Piperdam to Longforgan 31.10.13

On Thursday the 31.10.13 the Thursday walking group got on a bus to Piperdam for a walk to Longforgan.

Piperdam is an award winning Golf & Leisure Resort just 5 miles from Dundee, nestling in the Angus Hills by Fowlis.

 

 

We left Piperdam heading for Balruddery Farm. Balruddery Farm is run by the James Hutton Institute (previously known as the Scottish Crop Research Institute) whose headquarters are in nearby Invergowrie.

 

We then headed for Rossie Estate.

Rossie Priory is a country house and estate to the north of Inchture, near the hamlets of Baledgarno and Knapp, Perthshire, Scotland. It lies 9.6 miles by road west of the city centre of Dundee.

Rossie Priory was designed by the architect William Atkinson in Regency Gothic Style. It was built as a house (never actually a priory) in 1817 for Charles Kinnaird, 8th Lord Kinnaird and is the seat of the Kinnaird family. The large estate is roughly 2000 acres.
 

 

We then walked back to Longforgan. What started off as a dull and cloudy day turned out to be a nice sunny day.

 

A great walk was had by all.

 

Tayport & Tentsmuir 24.10.13

 On Thursday the 24.10.13 the Thursday walking group got on a bus to Tayport for a walk to Tentsmuir Forest.

Tayport lies close to the north east tip of Fife. To the north it looks across the River Tay to Broughty Ferry and Broughty Castle. To the east is the vast Tentsmuir Nature Reserve, an area of forested dunes measuring some 3 km from east to west and 6 km from north to south and edged by wide sands that continue all the way round to the mouth of the River Eden.

 

The walk through Tentsmuir Forest is very nice at this time of the year with the change in season.

 Tentsmuir Forest and Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve are in north east Fife, Scotland. Covering some 50 square miles, the forest was originally sand dunes and moorland before acquisition by the Forestry Commission in the 1920s. The forest consists mainly of Scots Pine and Corsican Pine.





 



 We then walked to Morton Loch, which has a variety of nice bird hides.

The surrounding woodland of Morton Lochs and Tentsmuir are an important habitat for the red squirrel, which can often be seen right outside the John Berry hide. Bird feeders are placed around the woodland and outside the John Berry hides and attract a range of tits, finches and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

 

 

 We then walked back to Tayport and went for a coffee at the Bell Rock Tavern.

 The Bell Rock Tavern is an historic hostelry, serving the community and visitors since 1871. Named after the Bell Rock Light House.

 

We then walked back to Dundee.  A great time was had by all.

Newtyle 17.10.13

On Thursday the 17.10.13 the Thursday walking group got on a bus to Newtyle for a walk.

Newtyle is a village in the west of Angus, Scotland. It lies 11 miles to the north of Dundee in the south west of Strathmore, between Hatton Hill and Newtyle (Heather Hill) in the Sidlaws.







After we got off the bus we walked up to the Pictish stone where we saw some great views.

The earliest history of the general area demonstrates that Pictish peoples inhabited the area. For example, discovery of the Eassie Stone in this region indicates sophisticated Pictish carvers who embraced Christianity about the year 600 AD.







Then we walked back to Newtyle along the old Railway

Newtyle was the northern terminus for the first commercial railway in Scotland, the Dundee and Newtyle Railway which opened in 1832.







The lands we were walking on were given to Sir William Olifard (8th chief) in 1317 by Robert the Bruce. Robert the Bruce's daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir William Olifard's son, Sir Walter Olifard, who also inherited the Newtyle estate.

Errol & Port Allan 14.10.13

On Monday the 14.10.13 the Monday walking group got on a bus to Errol for a walk to Port Allan. It was a horribly wet day.







On our way out of Errol we came across two minibeastie hotels in the newly made community garden.



 



Even with the poor weather there was some great views.







We then walked through the wood along the side of the River Tay where we had a good view of Errol.











On the way to Port Allan the rain was so heavy I had to stop taking photos. The reed beds here were, until a few years ago, harvested to thatch the roofs of houses; however by now they were flat for the winter. Port Allan is a great place even in the rain.

Newport & Tayfield Estate 30.09.13

On Monday the 30.09.13 the Monday walking group got on a bus to Newport for a walk around Tayfield Estate.

 

Tayfield Estate is a private company categorized under Forestry Consultants and located in Newport-On-Tay, established in 1817.







During our walk we came across some unusual tree roots and wild plants.







After a nice walk around the estate we went in to Newport where we walked down to the harbour and had a great view of Dundee.






We then went for a coffee then we walked to the Tay road bridge then across to Dundee.





This was nice walk and a great time was had by all.