From the Black Isle to Perth…

The weather hasn’t improved and the heavy rain overnight shows no sign of letting up.  We set off just before midday and have enjoyed staying at the Rosemarkie campsite.  Even in bad weather the little harbour at Avoch just along the coast looks attractive.

 We crossed over the Kessock Bridge which links the Black Isle to Inverness

but by-passed Inverness itself, travelling down the M9 towards Perth.

Just to break the monotony of the motorway, we branched off onto a B road near Aviemore.  We haven’t travelled in the Cairngorms before and had a mental image of Aviemore as some sort of Swiss ski resort with ski lifts.  Instead of that we found a long drawn out town with low level shopping precincts and very, very commercialised.  It was full of people, mostly young, even though of course it’s hardly winter sports weather (not exactly summer either but that’s another story!).

We passed a rather cute tartan hire campervan.

Ruthven Barracks, although not in the same condition as Fort George, still stand proudly on a hill near Kingussie.  They were built in 1715 to house the English army after the first Jacobite Rebellion in 1715.

We finished our detour with Pitlochry but again were not impressed.  It was full of tourist shops – all the kitsch tartan you could possibly need and not the wild Scotland that we love.

Perth looks to be a handsome city, although not as big as I imagined.  Crossing over the bridge, we noticed this curious notice on the old Toll House:

The Scone Camping and Caravanning Club site is just outside Perth, fairly near to Scone Palace and adjacent to the Racecourse.  It’s busy but is well laid out and will be our home for the next two nights and our last in Scotland.

We have some noisy neighbours at the campsite – these two Oystercatchers!