Highland Perthshire. Argyll & The… (trip)
Highland Perthshire. Argyll & The Isles, Scotland
- Glasgow Airport, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Active & Adventure
| from £1,535* per person | 8 Days | June, August |
| Comfort accommodations | Exertion level: 3 | |
| Operator: About Argyll Walking Holidays in Scotland | 12 people max | |
Highland Perthshire is far from the sea, in Scottish terms. With its high mountains, long, deep glens and an abundance of trees, highland Perthshire is a very distinctive part of Scotland, contrasting perfectly with the seaboard of Argyll. Perthshire was never a crofting county, deemed too rich, and lacking, at the time, the large, near-destitute rural population of the west. Instead, you will find rich estates and large farms, deer ‘forests’ and salmon rivers.
Many parts of the country, three centuries ago, were bare and open. In the 18th century did new forests really get under way in Scotland - nowhere more so than here in Perthshire. Generations of the so-called ‘Planting’ Dukes of Atholl shaped much of the landscape seen today, especially around Dunkeld. Between 1738 and 1830, the family planted around 27 million conifers. As a result Perthshire is now known as 'Big Tree Country'. It is not only home of many tall trees, the Fortingall Yew, which is believed to be 3,000 years old, is Europe's oldest living thing.
Argyll & the Isles
Argyll in the west Highlands has a long, broken, islanded coast. The hinterland contains a landscape of gentle farmland and wide peat bog surrounded by hills, secret glens and hidden lochans. At the edge, where crofts (a form of smallholding) may still be found and lobster fishermen ply their trade, is a unique seascape of exposed wildness, with islands large and small scattered across it. The hills of Argyll are more rugged than those of Perthshire, and the glens steeper and shorter, with rapid rivers and many waterfalls. The closer you get to the Atlantic coasts of Argyll, the more stunted and wind-sculpted the trees and woods become.
History
The first inhabitants of Scotland to be known by the name ‘Scots’ were the Gaelic-speaking Celts who colonised Argyll from the north of Ireland in the early centuries A.D. In Ireland, their kingdom was called Dalriada and the same name was applied to the part of Scotland that they occupied. The modern name of ‘Argyll’, long ago having replaced Dalriada in normal use, actually comes from the Gaelic for ‘Land of the Gael’ - possibly coastland or heartland of the Gael. At the same late iron-age period that saw this Scots colonisation in the west, Perthshire was the land of the southern Picts, and, until Scotland was first unified under Kenneth McAlpin, the two groups were frequently at odds – indeed the Picts are known to have sacked the principal Scots fortress of Dunadd at least twice.
Wildlife
Wildlife reflects these differences between Perthshire and Argyll in many ways, with, for example, larger herds of red deer and more birds of the mountainous sub-arctic, such as ptarmigan and snow bunting, on the Perthshire hills, whereas Argyll has numerous coastal animals, such as seals, and very many sea birds. Both areas have golden eagles and otters and much else besides.
Walks
We have chosen our walks and visits to showcase the differences between Perthshire and Argyll. We visit several quite unique sites, guaranteed to appeal to anyone gifted with an active curiosity about history and about the man-made and the natural world in general. Many of them can still be fairly described as ‘off the beaten track’, and, where they are internationally renowned, we arrange things in such a way as to see them at their quietest and best. Wherever we go together, interest and variety in the weaving together of Scotland’s story will be your daily experience.
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Locations visited/nearby
Scotland, Europe
Itinerary
Saturday: Glasgow - Fortingall, Highland PerthshireWe will meet you in the city centre or at Glasgow International Airport in the afternoon. The journey will take us northwards via Stirling and through the Trossachs to Fortingall, near Aberfeldy.
Sunday: Loch Tay
We will spend today around the foot of Loch Tay, where our first walk takes us deep into the gorge of the Acharn burn, with its spectacular falls. Popular with travellers since Victorian times, the Acharn falls are reached through the 'Hermit's Cave', an artificial, stone construction, planned in the 1760s by the 3rd Earl of Breadalbane to give the most dramatic approach possible. Judge for yourself whether or not he succeeded! ?Our next stop is the Scottish Crannog Centre, an authentic reconstruction of an early iron-age loch-dwelling in Loch Tay. This re-creation is based on excavation evidence from the 2600-year-old site of 'Oakbank Crannog', one of 18 preserved in Loch Tay.?The afternoon is reserved for a circuit on Kenmore Hill with spectacular views across Loch Tay to the unmistakable cone of Schiehallion and towards the Cairngorms. Kenmore Hill has been planted with Scots pine and other native trees to allow the recovery and expansion of the remnant Caledonian Forest. The area is home to black grouse, but we will need to be lucky to see these elusive birds, whose numbers have long been in decline. Their recovery is one of the aims of encouraging native forest to re-establish itself.
5.5 miles/9 km,1150ft/350m of ascent
Monday: Castle Menzies and Black Forest
Before heading northwards to Loch Rannoch, we will walk in Weem Wood and visit Castle Menzies, the seat of the Menzies Clan. Prince Charles Edward Stuart - 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' - stayed here for 2 nights in 1746 on his way to the north, where, not long afterwards, his army was defeated by the forces of the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden.
We will spend the rest of the day along Loch Rannoch-side, passing, en route, Schiehallion, the fairy hill – a mountain so isolated, symmetrical in outline and uniform in its geology that it was used by an 18th century Astronomer Royal to calculate the mass of the Earth*. Our walk lies beneath and west of Schiehallion, at the eastern edge of the Black Wood of Rannoch, an important remnant of ancient Caledonian Forest. Our path will take us through mixed woodland and past a stand of ancient Scots pine, with fine views of the loch and to the hills beyond.
6 miles/9.5 km, 820ft/250m of ascent
Tuesday: Journey to Argyll, Glen Coe
Westwards, today, to Argyll, where we will stay for the rest of the week. Our route first takes us through Glen Lyon before crossing back to Loch Tay near to its mid-point. High above the loch, at the Ben Lawers car park, we’ll take time out for a walk along the nature trail, set among remarkable arctic and alpine flora.
Our journey continues along Loch Tay-side to Killin, then through Glen Dochart, up across Rannoch Moor and ultimately into wild Glen Coe. Although everyone has heard of Glen Coe, and may suspect a ‘tourist trap’, the reality always has the power to inspire, no matter how many previous visits one has made. We will take a short walk to Signal Rock, at the heart of the lower glen, before a well-deserved pint (or whatever you prefer to drink) in the Clachaig Inn - a haunt of cattle drovers down the centuries until railways and steamers killed the trade. Our final stretch to Barcaldine, our base for the rest of the week, takes us alongside, first, Loch Leven and then Loch Linnhe, passing close to the site of the killing of Campbell of Glenure, for which James Stewart was hanged near Ballachulish and around which Robert Louis Stevenson built the tension in his novel ‘Kidnapped’.
Wednesday: Isle of Kerrera and whisky-tasting
The Isle of Kerrera is set across the mouth of Oban Bay, acting as a natural breakwater for this important west coast harbour. Although it is close to the bustling tourist centre of Oban, Kerrera is a world apart. The island has only 40 residents and cars are banned except for those owned by the inhabitants.
A historically and geologically fascinating island, Kerrera gives a new and more fascinating view as we round each successive turn of the coast. A highlight is the sudden appearance of Gylen Castle against the backdrop of the Firth of Lorn and the mountainous Isle of Mull.
After returning to our hotel, there will be a whisky-tasting session where you will be introduced to the history of whisky and the different regions in which it is produced. There will a single malt whisky from each of the 4 major producing regions to sample.
6 miles/10km and 330ft/100m of ascent
Thursday: Kilmartin Glen
Southwards today to Kilmartin Glen with its prehistoric and early historic monuments. Kilmartin House Museum, our first stop, sets out the story of the glen down the ages with an inspired combination of imagination and clarity. Our walk takes us along a good cross-section of Kilmartin’s prehistoric and early historic monuments - a stone circle, burial cairns and iron-age forts and sculpted stones.
Dunadd was the capital hill fort of the Scots – iron-age Celtic colonists from the Irish kingdom of Dalriada - from at least the 6th century to the 8th, and probably longer. No visitor to this area - with any feel for the history in a landscape - should miss it. A short walk and a little climb to the top of the hill reward you with the opportunity to place your feet in the carved print where kings of Scots may well have placed theirs on being crowned.
Up to 5 miles/8km and little ascent
Friday: Isle of Mull and Isle of Ulva
We will take the ferry from Oban to Craignure, on the Isle of Mull, and we will drive through the spectacular scenery of central Mull to Ulva Ferry. Ulva, anciently home of the clan MacQuarrie, is privately owned. Formerly the home of 600 people, many of whom made their living from the collection and exportation of kelp, Ulva was the scene of harsh clearances in the 19th century. Today there are only 16 residents, who share their island with golden eagles, buzzards, otters, seals and lots of other wildlife.
Mature mixed woodland and parkland, around the big house near the ferry, give way to the wilder west end of the island. The south shore leads to a tangle of little islands and bays lined with basalt columns. The grandparents of the explorer and missionary David Livingstone once lived on Ulva and our walk will take us up to Livingstone’s Cave and Croft. In the cave, archaeologists found flint artefacts and fragments of human bone which can be dated back as far as 5650 BC.
After our walk on Ulva we will travel back to the mainland.
5 miles/8km and 500ft/150m of ascent
Saturday: Argyll - Glasgow
We will drive, via the Pass of Brander, back to Glasgow.
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