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Tour
Aberfoyle
"ABERFOYLE,
Parish in south-west extremity of Perthshire, with post-office
under Stirling, and a hotel 61/2 miles north-north-west of Bucklyvie
railway station. Length, 10 1/2 miles; breadth, 5 1/2 miles; area,
26,810 acres. Real property in 1880-81, £4579. Pop., qouad
civilia, 465; quoad sacra, 409. A bill was promoted in 1880 for
a railway, on a capital of £55,000, from the vicinity of
the hotel to a junction with the Forth and Clyde Railway between
Bucklyvie and Balfron. A glen, on the south-east border, contains
the hotel and the church; extends about 2 miles west-ward, with
a width of about 1/2 mile, and is traversed by the chief head-stream
of the river Forth. A pass at the glen's head figured much in
the raids of the Highland caterans, and was the scene of a victory
of Graham of Duchray over a body of Cromwell's troops. The general
surface is upland, and includes the Benvenue, Benchochan, and
some lesser mountains. Loch Katrine, the Trossachs, and Loch Achray
are on the northern border; Loch Drunkie is in the north-east
corner; and Lochs Chon and Ard are in the south-west. The aggregate
scenery is much diversified and richly picturesque, and many spots
figure graphically in Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy, Waverly, and
Lady of the Lake; but the 'clachan' of his romance, on a site
about a mile west of the hotel, is now extinct. The public school
has about 65 scholars."
Wilson, Rev. John, The Gazetteer of Scotland, 1882.
This
is the most readily accessible truly Highland community, from
the south, with Glasgow only 30 miles by road, and Stirling 16.
It is consequently highly popular for visitors, and deservedly
so--indeed it is today becoming so for 'commuters' also. Itself
an attractive area, it is also the gateway to further delights.
There
are four distinct sections of Aberfoyle, two of them 2 miles apart--from
the Rob Roy Roadhouse area to the east, to the Milton on the west,
almost at the narrow foot of Loch Ard. The former is most visitors'
first sight of Aberfoyle, and here there has always been a mill
and cottages also, the mill-wheel still in position. Here too
is the golf-course. The other two sections are called the Clachan
and the Kirkton-- these all being typical old Scots divisions
of any community. Nowadays the whole village tends to get called
the Clachan of Aberfoyle; but this in fact used only to refer
to the group of cottages round the famous inn, which lay almost
a mile west of the present modern village--an inn haunted by Rob
Roy and generations of other MacGregors, corning down from Glen
Gyle, Inversnaid and so on. The present Bailie Nicol Jarvie Hotel
is the 'descendant' of this inn, though on a more easterly site,
and still retains the famed poker, really a plough coulter, with
which the doughty bailie laid about him, as in the scene immortalised
by Scott in his Rob Roy. This modern part of the village is not
particularly attractive, despite its fine setting--indeed it grew
up round the now-defunct railway station, and rather looks the
part. The station has gone, and its yard is now used as a large,
necessary but hardly handsome car-park, with facilities. Here
are good shops, tea-rooms, craft centres and the like.
The
Milton, to the west, still retains its old-time atmosphere, despite
some modern housing development. The school and modern church
are pleasantly placed on the rising ground between.
For
antiquities one has to take the road which turns south, at the
Bailie Nicol Jarvie. Here is the ancient, hump-backed and famous
bridge over the infant Forth, leading to the Kirkton--site of
a notable affray in 1671, when, at a christening of all things,
the Grahams of nearby Duchray came to blows with followers of
their far-out kinsman, the Earl of Airth, in typical Highland
feuding fashion. The old parish church, where the christening
took place, is a little farther on, and though now a ruin, still
retains its belfry. How old it was is uncertain, for it was rebuilt
in 1744 and repaired in 1839. It was an appendage of Inchmahome
Priory. At the door still are two heavy mort-safes, in the shape
of iron coffins, to foil body-snatchers of the Burke and Hare
type; and there are many old gravestones, including one, dated
1692, for the Reverend Robert Kirk, who translated the Psalms
into Gaelic verse--as well as distinguishing himself in more esoteric
ways. In this connection it is interesting to note that, as late
as the 1842 Gazetteer, it is declared that "everybody (in
the district) understands English, though the Gaelic is chiefly
in use . One wonders how many Gaelic-speakers there are in Aberfoyle
today?
The
road past the kirk is a cul-de-sac, ending in a number of woodland
tracks through the great planted Loch Ard Forest which clothes
all the foothills to the south--for this area is greatly invaded
by the Forestry Commission. Half a mile along, near the fork,
on rising ground now used for Forestry housing, is the site of
a good stone circle, which had ten stones, with a larger one in
the middle. To the east of the Kirkton rises the large modern
Covenanters' Inn, a well-known hotel whose name refers to the
20th, not 17th century Covenanters, who met here and drew up the
wording of their Scottish Covenant on self-government which attracted
over two million signatures, in 1949. Now, this is a great place
for pony-trekking--indeed everywhere you go in Aberfoyle area,
Highland garrons are in evidence.
The
road in the other direction, rising steeply behind the village
northwards, to the Trossachs, is a 'must' for all visitors. A
short way up, crowning an isolated knoll, is the magnificently-sited
Tea House, a notable piece of modern architecture, circular and
pillared all round, providing the most splendid views. Indeed
all this road, known as the Duke's Road, and threading the Duke's
Pass, gives vistas in all directions--the slate quarries on the
left being not too great an eyesore. The Duke, incidentally, was
a Graham one, of Montrose, descendant of the Great Marquis. The
large Achray Forest, which covers much of the area, diversifies
the vistas. Just beyond the highest point, about 80 feet (Aberfoyle
is at 65 feet) is seen the oddly named but attractive Loch Drunkie,
famous for red-fleshed trout. It is a strange geographical fact
that its north-eastern tip is within a quarter-mile of the shore
of Loch Vennacher, though with high ground between, and 200 feet
higher. The descent, on the north, to the head of Loch Achray
in the Trossachs, is fine, the foot of Loch Katrine being only
a mile to the west, and the head of Loch Vennacher 2 miles to
the east.
Another
very attractive road, though a private one, leads from the Kirkton
westwards through the Loch Ard Forest to Duchray and beyond, passing
by the picturesque wood-girt Lochan Spling. Duchray Castle, actually
in Stirlingshire, is a small but interesting tower-house of the
late 16th century, with older nucleus, oblong, with a circular
stair-tower and angle-turret. Unfortunately someone has 'gothicised'
the windows, to ill effect; but the little fortalice is still
delightful and kept in good order. In 1528 the laird was Buchanan
of that Ilk; but in 1569 it was sold to the Grahams, and remained
with that powerful family until modern times. The castle gave
shelter to Rob Roy, despite his anti-Graham bias, on an occasion
when the two Graham sisters managed to smuggle him out of the
back door while entertaining dragoon officers at the front. Earlier,
in 1653, Duchray was involved in the Earl of Glencairn's unsuccessful
battle against Monk's Cromwellian troops in the Pass of Aberfoyle.
After the Forty-five Rising, it was burned; which accounts for
the altered roof-line.
The
main B.829 road, west of Aberfoyle village, although a dead-end,
continues for 15 glorious miles through the mountains, to terminate
at Inversnaid on the east shore of Loch Lomond, passing Lochs
Ard, Chon, Katrine and Arklet, one of the finest scenic runs in
the Southern Highlands.
If
you would like to visit this area as part of a highly personalized
small group tour of my native Scotland please e-mail me:
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