12.10.2016 Doune Castle - Loch Rannoch - Blair Castle

What a great ride today! TodayMorning we will visit Doune Castle first. Anothermedieval castle known to Outlander fans as 'CastleLeoch' and the seat of the Mackenzies. Older film fansmay also know the castle from Monty Python's 'The Holy Grail'. Doune Castle is the last castle we visit with our'Historic Scotland' Pass and as a special attraction it has a 'Outlander' tour onthe audio guide, which we of course love to listen to!

After Doune Castle we head towards the Highlands. It's only the foothills so far, but thelandscape is breathtaking. Huge valleys, mighty mountains, beautifulcolors! Valentina takes photos from the car and still manages to take some beautiful shots.

It is only noon and I have chosen a very quaint camping site. Upon closer inspection,it turns out to be a bit TOO quaint. There is no electricityand the water needs to be boiled because it is not drinkable. Since it is still soearly, we prefer to continue driving. The next camping site isfull, but it is more like a huge holiday park, so it doesn't really matter to us. 6 kilometers further we find the nextcamping site, but it is horrible. It looks like adump. We are glad that the ward is not there and we can look for another place right away. So another 10 kilometers throughbeautiful scenery. Finally, we find a beautifulcamping site right next to 'Blair Castle', the seat of theDuke of Atholl.

As camping site visitors,you get a 25% discount at the castle and because we still don't have enough of castles,we decide to also quickly visit this one. Unfortunately, it is almost closing time andwe still have 2 kilometers to walk. I would actually prefer to skip the castlebut Valentina runs off like a berserker and the grandmafollows as fast as lightning, so I have no choice but to run after them as well. I can't affordto be left behind by the grandma. Afterabout a kilometer it turns out that it is really close, butValentina is already almost there and so we don't give up. We get damn warm in chilly Scotland! But then a gardener takes pity on us, drives up to uswith his garden vehicle, turns around and takes us with him. 'You're pushing it, Ladies'he says and in the end we actually arrive at the entrance 5 minutes before closing!

By the way, the castle is beautiful,the effort was absolutely worth it! Unfortunately, taking photos inthe rooms is forbidden again, but I will see if I can find somepictures on the internet.

Tomorrow we will go to Culloden andhopefully afterwards watch dolphins!