free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Delighted to have found details of this course on the 'walkhighlands' Facebook page and immediately signed-up. As the course has made me feel better equipped to write a walk report, I thought it ok to post a review of the course here for other would-be walk reporters to see...here goes...
Walking & Writing Course, Pitlochry, 18/11/17 : Course Leader - Linda CracknellA dynamic course that had us thinking about our surroundings and how best to describe them. I’ll not give course secrets away; suffice to say ‘simple but brilliant’ advice was given that enlivened our description of the objects and landscape around us.
Initially, the walk led us away from our meeting point at Pitlochry train station and past what looked to me like a stone-circle although I can’t find written evidence of its existence (can anyone help with this?). Nevertheless, it prompted thoughts of standing stones and Pictish carvings so acted as a reminder of Pitlochry’s Pictish past.
We then dropped down towards Pitlochry Dam, a testament to the post WWII drive for hydro power, that stymies the flow of the River Tummel to form Loch Faskally and harness the power of water. We crossed the dam and famous fish ladder to see that, once released, the river regains its exuberance and tumbles joyously on its way; bursting away from its temporary imprisonment like children leaving the school-gates at the end of the day.
[That was me trying to put into practice some of the course-tips! Don’t expect any more of this brilliance: this is a course-review not a literary gem
]
We followed the river past the Pitlochry Festival Theatre (PFT) and then caught onto Clunie Path/Clunie Walk. My observations for this part of the walk are poor as I was chatting too much with others in the group. Once over the A9 we headed upwards to gain a view looking back towards Pitlochry; seeing how the town ‘coories-in’ to the lower reaches of Ben Vrackie and trying-out various exercises that helped to animate our interpretation of the landscape around us. En-route we explored how to make greater use of our non-visual observation skills; hearing, touch, smell … but not taste, thankfully. Save that for a foraging course.
A lunch of sandwiches and soup in the well-placed PFT overlooking the River Tummel restored us after our morning of mental and physical activity, and led into the afternoon of writing activities. A surprising amount of ground was covered with exploration, to a greater or lesser degree depending on your choice, of haiku, riddles, poetry, short stories, and fiction. We learned of and discussed trail walking, drovers’ roads, general walking, hills, maps, nature and the associated writing and publications. Seems like a lot to have covered, yet the comfortable and competent style of the course leader presented the various topics as well-rounded ‘tasters’ of writing and walking styles.
I would highly recommend this course as regards content, communication of concepts, setting and course leader.
