#scottish highlands
Loch Linnhe, Fort William.
An Dun Hillfort, Pitlochry, Scotland
This hillfort (‘an dun’ just means 'the fort’) is surrounded by trees nowadays and might well be near impossible to spot from the road, but back when it was used it must have had a majestic view across to the Cairngorms. Today you can also see the bright Blue of Loch Faskally and the River Tummel, as well as the town of Pitlochry stretching across the hills. You get a great view of the Pass of Killiecrankie, a natural separation line between this area and the depth of the Scottish Highlands beyond. No wonder this is considered the Northernmost hillfort in Perthshire. This hillfort is not well known these days, so we really enjoyed exploring it in depth. On the way back we went up further into the hills and were rewarded with an amazing view of the Cairngorms sprawled across the horizon. Beinn a'Ghlo was especially prominent and reminded me of the time we tried to go up, but found ourselves in a cloud that wasn’t budging. The River Tummel provided an accent of intense blue. Up on the hills, we could only see it with the drone, but as we descended back towards Pitlochry on the circular walk, the view towards the river opened up, which you can see in the last photo.
My visit to An Dun features in my March Vlog.
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Dundurn Hillfort and St Fillans Chapel
I love coming back to this hillfort because the scenery here is just so breath-taking with the mountains rising up on all sides. The dusting of snow on the tops made it even more scenic. Feral goats roam this area (likely descendants of those abandoned during the Highland Clearances) and funnily enough, there was one at the top keeping an eye on us while indulging in some of the spring greens. There is a graveyard nearby with a ruined chapel dedicated to Saint Fillans. While I was surveying Dundurn with a drone, one of the Red Kites (I’m sure I saw at least two) came to have a closer inspection of this very strange and noisy new bird in the sky. Quite a few birds have checked out the drone so far, but luckily none of them ever tried to attack it. I’m sure they can tell that it’s not a bird. It must be such a strange sight to them.
Head over to my February Vlog to see a visit and drone footage of this fort.
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A Magic Winter Day around Dunkeld, Scotland
The area around Dunkeld is not particularly mountainous, yet it is one of the most beautiful parts of Perthshire. It is the doorstep to the Highlands and you can actually get a good glimpse of them in the distance from certain viewpoints. Recently, there has been a lot of fog and low cloud. So whenever the sun is out, it becomes a near-spiritual experience, everything being bathed in golden light of the low Winter sun, including myself. It’s a little bit like light therapy. It’s filling up a cup somewhere inside. The cherry on top were a couple trees, which were bustling with siskins. Those little yellow birds were eating berries and chatting away to one another. I must have stood there for at least 30 minutes, just watching them and trying to capture the scene.
My December Vlog is up on Youtube.
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Falls of Bruar and House of Bruar, Cairngorms National Park
This walk is a classic, especially when you stop by the House of Bruar to get something nice from delicatessen. I bought my mum a scarf for Christmas. A big department store in the middle of the Scottish Highlands is worth seeing at least once in your lifetime, but in my eyes the experience is only completed by taking in the beautiful nature around it and do the full walk around the Falls of Bruar. The snow was just the icing on the cake.
This walk features in my November Vlog.
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Ben Ledi - Hiking in a Cloud
Scottish Weather is notoriously fickle. Just the day before the weather was bright and clear and when we returned the next day, there was already a low cloud enveloping the majority of the mountain tops. But we wanted the full tour and decided not to go the day before and possibly having to descend a precarious mountain path in the dark. The cloud on top never went away, but occasionally the sun would peek through. It’s pretty much like walking through a thick fog, so good navigation is essential. But the atmosphere is amazing and everything looks very mysterious. Whilst at the bottom of the mountain, we could still see the bright Autumn colours, on the top the colours all blended together in the typical Scottish Highlands colour scheme.
Watch the full hiking vlog on my Youtube channel.
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Autumnal Shades around Ben Ledi, Trossachs
We caught Autumn at its Best while going up Ben Ledi in the Trossachs National Park. This area of Scotland is really growing on me and I want to explore there more often. For now, enjoy all the beautiful Autumn shades and the light and shadow effect created by the low sun. At the end of our walk the light was failing us and it became harder to capture the colours, but I think you still get a good idea.
Head over to my Youtube channel for a full hiking vlog.
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Glen Clova and Glen Doll, Scottish Highlands
We drove up to the Cairngorms to visit Dun Mor Hillfort and Corrie Fee. It was raining lightly on our way up and we were worried that it wouldn’t be much of a walk. But right when we arrived at the top of the hillfort the rain eased off and left behind these stunning clouds, that kept on shape-shifting around the mountains. I was able to take some beautiful and scenic drone footage for my video. As we made our way down, the heaviest of the clouds had dissipated and revealed Corrie Fee and it’s magnificent waterfall, which was our other destination that day.
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Join in as we drive through Glen Clova, go up to have a look at Dun Mor Hillfort (and get a spectacular view from there) and then take the forest path up to Corrie Fee, a high-up valley shaped by glaciers a long time ago. I brought my drone for some scenic footage. I hope you enjoy!
Ben Vorlich and Loch Earn
I brought my drone along for a mountain walk because I wanted to see the mountain from up above. I have always loved flying on planes because I get to see the world from a bird’s perspective. Now that I can fly a drone, I am yet one step closer to bird vision.
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Loch Earn
This is perhaps one of the most beautiful lochs in Scotland and these photos hardly do it justice (I tried to capture driving along the shores in my Ben Vorlich vlog). If I had a million pounds, I’d be buying a house next to Loch Earn in no time (wink wink, Universe). We went up Ben Vorlich, a munro (one of 277 mountains in Scotland that are at least 3,000 feet / 914 meters high), and drove around the whole loch on the way there and back. If you visit Scotland for a road trip, do yourself a favour and stop by Loch Earn.
Here’s the post about going up Ben Vorlich.
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Ben Vorlich, Perthshire
We caught a good day to go up with some great weather. Usually, being right on top of a mountain can be unpleasant and you have to get out of the way of the wind. In this case, there was a pleasantly cool breeze. I could have spent even more time on the peak, but we had to get home eventually ;). On the way back the low evening sun was bathing the mountains around us in the most beautiful warm light and painting the hills with spots of dark and light, as it is typical for beautiful Scotland. Ben Vorlich is next to Loch Earn, which stretches along the mountains, a beautiful view on the way down. The walk lasted about 7h in total (breaks included, possibly about 5h of just walking). I’m glad I spent long enough walking up and down to be able to catch such a special moment.
A hiking vlog is up on my channel.
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Come along for a walk up Ben Vorlich, a Munro on the Western egde of Perthshire, and a drive along the beautiful Loch Earn! I even dragged my drone up the mountain just so I could show you some beautiful footage ;). Ben Vorlich is 985 meters or 3232 feet high and has great views over both the Scottish Highlands and the Lowlands. A big recommendation for anybody who is doing a road trip around Scotland. Enjoy!
April was a strange month, a bit up and down, internally and externally. Nevertheless, I managed to experience lots of beautiful places and situations. Among other things we finally went up Mount Blair, a mountain I had my eyes on for years. The theme for April is change and resisting it, just like the weather was bouncing between Summer and Winter. I used my acoustic guitar for a change, so I hope you enjoy the music and of course the video.
Mount Blair
The border between Perthshire and Angus runs right through this mountain, which effectively signals the beginning of the Cairngorms, the Eastern part of the Scottish Highlands. From the top you can see the characteristic plateau of the Cairngorms. However, to get to the top was not an easy feat. From afar it looks easy, a pretty gradual and straight way up. In reality I was pausing every few minutes to catch my breath because the ascent was relentless and there was hardly an even surface until I got closer to the top. The view, of course, made up for the struggles. Even as I had to pause, there was always something new to see because new mountains gradually started to peak out from behind the front front row. I also shot some drone footage for my new Vlog.
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The entirety of March was a slow beginning to Spring, with some days being sunny and warm and others rainy and cold. I’ve documented my favourite signs of Spring. Towards the end of March was my birthday and seeing as I could not travel anywhere to celebrate, I opted to do the exact thing as the previous year: We went to one of my favourite remote places, Loch Ordie. I also tried out a new piece of equipment that I was able to purchase with my birthday money. So far it has been worth every pound I paid for it. There is plenty of Nature scenes in this Vlog, so I hope you will find it relaxing! Enjoy!
Loch Ordie Walk
Just like last year, I decided to spend my birthday hiking up to Loch Ordie. It took us about 5 hours and we walked about 20 miles altogether. So I felt incredibly tired, but that place has such an intriguing, magical atmosphere. It keeps drawing me back. The weather was changeable that day and we got a variety of sky backdrops, from sunny blue to dramatic grey and rainy.
This walk features in my March Vlog.
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I agreed to the challenge by my friend Amy on Youtube to make a video of 2 minutes or less about why I hike / hillwalk and it turns out I had a lot to say, so the true challenge was to not go over 2 minutes. It was a lot of fun compiling these clips from my various adventures. Feel free to tell me why you hike or hillwalk! Yes, especially you Tumblerones and Tumblerettes.
This April will mark 7 years of me posting on my ‘On Misty Mountains’ Tumblr Blog!
Castle Dow, Pictish Hillfort
All of the snow, except for the mountain tops, has melted and Spring has begun. It’s always nice to walk through an old forest up to the top of this hillfort and see these cairns, which have been built during the Victorian era. Rather than following the path, we followed an old wall, which we knew would lead us straight to the top. The forest is a bog at this time of the year, but this is the most fun I had in while. I felt invigorated. Forest bathing is a real thing with real effects on the body, psyche and soul.
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Dream cottages in Scotland, UK
