Geocaching at the Den of Alyth

After yesterday's workshop out came my basic Garmin GPS navigator. There all sorts of Navigators available and all at different prices and of course now all the latest smart phones have apps you can download for navigating. So all you do is log into the Geocaching site and download the co-ordinates of the caches you want to find and it can also be helpful to take a note of some of the clues available as they can be tricky to find at times. The Den of Alyth is only a 10 minute drive away and there are seven caches located there, but of course it's also just a nice place to go for a walk.

Geocaching Demonstration Workshop

If you follow my blog I first mentioned Geocaching in August 2009. Yesterday afternoon I attended a geocaching workshop at the Dunkeld Hilton Hotel organised by Perth and Kinross Council and presented by Paul McLennan from the Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust. He is involved with Big Tree Country and a large number of caches have been hidden by them and many had been hidden for the mega event last year. There are over a 1000 caches within a 35 mile radius of Dunkeld. It was a really interesting workshop and we went out into the hotel grounds to locate two that had been placed just for this workshop and it fired up my interest in Geocaching again. With so many to find in Perthshire it adds an extra dimension to a walk and Blairgowrie is perfectly based to go out Geocaching with plenty in the immediate area. There are a huge number hidden along the Cateran Trail as well and there will be a geocaching event as part of the Heather Festival in August.

Caterham 7

It was a busy old day in B&B land today, lots of happy guests leaving and rooms to get ready for tonight's arrivals. I had just finished cleaning when the doorbell rang and the owner Andrew from Open Road Hire which hires out Caterham 7's introduced himself, we follow each other on Twitter, so not total strangers. As you know I like to take photographs so was pleased to learn he had come in one of his Caterham 7's and was even more pleased when I was invited to go for a drive - shame I didn't have more time and we could have driven further than we went. It was a lovely day for a drive, we went along the Dunkeld Road onto Palace Road and back along the Essendy Road.

Hiring a Caterham 7 is a great gift idea for others or yourself and the country roads around Perthshire are ideal for driving on and generally very quiet. Today's visit from Andrew and his car 'made my day' thank you. I also put a wee video up on you tube

Fallen trees and Fungi

Today I went for my dog walk in the woods armed with my camera to capture a picture of the 'eyelash' fungi, which is the small orange colour fungi. The other day I was in the woods and got talking to two people who were foraging about and being nosey I asked what they were doing! and it was they that told me about the eyelash fungi so called because when magnified it looks like, yes you guessed it an eye lash. The yellow fungi is called Fuligo septica 'Flowers of Tan'.

In the horrendous gales we had the other week quite a few trees in the woods were blown over in a real domino effect and someone has been busy with their chainsaw clearing up, real shame to see such ancient trees casually uprooted.

The Strawberry Shop

On the way home we stopped at the Strawberry Shop, you can't miss it en route to Blairgowrie. Lots of lovely raspberries, strawberries, vegetables, cakes etc etc!!

Scone Palace

Had a wee daunder down the road to Scone Palace as there was a pottery festival on today called 'Potfest'. Lots of people were there on a really quite miserable wet day to view all the lovely pottery for sale in the marquees. The children weren't overally enthralled with pottery viewing but had plenty of fun running around the extensive grounds and getting lost in the maze. Above are a few random images from today.

AA Highly Commended Award 2011-2012

Also this morning I was delighted to receive again for another year the AA yellow star award.

Fish Fungus (Saprolegnia)

The other day when I was down by the River Ericht I noticed several dead fish and was also fortunate enough to get close up to some salmon in the pools below Cargills Leap. Some of the fish were covered in some white looking matter and I didn't have a clue what it was. Fortunately I had guests staying who were in the area doing a bit of salmon fishing so I showed them the photos and they even went for an evening stroll up the river to have a look. This morning I had a letter from them and they had printed off what was wrong with the fish, very interesting and kind of them to inform me, you learn something new every day. Click here for the full details of 'Saprolegnia' which seems to be quite common on the River Ericht.

Come for a walk - 4

You can then just follow the path past Cargill's Leap back to the car park. As the river was so low today I went right down to the rocks alongside and on the river and enjoyed all the birdlife and fish jumping. It was easy to get up close to the salmon in the small pools. A nice little circular walk.

Come for a walk - 3

Take the steps on the right hand side that lead up to Balmoral Road and turn left and follow the road until you come to the old car park at Keathbank Mill on the left and follow the path down to the footbridge over the river.

Come for a walk -2

In the wall before the railings there is a small archway and you can go down and admire the mechanics of the old weir. A gentle walk along Riverside road takes you to a grassy area where once again there are some old steps down to the River.

Come for a Walk - 1

Start of at the Riverside Car Park in Blairgowrie and follow the path towards the bridge over the River Ericht. There are plenty of benches to sit and watch the river flowing by. Cross over the bridge and turn first left onto Riverside road, where you can admire lovely old railings and the rather fine church.