Part 2 of the series for that).
Loch Tummel
This is a 11 KM long lake which is quite narrow & located to the west of Pitlochry. Many tourists coming to Perthshire come to see this Loch from “The Queen’s View” which was one of Queen Victoria’s favourite lookout spots. A certain part of the lake looks like the map of Scotland!
However, our recommendation on how to best see this Loch is to camp right next to it in the campground barely visible on the right side of the pictures. This is the Ardgualich campground & is quite popular with campers due to its location & views. Dalek spent 3 days at the campsite & woke up to the mirror-like view of the very still lake.
Tip: The lake is still till about 8 am on summer days giving the mirror like effect. This is when the birds who sleep on the shore overnight fly in to swim in the lake all day.
Birds flying in to break the lake’s mirror effect
Other things to do near Loch Tummel
- Climb the Schiehallion mountain. Here is the Walkhighlands description.
- Take the bus to Kinloch Rannoch, there are quite a few trails there.
Getting to Loch Tummel by Public Transit
As is commonplace with most of remote Scotland, there are only upto 5 buses a day that connect Pitlochry to the Queen’s view & the Ardgualich campsite (which continues to Kinloch Rannoch). There is no Sunday service.
View bus timetable here
To get to Pitlochry, take any Inverness bound train from Edinburgh / Glasgow.
Blair Atholl
This is another small town in Perthshire which is great for walking about it if you enjoy stream / river walks. This town is also home to the Blair Castle which dates back to 1269. There is also a variety of animal life to be seen when you walk just outside of town.
Blair Castle
River Tilt near Blair Atholl
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Animals near Blair Atholl
- Go to the House of Bruar shopping centre. Not only does it give access to Highland themed shopping & a food court, it is also next to the pretty Falls of Bruar.
- Walk over to Glen Tilt. For the hardcore walkers, there is a big circuit that takes you to the valley & back.
Getting to Blair Atholl by Public Transit
Blair Atholl does have a railway station served by ScotRail’s Inverness bound trains from Edinburgh / Glasgow. Note that unlike Pitlochry (where every train halts), not all trains make a stop at Blair Atholl.
House of Bruar & Pitlochry can also be accessed by Elizabeth Yule buses but again, there are only a few buses a day.
