" once in the highlands, the highlands of Scotland,
Deep in the night on a murky baer;
There in the highlands, the highlands of Scotland,
Three weary travelers lost their way.
And this is what happened, the strange thing that happened,
To three weary travelers that lost their way.
Brigadoon , Brigadoon
Blooming under sable skies.
Brigadoon, Brigadoon,
There my heart forever lies......
Ok , it wasn't Brigadoon, ... but we were headed for Croft Moraig , stone circle; a henge of sorts and it was located in Aberfeldy not Loch Lomond but it was close to the highlands and close to a Loch so we will allow this to count. Our original goal for standing stone locations was farther north and on advice of locals and travel folks not to go that far into relatively uninhabited areas with really bad weather coming ; lots of rain and high winds, we looked for sites that were closer to our home away from home. We hit the jackpot with our substitution . Croft Moraig is called a circle of light and that in and of itself is really cool. The stones are small with the tallest being only 5 feet or so and they have no top stones, but they are lovely. There are visible post areas from 3000 years ago and some of the stones have cup marks on them which indicate where the entrances were. Archaeologists have found charcoal stained soil and Neolithic shards. It is really a complex circle with two rings, one inside the other. According to archaeologists, Croft Moraig is " one of the most informative stone circles in the British Isles.. " They have found that the timber ring is one of the earliest known. So there you go! Pretty exciting in my book....... so now how do you top that? Well the stones are just up from the Bridge over the River Tay. Why is that important? Well it is the site of the a violent winter storm disaster. On 28 December 1879, the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed due to structural failure and killed an estimated 75 people. The bridge today is one lane wide and requires infinite patience to cross if it is a busy time.
We noticed as we were headed to the stones, that across the bridge was a field that had some sort of fair activity going on and so on our way back through the bridge, we decided to take a peek. We had stumbled on the Aberfeldy Show and Highland games.... this day just kept getting more and more awesome...... We took a quick look around and were presented with the most amazing show animals: black face sheep, white face sheep, beautiful dressage horses, great huge cattle and Clydesdale mums with their wee Clydesdale colts. Now when I say wee... they were about 6 inches taller than me.. so you decide. We sampled mead, cheese, scones and I found the most lovely black sheep wool.... only it wasn't for sale..... as I was looking at the spinner's other yarns, he wandered off and came back with the only sample of the hand spin black wool that was earmarked for the historical center and he offered it to me!! Can you imagine how excited I was? I got to pet Clydesdale mums and babies, wee sheep .. met a dog named Winkie and have black sheep yarn... this day was great. Think it is over? Nope. As we were driving up the M9, there was a sign for Scone Castle - site of Scottish King coronations fro generations, home to Charlotte's queen Charlotte and Mary Queen of Scots as an occasional visitor.
Scone Castle was lovely and impressive and the grounds were extensive, including the star maze that we took on and conquered. We visited highland cattle, more cool sheep and the peacocks that roamed freely. We could have spent double the time just exploring. Alas, all this adventure makes one terribly hungry and we hit the back road looking for Loch Levin, thinking that there must be a restaurant there. Loch Levin is the lake and the small town that sites quietly on its shores is called Kinross. It is in Kinross that we had dinner and then decided to walk to the Loch. You see, this Loch is special because it is home to Castle Levin .... the same castle where Mary Queen of Scots was taken and spent a year in isolation before she escaped and made her way back to London looking for help from her cousin , Elizabeth ,the Queen of England.....
All in all ..... a varied day..... exciting , historical, cultural, full of great food and hiking and luckily an early night sleep so we can get going before the rain sets in tomorrow.
Deep in the night on a murky baer;
There in the highlands, the highlands of Scotland,
Three weary travelers lost their way.
And this is what happened, the strange thing that happened,
To three weary travelers that lost their way.
Brigadoon , Brigadoon
Blooming under sable skies.
Brigadoon, Brigadoon,
There my heart forever lies......
Ok , it wasn't Brigadoon, ... but we were headed for Croft Moraig , stone circle; a henge of sorts and it was located in Aberfeldy not Loch Lomond but it was close to the highlands and close to a Loch so we will allow this to count. Our original goal for standing stone locations was farther north and on advice of locals and travel folks not to go that far into relatively uninhabited areas with really bad weather coming ; lots of rain and high winds, we looked for sites that were closer to our home away from home. We hit the jackpot with our substitution . Croft Moraig is called a circle of light and that in and of itself is really cool. The stones are small with the tallest being only 5 feet or so and they have no top stones, but they are lovely. There are visible post areas from 3000 years ago and some of the stones have cup marks on them which indicate where the entrances were. Archaeologists have found charcoal stained soil and Neolithic shards. It is really a complex circle with two rings, one inside the other. According to archaeologists, Croft Moraig is " one of the most informative stone circles in the British Isles.. " They have found that the timber ring is one of the earliest known. So there you go! Pretty exciting in my book....... so now how do you top that? Well the stones are just up from the Bridge over the River Tay. Why is that important? Well it is the site of the a violent winter storm disaster. On 28 December 1879, the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed due to structural failure and killed an estimated 75 people. The bridge today is one lane wide and requires infinite patience to cross if it is a busy time.
We noticed as we were headed to the stones, that across the bridge was a field that had some sort of fair activity going on and so on our way back through the bridge, we decided to take a peek. We had stumbled on the Aberfeldy Show and Highland games.... this day just kept getting more and more awesome...... We took a quick look around and were presented with the most amazing show animals: black face sheep, white face sheep, beautiful dressage horses, great huge cattle and Clydesdale mums with their wee Clydesdale colts. Now when I say wee... they were about 6 inches taller than me.. so you decide. We sampled mead, cheese, scones and I found the most lovely black sheep wool.... only it wasn't for sale..... as I was looking at the spinner's other yarns, he wandered off and came back with the only sample of the hand spin black wool that was earmarked for the historical center and he offered it to me!! Can you imagine how excited I was? I got to pet Clydesdale mums and babies, wee sheep .. met a dog named Winkie and have black sheep yarn... this day was great. Think it is over? Nope. As we were driving up the M9, there was a sign for Scone Castle - site of Scottish King coronations fro generations, home to Charlotte's queen Charlotte and Mary Queen of Scots as an occasional visitor.
Scone Castle was lovely and impressive and the grounds were extensive, including the star maze that we took on and conquered. We visited highland cattle, more cool sheep and the peacocks that roamed freely. We could have spent double the time just exploring. Alas, all this adventure makes one terribly hungry and we hit the back road looking for Loch Levin, thinking that there must be a restaurant there. Loch Levin is the lake and the small town that sites quietly on its shores is called Kinross. It is in Kinross that we had dinner and then decided to walk to the Loch. You see, this Loch is special because it is home to Castle Levin .... the same castle where Mary Queen of Scots was taken and spent a year in isolation before she escaped and made her way back to London looking for help from her cousin , Elizabeth ,the Queen of England.....
All in all ..... a varied day..... exciting , historical, cultural, full of great food and hiking and luckily an early night sleep so we can get going before the rain sets in tomorrow.
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