Post It from Forfar Lochside CC site, Forfar, Angus, Scotland. Thursday 10th October 2013.
We chose to stop at Forfar because we had been told on a number of occasions along our way that it was a really good place to visit with lots to do on foot and the camp site was nice, located adjacent to a loch. Since we had not gone to Skye as originally planned we decided to follow the recommendations and break the journey from Stonehaven to Edinburgh. We followed the main road to Forfar which gave us the chance to see the beautiful countryside of the lower Cairngorms to our West.
Forfar was less than 40 miles from Stonehaven so we checked to see what there was to visit on the way. Our first choice was the House of Dun, a NT property, but it was closed on the day we travelled. Other NT properties also closed at the end of September so we opted for the only one open, at Kirriemuir, the birthplace of Sir J M Barrie. Who is Barrie you might say, as we did, but he is well known as the author of Peter Pan and the weavers’ cottage where he was born was now a museum to his life.
Kirriemuir also has a camera obscura but that too was closed and unfortunately when we arrived at Barrie’s cottage it was also closed for the day due to unforeseen circumstances. We settled on a walk around the rather pleasant village with many shops and visited the tourist information office located in a very old building built in 1604 which also housed the Gateway to the Glens museum. I had not realised that this area of the Cairngorm National Park was also credited with having the Angus Glens where amongst other things Golden Eagles were to be found.
The rather helpful lady in the tourist office recommended we visited Glen Clovis which was reputed to be the most beautiful of the glens and we would be able to get there in our motorhome without a problem. The benefit of this glen also meant we could follow a circular route up one side to Clovis and back along the opposite side. The journey was through beautiful moorland countryside with the River South Esk running down its heart and we saw plenty of cattle, sheep, pheasant and grouse but nothing more spectacular until Sharon spotted a female Red Deer grazing amongst some trees at the bottom of the glen. Luckily we were able to stop in a small clearing at the side of the road and we rushed to see the beautiful beast in the hope we may see a stag as well or other deer. Unfortunately no others but we were allowed to watch the hind for quite some time as it watched us. The sad thing was we had both left our binoculars in the van in the rush to see her. She eventually wandered off at her own pace and we saw no more deer. We did see some smaller birds of prey, not sure what these were except to say one was brown like and Eagle, but much smaller and it flew down the path of the river looking for food.
We found the camp site with ease, it was again a fairly open site situated around a central toilet block and had a wire perimeter fence which allowed views of the loch in places. We were also close to a children’s play park and a leisure centre which attracted some youths in an evening. We walked around the loch during our stay on a path. It was a pleasant flat walk but the trees and vegetation did obstruct much of the view of the Loch. There were plenty of birds on the Loch including a dozen swans. Unfortunately the day was marred by very strong winds and showers otherwise we could have taken advantage of the many seats positioned all around the loch.
Forfar had plenty of shops and 4 major supermarkets all within walking distance of the camp site. A local that we had met at Stonehaven said that the place was famous for its Bridie, a short crust pastry crescent filled with spiced meat a little bit like a Cornish pasty in appearance. I tried one from the shop on the High Street that was reputed to be the best and I must say it tasted very good indeed. That afternoon, after our loch side walk, was spent in the van in reading whilst the winds got stronger and bounced us about on the suspension. I think I will buy some car jacks before we do another long tour and see if they do make a big improvement to the vehicles stability. This weather was forecast along with the big drop in temperature. We had been having exceptionally warm and dry weather ever since we arrived at Ayr almost 3 weeks ago. The last night at Stonehaven did not see the temperature fall below 16 C and here we saw the overnight temperatures of 5 C. The good news was that after the rain on Wednesday it was forecast to be dry again for quite some time which suits us as we certainly are dry weather campers.
We spent the Thursday wandering around Forfar’s many shops and also visited the Meffan Museum where we learned more about the history of the town and the origin of its Birdie. For lunch I took the opportunity to try a Bridie from the other main competitors in their gallery tea room further down the High Street, just so I could see if there was a difference you understand. Both were very good and I could not taste any significant difference although I preferred the cold one I had on the first day.
Forfar was a good stop for us as everything was right on the doorstep and the camp site was set in pleasant surroundings. Edinburgh tomorrow and we shall probably spend a full week there.
Regards, Roy