A four day tour of Scotland which commenced on Friday, September 2nd, 2004. This short visit to Scotland was based out of the Highland Perthshire town of Dunkeld and the old coaching Inn, The Royal Dunkeld Hotel. The primary interest of this group was to check out Dunkeld, Perthshire and Scotland for suitable locations for future photography tours of Scotland.

Friday - Day 1:
After arriving at Edinburgh Airport at 8.30am, this two person group crossed the Forth Road Bridge for a brief stop in North Queensferry. Driving East into The Kingdom of Fife we then visited Lower Largo. Lower Largo is renowned for its association with Alexander Selkirk, who was to gain fame for his self-imposed exile on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean, and is better known as Robinson Crusoe. We then drove along the coast of Fife to the East Neuk villages of St Monans, Pittenweem,and Anstruther. After a wonderful lunch of fresh Pittenweem Haddock at the Craws Nest Hotel we then continued on to the fishing village of Crail, and then North for a brief stop in St Andrews. From St Andrews we drove North across the Tay Road Bridge and along the North banks of the River Tay to Perthshire and Dunkeld. After settling into the The Royal Dunkeld Hotel we had dinner at the Perth Arms pub in Dunkeld.

Saturday - Day 2:
After breakfast we drove a few miles West of Dunkeld to the Falls at Rumbling Bridge. From Rumbling Bridge we drove West to Amulree and then up the single track road to Glen Quaich and over the bonny hills and moors to the Highland Perthshire village of Kenmore situated beside Loch Tay. After a quick lunch in Kenmore we drove to Keltneyburn and the Iron Fairy sculptures of Heather M. Cumming. From Keltneyburn we drove over the single track Schiehallion Road to visit the Highland Perthshire town of Kinloch Rannoch where we spent an hour in the town before driving along the single track roads along the South Banks of Loch Tummel and the River Tummel. The group then took a walk through the Linn of Tummel to Garry Bridge a few miles North of Pitlochry. Driving South again we visited the beautiful Dunkeld Hermitage to view the falls and salmon leap. Returning to Dunkeld we had dinner at the Tap Inn across the Dunkeld Bridge in Birnam.

Sunday - Day 3:
After breakfast we drove South to Perth to browse through the stalls at the Car Boot Sale. After acquiring a few bargains we drove South again to the wee village of Abernethy with its famed Pictish Tower. The name Abernethy is an extremely potent name in Scottish history. Here was an ancient Pictish capital, and then an ecclesiastical metropolis of the Celtic Church of the Culdees, conveniently near to Scone, the one-time Royal centre of government only 8 miles away across the River Tay, as the crow flies. Even before that, Abernethy was important, with a Pictish and also Roman fort, port and baths, at Carpow just to the north. From Abernethy we returned to Dunkeld and then onward to Loch of the Lowes. The Loch of the Lowes Wildlife Reserve is one of Scotland's most popular sites for watching ospreys. We then drove North East to attend the Highland Games in Blairgowrie. After the Games we drove West through Kirkmichael to The Moulin Hotel for a bar dinner.

Monday - Day 4:
After breakfast we drove through Perthshire to Kinross to visit Loch Leven Castle. Loch Leven Castle is one of the best and least changed examples of a fourteenth century keep remaining in Scotland. The most famous association of Loch Leven Castle is undoubtedly the imprisonment here of Mary Queen of Scots. From Kinross we drove West to the town of Dollar, where, on a high spur of the Ochil Hills, in one of the grandest situations enjoyed by any castle in Scotland, stands Castle Campbell. The castle stands on a green promontory between the two streams, known as the Burn of Sorrow and the Burn of Care, and its original name was the Castle of Gloom. The mound on which it stands is partly natural and partly artificial, and at least three hundred feet high. On the side toward the hills was formerly a deep chasm, spanned by a drawbridge; but this is now partly filled up, so that the ascent on this side is not more than fifty feet. In such a situation, before the advent of artillery, an attack on this castle would have been perfectly useless. No engines could have been brought to bear on it, and a handful of men on the parapets could have resisted an army as long as their provisions held out.

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