"Big Tree Country" - Part 7

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Aberfeldy and Kenmore : Part C

This is my final account of my fab day out last Monday (didn’t realise I’d seen so much, or covered so much ground).

Prunus serrula var. tibetica, Cluny House Gardens

I reluctantly left Cluny House Gardens (see previous blog) and its amazing collection of Himalayan plantlife, and headed northwest to a small village named Fortingall. This lovely little place is the site of what is supposed to be the oldest living thing in the world – a Yew tree, estimated to be anything from 3000 – 8000 years old.

The Fortingall Yew

It stands in the graveyard of the current village Church Of Scotland, and is protected by a wall and iron railings. Past investigations have shown that it was once encircled by a pre-Christian, then Early Christian, site of worship, and so must have been revered. At one period, its trunk had to be carved out in the form of an arch, to allow access for funeral processions to the church graveyard. Souvenir hunters, et al, finished the tree off, and it, apparently, died. After a few hundred years of dormancy, it began to sprout again – this time, with two distinct trunks. This only added to its mysticism, but, apparently, the yew is the only tree which can re-grow after such a long underground dormancy.

Fortingall Yew

It has been said that this atttribute is why it was so revered in pagan times, and beyond. It might also tie in with something I mentioned in an earlier “Big Tree Country” blog, about yew being grown in medieval times in churchyards, because they were the only enclosed spaces, mainly due to the fact that the leaves are toxic to livestock. What is the actual reason, I now wonder?

Pegs marking the original Fortingall Yew’s Circumference

The circumference of the original yew is marked with wooden pegs. In 1769 this was recorded as being 56 and a half feet (17 metres).

The slabbed path leading from the tree to the churchyard gate now has a timeline engraved, showing all the great events in history and prehistory, including the birth of Christ, which have happened in the lifetime of this yew. “If Trees could Talk”, indeed.

My final destination on my day out was the town of Pitlochry. I didn’t want to “retrace my steps” by driving all the way back along the road I had driven, so headed northwest into yet higher ground, where moorland began to replace woodland.

Small Loch with Schiehallion (3547ft) beyond

Schiehallion attracts much attention, much of it beacause, from various directions, it seems to be the perfect natural pyramid.

A great deal of the attraction also lies in the translation of its name from Gaelic – “Fairy Hill of the Caledonians”.

But, I have had my share of dragons, demons, ghosts and other mythical creatures for today, so it was time to drive eastwards, along the northern shore of Loch Tummel, in order to get back to the “main road” through Scotland – the A9, and to Pitlochry.

On the way, I just had to stop at another very well-known vantage point, the “Queen’s View”.

Queen’s View, early evening, 20/7/09. Looking west, with Schiehallion dominating the landscape. In the morning, and on a clear day, the loch naturally leads the eye west to the mountains of Glen Coe

The Queen in question is generally thought to be Victoria who, of course, kept diaries of her travels in Scotland, painted scenes, and loved all things Scottish (including, it is rumoured, a certain Mr Brown). Various sources I have read, however, attribute the name to Isabella, wife of King Robert the Bruce, centuries before. Even in Queen Victoria’s time, however, the view would not have been as it is today. The subsequent building of dams to harness water power to generate electricity caused a rise in water level in Loch Tummel, hence the view we see today.

Ten minutes later, I arrived in the town of Pitlochry. The town’s main attraction is probably its dam. Visitors can walk across the top of it, and through it. When it was built, an artificial fish ladder was incorporated for the annual migration of salmon upstream to their spawning grounds. Visitors can view the river from the bank, hoping to see those fish leap, or view the “ladder” through “underwater” viewing windows, hoping to see a fish enter a chamber through a large pipe, rest, then disappear through another pipe.

The dam is not what brought me here, however, on this occasion. I came to visit a much newer installation -

Just over 10 years’ old now, this magnificent garden takes visitors “around the world”, retracing the steps of the great planthunters of the past (and present), who have introduced plants from far-flung places to the rest of us. I continue to be amazed by how many of these explorers were born in Perthshire!

Alas, when I arrived, this garden had closed its gates for the day! What a “cliffhanger” end to my outing!

I drove home, hips and legs aching, feeling that I had just completed a round-the-world plant tour, as well as a trip through time – but, nothing compared to what those planthunters of the past endured!. And, at least, on arrival, I could immediately run a hot, foaming bath, and relax with a glass of Chilean plonk!

:-)

• 26 Jul, 2009
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