Perthshire

Posted on June 14, 2024  •  9 minutes  • 1818 words

Why did we go

I recently had the privilege of reaching the third floor (i.e. my 30th birthday) in May. To celebrate, Robert and I decided to treat ourselves to a rather bougie stay at country lodge in the Perthshire (in the Scottish Lowlands). The plan was a long weekend of my two favourite things: hiking and fine dining. The stay definitely delivered on both!

What did we do

Day 1

We travelled by plane via London Stanstead to Glasgow and picked up a car there. We arrived at Kinloch House fairly late at night: probably around nine-thirty, and so made the executive decision to have dinner at McDonad’s on the road.

I arrived at the airport early to check in our bags as Robert was still at work. I attempted to make a break for the Lounge Key premium lounge but was told we had to book in advance? So bear that in mind if you ever want to travel through Stanstead. Consoled myself with a large bag of Haribos bought from one of Stanstead’s numerous WH Smiths.

I arrived just in time at the airport after a hard day work and found Sarah outside the WH Smith with a bag of Haribos! Win!

Day 2

We decided to do our most ambitious hike on the first day of the holiday – as this was also the day which was predicted to have the best weather! The route involved two Munros (Mayar and Driesh ) in Glen Cova. It was a 14.5km circuit with about 800m of ascent. For a full description of the route, you can check it out on the Walk Highlands Website .

We cannot recommend Walk Highlands enough — it is a super valuable resource with numerous well-described routes with photographs throughout the Scottish highlands. All the routes have difficulty ratings and user reports.

Keep a good eye on the “Bog Factor” as well as “Grade” and “Rating”, particularly if you haven’t hiked in boggy terrain before.

We went when the vegitation was very lush and so we didn’t have any warning before breaking out of the forest cover and seeing this beautiful green valley stretching up before us. It truely was magical.

We walked through the valley and began our ascent. Unfortunately the path was not very well marked in points and we lost our way on the escarpment for a bit. What followed was a slight domestic dispute about whether to continue up the rather boggy gradient of the ascent (which would have been unpleasant) , or if we should attempt to re-find the path (which seemed a bit impossible as we had been off it for several hundred meters). Eventually the latter prevailed.

Robert’s boy-scout skills really saved the day here to be honest. He managed to find the path within 5 minutes of beginning his search — which is saying something because were surrounded by marshy hillocks so did not have a good long-distance view. He definitely earned an “I told you so” card.

We enjoyed a packed lunch (courtesy of the hotel) on the newly relocated path near a babbling stream. And then continued on to the biggest ascent. Although it was only about 150m (after doing about 600m already) it was quite a tough one as it was very windy.

Once you’ve left the forest (and before you re-enter it at the end) there is absolutely no cover. As days are getting hotter and sunnier in Scotland, make sure you have plenty of water and sun-block.

We decided not to do the second Munro on the hike, Driesh, as we thought it wasn’t worth the extra hour there and back. If you’re bagging Munros , these two should definitely be done together.

We returned to the hotel and enjoyed a hot shower before heading into the drawing room for a well-earned G&T and canapes. The gin was from the Perse distillery and had a lovely orange flavour to it. Dinner was lamb (for Robert) and fish( for me) and was a satisfying end to a long day of hard hiking!

Day 3

Today was the rainiest of the three days, so we decided to do a shorter walk in the morning. We did 4.25km loop through some forest alongside the river Braan. The highlight of the walk was a small folly built in a strange gothic style which was built by a local duke. From the folly we had a view of a magnificent waterfall which was flowing strongly – presumably due to the substantial rain which the area had been experiencing recently (and which were watching occur in real time).

We got into the car at the end of the walk thoroughly drenched and decided to head to Uisge Bar and Restaurant for some light lunch. It was quite a modern restaurant but we wanted to keep our meal light in anticipation of another substantial dinner that evening.

After lunch we returned to the hotel and washed off before spending the afternoon reading in the hotel drawing room. Dinner was another three course affair which started with canapes again (although Robert avoided the gin this time as the rather generous Scottish serves took him out the night before).

Day 4

Our final day of the holiday! We were planning on taking the Caledonian sleeper train which only departed from Glasgow at quarter to ten at night, and so we had a full day ahead of us to plan.

This is a big advantage of taking the train: it leaves late at night which gives you a full day at your departure destination, and arrives early in the morning which gives you a full day at your arrival destination! Also you don’t have to spend ages waiting around doing things like clearing security, as you would have to at an airport!

We had originally planned quite an ambitious hike but it was a ninety minute drive away and also there was a yellow weather warning in the area where it was meant to be. So we decided on the drive out to rather do a gentle valley hike instead. The end destination was Loch Calleater. We basically had the trail to ourselves which was rather idyllic .
Unfortunately the yellow weather warning caught up with us in the second half of the hike and we got completely drenched. However, watching the sheets of rain beat down into the black depths of Loch Calleater was certainly atmospheric. We also managed to walk out of the storm on our route back down through the valley. It was definitely surreal seeing sunshine on the one end of the valley, and dark purple storm clouds on the other! After the hike it was time to head back to Glasgow. We stopped to pick up some Persie gin on our way out of Perthshire (the lady at the then empty shop did her best to offer us a gin tasting! If we hadn’t been driving that afternoon we probably would have taken her up on it!).

The drive back to Glasgow was a bit of a drag and dropping the car off at Glasgow station was a was a bit of a nightmare. You basically have to play chicken and drive in a bus lane to get to the Europcar drop-off. It is not for the faint of heart. However, the beauty of train travel is that you basically just need to be on the platform five minutes before your train leaves! So we parked off our bags at the left luggage service at the station, and went for a delicious pub dinner and some drinks at the Smokin Fox .

We then bundled onto the train, watched some Netflix in our cabin and went to sleep. The following morning we woke up just outside London to the Caledonian’s tea and coffee service. So all in all a very comfortable way to end the holiday!

Where did we stay

We decided to stay at the Kinloch Country House (not to be confused with Kinloch Lodge in the Isle of Sky). A primary draw of the hotel was that it had an excellent traditional dining room where we could enjoy a three course meal each night — something we had really enjoyed when we had stayed in a similar style of hotel in Ireland . Think scallops, duck live pate, and roast beef. A substantial meal paired with a good glass of wine is really an excellent way to finish off a long day of hiking. Kinloch House also had a certain charming old-world hospitality to it. The rooms are enormous and are outfitted in a classical countryside style. It boasts two wood panelled drawing rooms- lingering in either for more than five minutes would be rewarded with an obliging member of staff offering you a cup of tea and some freshly baked fruitcake or short bread. We also opted to have tea delivered on a tray to our rooms each morning so that we could relax and get ready for breakfast together.

However, we would be remiss if we did not mention that this abundance of free flowing tea, whilst having a delightful Downton Abbey charm, did come at £10 a pop — which was not advertised upfront. This felt a bit cheeky as the nightly rate (which did not include dinner) was already quite steep.

How did we get there

Ideally, we would have taken a cabin on the Caledonian sleeper train there and back. It’s super convenient for Robert to hop on the train after work in London and wake up in Scotland. The plan was to travel from London to Glasgow and then pick up a car from there to make the 90 minute drive to Perthshire.

I got to be the passenger princess in the car!

Sarah currently has a permanent passenger princess position, on account of me being the only one with a valid drivers licence in the UK!

The Caledonian sleeper train was far more popular than I had imagined! If you are wanting to travel over a busy period (eg. during the summer or over bank holiday weekends), I suggest booking at least two months in advance!