17th September 2021 – 235 miles travelled
Today is the third and final leg of our journey to Latheron in north east Scotland, near Wick, with lots of sites en route.
Not too far from Perth was our first stop for the day at The Hermitage, a place recommended to us on a previous visit to see the Enchanted Forest at Pitlochry. The Hermitage is a forest walk, along the banks of the river Braan and has the Black Linn Falls. There are red squirrels (that we didn’t see).
Out next planned stop was Blair Atholl palace, we didn’t want the tour just to see the building but it was expensive so we decided not to stop and go on to Blair Atholl watermill. They were fixing a fault with the sluice gates so tours were not available but we were able to get some lunch in the cafe – toasted sandwich for me and soup and roll for Gavin, all made with their own milled flour and was lovely.
After some lunch we continued on to Ruthven Barracks, today Ruthven Barracks are as was left by the departing Jacobites in April 1746. Most of the exterior walls remain but little of the interior or roof.
Continuing north we crossed both the Dornoch firth and the Cromarty firth on the way to Tain.
At Tain we took a detour off the main road to visit the Mermaid of the North. The Mermaid of the North sits on a rock called “Clach Dubh” in village of Ballintore. The tide was out so didn’t look as spectacular as photo’s i’d seen, it’s all about timing!
Final stop before reaching final destination was Tesco in Tain to get our groceries for the next week, or as much as we could fit around everything in the car. Then it was on to Loch End cottage which is 5 miles on from Latheron on the A9 north. We are staying in the cottage for the next week to explore the east coast of the northern highlands. The cottage stands on its own directly off the A9, there are no other houses near by, we missed the turning as it was dark and raining by the time we got there so had to turn round and head back.