Pitlochry
UK & IRELAND diary : Day 10 - 20th April 2017
The quaint victorian town of Pitlochry lies in central Scotland, on the banks of river Tummel. This area is flocked by well known distilleries, water bodies, mountains like Ben Vrackie & Schiehallion, that are ideal for a climb. Also, the Queen's view is a famous vantage point right above the lake Tummel. The town's 10 day theatre festival in the month of February, ensures participation of not only the village community but also others around the world.
We got to visit this town twice, on two different days, through RABBIE's day tours from Edinburgh. The town was more of a stopover. We of course got to see a few places around the area on the second day. The day one in the town was a half hour stop over. We had coffee and snacks in a restaurant. We even spotted an Indian restaurant there. The town was at its beautiful best, bringing out its true Victorian look, with brownish stone buildings adorned with black, peaking, stone roofs, all lined up in a row on either side of the road. It, however, rained a little. After the coffee break, we were on our way to our next destination.
The day two, inside the town, was also a pit stop. It was lunch time. We spread out our paraphernalia outside a FISH & CHIPS restaurant, on their lovely benches, overlooking the town road. It was delightful. This time, it was more leisurely as we were to visit a few nearby places of interest.
We got out of the town and took to the roads running along the meandering Loch Tummel. A 20 minute drive from the Pitlochry town, winding up a hill side inside the TAY FOREST PARK, got us to the spectacular QUEEN's VIEW POINT. The place actually gets its name from Queen Isabella, wife of King Robert Bruce. Later, it was also visited by Queen Victoria, who chose the area for a vacation often, due to its peaceful and beautiful surroundings. Our tour bus came to a halt in the parking lot, after which we had to climb uphill for a short while. The views that came up were just outstanding. We kept WOWing the whole time. The bright sunny day added a dashing clarity to our camera shots.
We could spot the Allean Forest , curving around Loch Tummel, displaying in pride its tall trees in varying greens. It got windy soon, we could barely manage to keep our hair in place in a few photographs. Overall the experience in the place was unbelievable. Climbing downhill , trotting over a few rocky mounds was fun. We walked back to the parking lot and took our seats in the tour bus.
Winding down the roads, our bus flew past brownish landscapes. Our next destination was the TOMPHUBIL LIME KILN. We got here from the Queen's view point in about 40 minutes. The Kiln is dated as far back as the early 19th Century.
Much before this Kiln came into existence, the area and its surroundings, was found to be rich in Limestone. This was quarried and transported to nearby places, to be fed into the smaller Kilns, to make fertilisers. The Lime content in resulting fertilizers, improved the crops and the vast land, by adding the richness of these minerals & making it more fertile. Its usage led to three fold growth of rich plants and crops from the earlier. As the lands flourished, settlements began to grow. As a cycle, this further led to more requirement of food crops and various plants. The requirement of fertilisers naturally increased, leading to necessity of a bigger KILN . The TOMPHUBIL Kiln therefore came into being. It was capable of processing large amount of limestone and turning it into fertiliser.
Once the technology improved, the kiln went out of use somewhere in the beginning of the 20th century. Some learning in this stop. We soon moved to our next destination. For further story read DUNKELD.