What a lovely Spring we have had this year, I have been out as much as I can and now I need to catch up with my blog postings, starting with this trip to Forfar we made back in April.
This was our first outing with the motorhome this year and we chose the site at Forfar Loch as it wasn't to far away. The Caravan Park is right on the shores of the loch and has easy access to the town of Forfar as well. Once we got the van set up in our pitch we had a stroll along the eastern side of the loch to get our bearings:
We thought that it was a lovely loch and were looking forward to exploring it, which should be relatively easy as there is a decent path that goes all the way round it.
However rather than getting up the next morning and exploring the loch we decided to explore the town of Forfar first. It was only a ten minute walk to the High Street (in fact they have two High Streets, an East one and a West one) and we headed down West High Street until we reach to the Tiffin cafe where we enjoyed some lovely coffee and cake
Fully replenished we continued down West High Street and then up East High Street before exploring every other street and visiting several shops on the way. Needless to say we developed a reasonable understanding of Forfar Town centre before we headed back to the caravan.
Back at the van we had a lazy time for the rest of the day.
We were up bright and early the next day with the aim of exploring the lochside path. We started at the Eastern end (pretty obviously as that's where the caravan park is) and headed in a clockwise direction around the loch.
First thing we came across was a pair of Gadwall having an early morning snooze on the loch:
 |
| Sleepy Gadwall on Forfar Loch |
 |
| Male Gadwall |
Once they had woken up they decided to swim away in separate directions, so I followed the Male as it headed down the loch:
We continued along the path on the South side of the loch
 |
| View from South side path |
 |
| View across Forfar Loch towards Sailing Club |
A little farther along the path we spotted this Mute Swan on the water:
 |
| Swan on South side of Forfar Loch |
 |
| Mute Swan Close-up |
 |
| Mute Swan in defensive mode |
The Swan was swimming with its wings raised in an arch over its back, which normally means 'warning stay away' so we gave it a wide berth.
From this point we could also see the Sailing Club on the other side of the loch, and it looked like some yachts were out for a sail. Closer inspection by binoculars revealed that the were in fact small radio controlled yachts being steered by people on the other bank.
 |
| Radio-controlled Yachts in front of Sailing Club |
A little further along the track we reached a wooded area where there was a good view across the loch towards the northern shore:
 |
| View across the loch from wooded area |
 |
| The northern shore across the loch |
This also gave us a good view of a spit of land (mainly pebbles) which jutted out into the loch and proved to be very popular with the birds:
 |
| Various birds on spit of land |
 |
| Cormorant spreads its wings to dry off |
There was Mute Swan, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, Oystercatcher, Tufted Duck and Coot (and others) on or around this little spit of land:
We carried on through the wooded area:
 |
| Moira heading into the woods |
 |
| Path through wooded area |
We stuck to the path, but we did speak a family who had walked through the denser parts of the woods, and they said they had seen Red Squirrels. They even had photos on their phone to prove it. We decided not to go yomping through the woods and continued along the path.
We did however see some wildlife .................. a Small White Butterfly to be precise:
 |
| Small White Butterfly in Wooded Area |
 |
| Small White |
At the end of the woods we reached the Dean Water, where the path takes a sharp turn to the right and runs alongside the A90. There were a few birds about where the Dean Water feeds into the loch, including this Grey Heron looking for something to eat:
 |
| The Dean Water where it enters the loch |
 |
| Grey Heron |
 |
| Grey Heron waiting patiently for food to swim past |
After crossing the Dean Water we continued along the path on the West side of the loch. Here the path is a little further away from the loch shore and runs through a scrubby woodland area, which proved to be quite good in terms of seeing different birds.
 |
| Looking towards the Sailing Club |
 |
| Robin on a Fence Post |
 |
| Forfar Loch from the West end path |
A little further along the path in the scrubby woodland area we saw this Song Thrush searching in the leaf litter for some grubs or insects to eat:
 |
| Song Thrush in the undergrowth |
 |
| Searching for something to eat |
We carried on as the track turned to the right and headed along the North side of the loch. There were places you could get closer to the loch side, and at certain points along the track there were benches and viewing platforms:
 |
| View from Viewing Platform on Northwest side of Loch |
 |
| View across loch to the town of Forfar |
 |
| Swan taking off from Forfar Loch |
We watched as the Swan took off and flew down the loch, before landing at the far side:
At this end of the loch the waters appeared a bit calmer, sheltered from the wind. This and the light made the water's surface look like it was darker, almost an oily appearance. You can see this in these images of a Coot on the loch:
 |
| Coot on Forfar Loch |
 |
| Water has a very oily appearance (but it was clear) |
We headed back up onto the track and continued with our walk. Here the track passed through some farmland on our left hand side (with the loch on our righthand side) so we managed to see some different birds, such as this Yellowhammer:
 |
| Yellowhammer on top of a bush |
The Yellowhammer wasn't the only bird that was singing in the bushes, this little Robin gave us a song as well:
 |
| Robin in a bush |
 |
| Robin close-up |
We continued along the path, past the Sailing Club and onto a narrow road lined with some lovely daffodils:
 |
| Road from Forfar Sailing Club |
 |
| Daffodils lining the road |
 |
| A host of different Daffodils |
A little further along the track we watched this heron patrolling the deep water near to the shoreline, searching for some fish or amphibians to eat:
 |
| Heron on the shoreline |
 |
| Heron heading into deeper water |
 |
| Heron on the hunt for fish |
Fascinating to watch, Heron will basically eat anything, including fish, frogs, tadpoles, young birds, worms, young rabbits, etc. Basically if it moves and it can catch it , it will eat it.
We continued along the track then turned right onto a path that ran along the East side of the loch. Here we got some good views of a variety of birds on the loch; there were Coot, Mallard, Black-headed Gulls and a wonderful pair of Shovelers:
 |
| Pair of Shovelers on Forfar Loch |
 |
| Synchronised Shoveling |
You got to love those bills!
Another 100 yards along the path and we were back to where we started on our walk around Forfar Loch:
 |
| Forfar Loch from the East Shoreline |
A lovely walk, highly recommended.
The next morning we were up bright and early-ish to catch the bus from Forfar to Dundee. First thing we did was grab a coffee and a bun, before heading along Murraygate and onto the High Street.
Here we come across some very interesting sculptures:
 |
| Dragon Sculpture on Murraygate |
 |
| Minnie the Minx from the Beano Comic |
 |
| Desperate Dan and Dawg from the Dandy Comic |
 |
| Dandy and Beano Characters on Dundee High Street |
Those of you in the know will realise that DC Thomson (Dundee) were the publishers of The Dandy and Beano comics, and created these characters as well as many other famous comic strip personalities.
Unusual to see a Beano Character interact with a Dandy character, but that's what has happened. Don't know what the Dragon has to do with Dundee though!
We carried on along the High Street then turned down towards the Railway Station. Directly opposite the railway station, on the shores of the River Tay lies the (relatively) new V&A Museum of Design.
 |
| V&A Museum of Design, Dundee |
 |
| Moira at The V&A |
It was a lovely sunny day but there was an icy chill in the air, hence the padded jacket.
You would have needed more that a padded jacket if you ventured out in the ship that sits next to the V&A:
 |
| The RRS Discovery |
This is the ship (not a model) that Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton set sail in to explore the Antarctic back during the 1901-04 expedition. The ship was built in Dundee in 1901and this was it's maiden voyage. There is a Discovery Centre Museum just behind the ship, although we only briefly had a look in the gift shop.
We did however go into the V&A Museum, after a brief photo-shoot of the Tay Road Bridge:
 |
| The Tay Road Bridge |
 |
| Across the Tay Road Bridge to Fife |
In the V&A (as well as stunning architecture) there are many interesting displays relating to 'design' influences from Scotland, and those that influenced Scottish design.
These can relate to design of clothes, fabrics, architecture, interior design, popular culture, games software, etc. My favourite was the Rennie Mackintosh designed Oak Room, just brilliant to see the detail of the interior structure close-up. Sorry no photos allowed.
We were able to take photos through the narrow windows of the museum through:
 |
| View through the window |
And there was a balcony that gave you stunning views across the River Tay to Fife:
 |
| Fife from the V&A Dundee |
 |
| Tay Road Bridge from Balcony |
 |
| Posing in Star Trek Captain's Uniform |
It's just a fleece really, but the design may have been influenced by a sci-fi programme?
We enjoyed a spot of lunch in the museum cafe and it was very nice. The museum itself wasn't crammed full of stuff, but what was there was interesting and a bit thought provoking; so well worth a visit.
When we left the museum we were accosted by some Penguins, obviously stowaways from the RSS Discovery:
 |
| Penguins on the Loose! |
 |
| Moira pppppicking up a Penguin |
Very Cute!
We headed along the Riverside Esplanade until we reached Dundee Waterfront Gardens, a lovely green space where people could hang-out and enjoy the sunshine .......... provided they kept their vest and woolly jumpers on.
There was also a big wheel (or Ferris Wheel) if you felt like getting a bit more fresh air:
 |
| Big Wheel at Dundee Waterfront Gardens |
It brought back memories from my days at College in Dundee; remembering that there was no better cure for a hangover than a bracing walk along Riverside Drive in the Winter.
We moseyed on back towards the bus station and caught the bus back to Forfar and the comfort of our motorhome.
On our last day at Forfar we decided to take the scenic route home and headed West towards Dunkeld. It was a very enjoyable journey on country roads as we wound or way through Kirriemuir and many small villages until we reached Blairgowrie. We were lucky to find a small parking area in the centre of Blairgowrie which was suitable for motorhomes and caravans, which we of course took advantage of.
We stopped at the Dome Restaurant (highly recommended) for a spot of lunch before heading down to the river for a stroll along the riverside path. By river I mean Britain's biggest river the magnificent Tay, although at this point it's a lot smaller than it is in Dundee (but still impressive):
 |
| The River Tay at Blairgowrie |
 |
| Bridge over the River Tay at Blairgowrie |
 |
| Weir on the River Tay |
After this relaxing break we got back on the road and headed towards Dunkeld.
When we reached the SWT Reserve at Loch of the Lowes we were very lucky to find a car park space big enough to take the motorhome, so we stopped to see what we could see. We were not disappointed as there were a few nice birds to see on the loch and the stars of the show (the Ospreys) were in the area.
 |
| Loch of the Lowes |
 |
| Male Goldeneye on the Loch of the Lowes |
 |
| Some Mallard on far side of Loch |
We headed to the high-level Osprey hide, but it was so full of over zealous photographers that we decided it was best to try elsewhere. We then went to a lower hide on the shore of the loch and we did get a better view of the Osprey, however the windows on this hide were tinted and did not open, making photography impossible. Luckily on our way back from this hide we found a gap in the trees where I could get a few distant photos of the Osprey on the nest:
 |
| Pair of Osprey on Nest |
 |
| Single Osprey on Nest at Loch of the Lowes |
 |
| Single Osprey on Nest |
I somehow managed to get a video of this Osprey although it was hard to keep the camera steady as I was stretching above some tree branches and the midges were biting:
This was probably the warmest day of our holiday, so we grabbed an ice cream in the reserve café before heading back on the road.
It wasn't too far to Dunkeld, but it was on narrow winding roads, so we took our time. We decided not to stop at Dunkeld as it isn't the best place for parking a motorhome, so we carried on to the A9 and headed South to home.
That's it for a very enjoyable few days in the Angus Region, with excursions into Dundee and Perthshire of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment