Scotland roadtrip - part 5

Laura and Nicholas James drove from Cawdor Castle late on the Saturday afternoon through rather miserable weather in the Cairngorms to a remote cottage in the hills above Pitlochry and Killiecrankie.

The following day they went to Killiecrankie to see where a Redcoat soldier had leapt from one side of the river to the other as he tried to escape the Jacobites in the Battle of Killiecrankie. The river Garry runs through a wooded, rocky gorge, and they decided it must have been really tricky to fight a battle in this area. It was a beautiful place for a woodland walk.

The river Garry at Killiecrankie not far from the Soldier's leap

The Soldier's Leap sign says "The large, flat rock down below on your right, at the water's edge is said to be the site form which Donald McBane, a Redcoat soldier fleeing the battle of Killiecrankie, leapt 5.5 metres / 18 feet across the River Garry while being pursued by Jacobite clansmen.

Soldier's leap sign

The Soldier's leap

Laura and Nicholas James peered down at the Soldier's leap rocks

Heilan Coo joined Laura and Nicholas James to look at Soldier's leap

On the Monday morning before leaving the Pitlochry area, Laura and Nicholas James visited Blair Atholl Watermill, which is Scotland's oldest working watermill. It only works when the river Tilt is in full spate and there was a sign up explaining they've had water supply issues recently.

Blair Atholl Watermill with no water in the channel for the water wheel

Sign explaining why the Watermill wasn't running

Inside the watermill it was possible to visit all 3 levels of the mill workings to see the millstones, the driving cogs, hoppers and chutes, there were lots of information signs explaining how it worked. Laura and Nicholas James were fascinated.

Diagram showing how a waterwheel works

Nicholas James and Laura looked down at the millstones

Some of the driving cogs and wheels, drive belts and hoppers

Much to their delight, Laura and Nicholas James found that despite the watermill not running during their visit, they could still try their hand at grinding some grain as there was a mortar and pestle specially for this purpose.

Why not try grinding your own flour. Nicholas James was keen to give it a try.

"It looks like very hard work" said Laura.
"I can understand why they harnessed the water to grind the wheat for flour" gasped Nicholas James

On another level of the Watermill, Nicholas James and Laura discovered a scale model of Blair Atholl Watermill.

Nicholas James and Laura admired the model of Blair Atholl Watermill

They had tea and scones at the watermill cafe bakehouse, then it was time to go back to the cottage to load the car for the start of the journey home.

On their journey from the Cairngorms, they went past the Kinross Loch Leven though didn't stop as they had a long way to travel that day. They crossed the Forth river via the road bridge and saw the the famous railway bridge, then drove past Edinburgh (which Laura had visited with Florence in May 2014) and through the Scottish borders where they had a brief refreshment break in Jedburgh. A few miles later they reached the Scottish borders at Carter Bar and got out of the car for a final look at Scotland before travelling on to stay overnight in Gateshead then travelling home via York the following day.

Information sign about the Scottish borders, at Carter Bar

Nicholas James, Heilan Coo and Laura at the viewpoint of the Scottish Border

Laura and Nicholas James had a wonderful road trip in Scotland. They were so pleased to bring Heilan Coo home with them.