END to END 2012: Day 17 : AUCHERARDER to DUNKELD : A Splendid Day

AUCHERARDER to DUNKELD: A Splendid Day

19 September 2012

AUCHERARDER - Kinkell Bridge - around Perth - Stanley - Carputh - Dunkeld. ( JST swears he saw a place called Downhill on the map, and that we would ride through it. However, I did not see it, perhaps it was so downhill we were going too fast to notice)

Miles: 33.25

Average Speed:

Hours:

Feet up : 1447

Feet down: 1579

What a fabulous sparkling WINDLESS day to wake up to. But boy, it was nippy too. About 3 C we think. John, our host, described it as a "good tattie day" as in, a good day to dig potatoes.

Rode off through lovely rolling farmland, easy biking, ( note that we descended more overall today than ascended ) and crossed the Kinkell Bridge - quintessential .

JST crossing Kinkell Bridge

The easy biking continued along roads with very little traffic, even on the more main roads. And the gorgeous scenery continued as well

We passed through Methven, so could not resist a piccie for all you Kiwis. There are so many names familiar to us - Riccarton, Dunedin, Kinross ...........

At one stage, in the middle of nowhere, JST was stopped, waiting for me to catch up - and lo and behold, from this little cottage came the sound of bagpipes. Someone was practicing - Scotland the Brave and other pipe band standards. We wanted to clap, but decided against it,

JST listening to the bagpipes

The bagpipe cottage, showing its isolation

Initially we intended staying at Blaitgowrie, from where the route would take us on what has been described as an extremely arduous section passing through Braemar and going by Balmoral Castle. But we decided to come back to visit those places by car in the future, and instead headed up the River Tay to Dunkeld. What a gorgeous ride. The terrain went from gentle farming to the first indications of the true Highlands, with their rocky outcrops, bracken, oak forests, and down below the sparkling river.