Two great walks in Perthshire

We were in Pitlochry last weekend with the hill-walking club, staying in the historic and comfortable Moulin Hotel. The weather was extremely kind to us, being sunny both days, so the group were all able to get lots of walking done. I went on both of my walks with Hilary, who is always excellent company. Out first walk was from Pitlochry to Killiecrankie, a distance of about seven and a half miles, wending our way first along the River Tummel and then the River Garry. Because there was a confluence of two rivers we got a wee bit confused at one point about exactly where we were, but we met a lovely elderly man who re-directed us. It was a very pretty walk with views over the valley; on our journey we saw an osprey's nest on top of a pylon and we came across a monument to Robert the Bruce, where he had rested after the Battle of Methven. When we arrived in Killiecrankie a friendly local told us that the only place to eat there was the Killiecrankie Hotel. we walked along to take a cautious look at it and were delighted to find that it is a very classy little hotel with a smart conservatory style restaurant. I had hot smoked salmon with an apple and celery mayonnaise on sourdough toast and it was absolutely delicious. While we were eating I received a phone call from James to say that he had just arrived back from his walk, so I persuaded him to come and pick us up and take us back to Pitlochry - excellent timing! Later we had a convivial evening with the rest of the group, all of us recounting our adventures of the day.
The next day James decided to join Steven, Hilary and I on that old much-loved walk of mine; around Loch Ordie from Guay. As ever, it did not disappoint and I enjoyed sharing one of my favourite places with Steven and Hilary. Gratifyingly, they enjoyed it too. When we stopped for a cup of coffee at the loch a beautiful wee robin was hopping about, looking for our biscuit crumbs.
In the evening James and I went to the OMD concert at the Royal Concert Hall. It was a really good concert - we have seen them several times before - and despite some technical hitches with the sound, we had a great evening.