Walking in a Highland Forest - The Hermitage

Down the road from the sleepy highland village Dunkeld there is a Douglas fir tree forest, with the river Braan flowing through it. Its a lovely (and popular) place to go for a walk, and a modest two hour drive from Edinburgh.

The start of the path is marked by a short tunnel that goes under a railway line that services the area.



The douglas firs are huge and its almost reminiscent of the redwoods in america.. almost.. like dwarf cousins, those redwoods are insane.



The Hermitage is home to a small building called Ossian's hall of mirrors. It was build by the Dukes of Atholl to honour the blind bard Ossian. The mirrors are gone but the back of the hall sports a balcony that hangs over the waterfall behind it.

Here is the view of the waterfall that you get from Ossian's Hall. I spent quite a while there taking pictures of the falls but this one was my favourite.

The view of the back of Ossian's Hall where you can see the balcony and where I stood for the previous shot.

It's somewhat reminiscent of Lord of the Rings I thought. You almost expect to see some forest elves standing there.



The tallest douglas fir in the forest stands at 200ft .. or rather I should say it stood. In January of 2017 a rather strong storm blew it over.

Though there are many candidates to replace that one, given time I am sure they will reach well beyond 200ft.



There is also this strange structure which is known as Ossian's Cave. It looks a bit like a Hobbit hole. It was built around 1760 for the third Earl of Breadalbane, who unsuccessfully advertised for a permanent eremite.



An eremite is a hermit or recluse. I am not sure what the Earl's motivation was for actually paying a hermit to live in this cave..

..I guess he saw it as a cheap way to hire a keeper for the forest.. I don't know.



Shortly after encountering Ossian's cave we made our way back to the car, there are miles and miles of paths to wander and you can easily loose yourself in the forest. Its wonderful. I wanted to return in the autumn when the leaves have all changed colour but I missed my opportunity this year. I will have to pencil in a weekend next year.

!steemitworldmap 56.5574845 lat -3.684042 long Walking in the Highland Forest - The Hermitage D3SCR

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