Location:- Birnam Hill by Dunkeld Time:- 10/4/10 1200-1530
The sun was finally shining and spring had at last sprung. I had the day off work and as it was Saturday I took father out for a wonder up a hill to get a few countryside photos and hopefully some of an ancient bridge. It’s been a while since I’d been on a proper trip out and about so was ready with wide angled and zoom lenses to take on a Perthshire hillside.
We chose to do the simple path up Birnam Hill just outside Dunkeld. So after having a light brunch in Perth we headed out. We started at Birnam railway station which is just off the A9 and looks like it is by itself as Birnam and Dunkeld are hidden on the other side of the A9 behind the trees. The blurb I had read the night before on the net had told me the full walk would take about 2 hours and had a pretty detour of an ancient bridge (Stair Bridge). All started well and the path which spiraled up through lovely wee cottages and large mansions was easy to follow and ran parallel to the railway. It wound through woodland and meandered up and down the hill side until we came to the Quarry carpark. Now I knew that from the Quarry the bridge was only a little distance away and 200m up. We started up a main Path and brought Errol the diabetic monster out of hibernation, but father being father decided to go back a bit and take a less traveled route. This was our 1st mistake.
Slate quarry which was supposed to be close to the bridge
We found our way up to the Quarry and by this time it had got really quite hot and I had to take a few layers off. I also developed a real thirst and found I had not brought a bottle of water. We walked through the Quarry and found a little magical looking grove set in the back. Although probably just a part of the slate Quarry it looked like something out of a Harry Potter movie, with large rocks guarding a passage through to a little ivy and moss strewn alcove. It was lovely and I got the camera out to take a few shots, however the sun was dodging around it as the hill kept it in shadow. Got a couple of shots though before we moved on up and out of the Quarry and over slate littered paths to the top of the Quarry and a lot of marshland.
After a good look around and some muddy moments we found nothing of a bridge nor anything for it to cross. We did however find an old sheep pen built of slate. As we headed out of the woodland onto the hillside proper father went on a scouting mission to a small peak to see if he could see the phantom bridge. When he phoned back to say he could see no bridge I decided to use my brains instead of my brawn and I called my sister and got her to go online to find out where this bridge was. Unfortunately all she found out was that it was just off the quarry and 200m up. Which I already knew. Father decided to to climb up to the summit, but by this time I was gasping for water, feeling weak and too hot so opted to head back into the shade of the trees so we split up with the understanding that whoever found out where the bridge was would phone the other and direct them to it. This was our 2nd mistake.
As I wound back down through woodland father continued up. After 10 mins or so he called as I hung over the edge of a precipice holding on to a tree for dear life (and still couldn’t see the stupid bridge) he could not see the bridge but had met a couple of people who told him the bridge was 20 mins down the main path. Fine for him who had a path, I on the other hand was in the middle of nowhere and well and truly lost. He gave me directions to follow which directed me back through the quarry, down the path and back to the path we came to. So off I set back down the hill, passed the sheep pen, through the mud and quagmire, over the fallen trees, through the quarry, down the slate path, down the road to the other path. Father phoned again at this point and told me that I should take the path on my left, so stupidly I did. So this was mistake 3.
I hiked along the path which dragged me up and down the hillside where the trees were thinner and the wind was softer and the temperature was higher and my thirst was getting worse and worse until all I could think about was having a lovely cool big bottle of water. Just as the path started to seem horribly familiar father called again to see where I was. On finding out I was far down the hill and actually on the path we started on he told me I should be a mile or so in the other direction and up the hill about 200m. After being very tempted to go back and get the car and drive back to the other car park closer to the supposed bridge sight I turned back and hiked back to where we went off of the main path all those hours ago. I pulled myself up the steep rocky path and was sorely tempted to drink for the the little burn which ran alongside and over the path. With parched throat and weakening legs I got the point where father was and we climbed up path towards the bridge. On route we met, oddly enough, my old politics lecturer form college who remembered me after 10 years and told us the bridge was only 10 mins up. Phew.
A very impressive bridge from underneath and all for a wee burn!
Finally we found the allusive bridge and though at 1st quite disappointing on the approach as you only saw the crumbling top, on exploration it was a very impressive construction spanning a large ravine and a small burn and completely out of place. It must of taken a lot of time and money to build in order to span this lonely part of the countryside and there was no evidence that it had ever been a main thoroughfare or even went anywhere. Although I was shattered and thirsty I clambered down the burn and under the bridge. Using a low ISO speed and high Aperture I got some lovely low shutter speeds and although I had no tripod with me I got some lovely slow water shots.I also whacked the camera into raw format instead of jpeg this allows the camera to save exactly what it sees in a full mega pixel format, which leaves you with a very large file but the ability to play around a lot more in photoshop including changing the exposure. I climbed around the edge of the burn which dropped into oblivion just passed the bridge and balanced myself and the camera on various rocks to capture the best perspectives of the small falls, trying my best to stay still so not to blur the shot. Father tried to cross the burn under the bridge and slipped and almost disappeared over the steep drop so we decided that it would be a better idea to stay where we were. Happy to have finally found the ancient bridge I had been promised and even thirstier after seeing and hearing all that water we decided to head back to the car.
Once back at the car we drove into Dunkeld and got some juice. My 1st bottle lasted about 20 seconds and the 2nd about a min or 2 but wow they tasted good. Apart form the absolute dehydration and the lost in the sunshine, it was quite a successful day and I got some lovely smokey water shots. But next time I’m taking a map and not following dads directions!
