July 13, 2019
Blair Atholl
Today was set aside to visit Blair Castle and its gardens. The campsite is on the estate and the castle was but a ten minute walk from our tent.
The Dukes of Athol have a rather jagged path with respect to how the title has been handed down and the last two, the eleventh and twelfth, have been South Africans. The tenth Duke, Iain, was disappointed that the eleventh Duke designate was determined to remain a South African in South Africa and so ensured that the estates were transferred to a trust that remains in the control of his half sister who runs them as a business despite it being designated a charitable trust.
The last two Dukes only have rights to the title and the last remaining private army in Europe, the Athol Highlanders. I had long chats to a number of the staff at the castle, of whom many approached us to start a conversation, and they seem very happy with the current arrangement and were keen to explain as much about it as possible. The eleventh Duke, who lives in Louis Trichardt in South Africa, is apparently reluctant to be involved in the ceremonial roles required and his heir and eldest son, the Marquis of Tullibardine who now lives in London, performs them on his behalf.
Today's ride: 3 km (2 miles)
Total: 2,078 km (1,290 miles)
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5 years ago
Currently on NCN7 which runs alongside the A9. Not that pleasant with the roar of speeding traffic in our ears all the time but better than being on the A9 itself.
Using the guidance of Google Maps has been best so far but we have no real time restrictions so we don't need to plot a fixed route in advance. Google sticks closely to the Sustrans routes but takes shortcuts in a lot of places where the Sustrans routes start meandering a bit. I think most of the Sustrans routes will work except for Cornwall and Devon where they seem to meander all over the place and don't get you anywhere.
5 years ago