Aberfoyl, The entrance to the Trossachs and Loch Lomond

The sun is out after a quick stop for coffee in Pitlochry.  A destination was The John Muir Wild Trust center. It was great and I got all my questions answered about the trees, red squirrels, an invasiove pink flower and the almost extinct Caladonia Pine.  While  we were in the center a very informed employee told us about a 5000 year old tree.  The oldest tree in Europe.  The Fortingall Yew.  That is all we needed to hear, our next destination was planned. Throw in some go- cart driving and sheep for Kathy and standing stone for me at Croft Moraig and we were off.  

Robbie Lena Burns:  

Trees,  Pictish stones,

tea and cheese scones.

Kathy is waxing on eloquently, at least she is not singing from Brigadoon again.  Her next verse.

Churches,  cemetery's wine .

 Bed and breakfasts all the time.:

We had two destinations in mind.  The Croft Moraig:  a group of three oval groups  of standing stones.  We drove by them the  first time and almost missed it the second. A very busy farmer told us where to park and we promptly informed the next car of tourists  where to park after they tried parking in the same spot we tried to. 

Our next stop was, The Fortingall Yew:  I wanted to find some information on this tree so you could believe that we were in the presence of a tree that was this old.  It was near a very interesting church.  There were many stories about this tree of course since it was 5000 years old but one f the reports said that Pontius Pilate  played under the tree as a child.  

Estimated to be perhaps 5,000 years old, the Fortingall Yew (Taxus baccata) stands at the geographical heart of Scotland. It is believed to be the most ancient tree in the United Kingdom, and is probably even the oldest living thing in Europe. In 1854, Loudon said, "its age is unknown, but it has long been a mere shell, forming an arch through which funeral processions were accustomed to pass".

Today this venerable tree is still a very impressive sight, and is enclosed by a wall built to create a sanctuary for its undisturbed growth.  Its trunk now comprises several separate elements, and without knowing the tree’s long history it would be difficult to regard it as a single tree.  The circle of white pegs illustrates the former circumference of the once vast trunk.

These are some artifacts in the church.

We stopped in a little lay by for a picnic lunch and then since I was feeling bad for Kathy that she hadn't gotten her daily dose of go cart driving I planned a route for Aberfoyle.  What was I thinking? I was beginning to think to myself, Kathy is getting quite good at pulling into lay-by, the little area to pull over on when you meet a car on th easing or track roads, aaaaaahhhhhhhlkkkkk.whew. These roads were worse than sheep tracks on the Isle of Skye,  but they were real roads around the Loch Tay.  It could be very beautiful if we could avoid, backing up, ferns brushing MY door and hair pin turns.  

We finally made it out and started to get on the bigger road when a motorcycle tipped over beside us.  The riders were lying on the ground and eventually got out of the road as we offered to help.  We made it to Aberfoyle behind some daring cyclists. Two nights here at the Bield, we walked into town fir dinner and then a walk and  guess what ...More sheep and cyclists.