The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Tuesday 4 October 2011

East to West Photos: Day 34

Saturday 30 April (0750-1600) (Dollarfield to East of Muthill)
Distance: 18 miles (Tot: 597.75)
Weather: Sunshine except for one fluffy little cloud which covered the sun for about 30 seconds


In contrast to the uninterestingness of Day 33, Day 34 was superb! So much so that I have far too many photos and I’ve struggled to whittle them down to something approaching a sensible number to share.
Walking out of Dollar was extraordinarily pretty with the burn that runs down a residential street being edged with blossom trees:
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Once again, there was a pretty church too. Mick photographed a lot of churches, and I'm pretty sure that no two were the same:
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The walk up Dollar Glen was made possible by the use of considerable lengths of walkways, which were undeniably intrusive:
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Plus there was a viewing platform (of which I made good use):
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But without the walkways and the viewing platform we wouldn’t have been able to walk all the way up this glen, or to enjoy spectacles like this fissure:
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This day really did pack the features in. Still within a mile of Dollar (and within 2 miles of the start of our day) we reached Castle Campbell, and from a distance away I managed to use the trees to disguise the huge amount of scaffolding to the south side of the castle:
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Skirting around Hillfoot Hill and looking down at Glenquey Reservoir it was all so pretty as to bring many a smile to our faces.
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There were pitches aplenty at various points throughout the day, but we still had a way to go, so didn’t succumb to sampling any of them:IMG_1281
It was a hot day again and I seem to recall that I was feeling either sapped or otherwise under the weather by the time we got to Auchterarder. I must have looked awful too, because Mick didn’t put up any protests when I plonked myself on a window sill outside of the Co-op and told Mick that he was doing the shopping today.
An ice cream and some cold pop revived me, which was a good thing, as we still had a way to go. Moreover, the rest of the way wasn’t all plain sailing, as we had to negotiate a disused railway line which I’d perused on aerial photos and hoped would be passable. Early indications weren’t great:IMG_2730
Things didn’t get much better a bit further on:
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There were sections that were walkable in between the obstructions, so it was an adventure more than an ordeal and in due course we found ourselves a pitch for the night in a farmer’s field. If you should want to read even more words to go with these photos, you’ll find them here.

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