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The Lost Castle

And the 55km trek I took to find it

By Tineke Ziemer

March 29^th, 2023

Once upon a time...

...in a rustic farmhouse in Canada, a lonely girl sat scrolling Instagram, when all of a sudden, a stunning castle ruins appeared on her screen, haloed by a rainbow. Her jaw dropped and her mind began to whirl as she heard it call to her, "you must come and find me in the forests of Scotland."

Fast forward a few months, three flights, a couple of weeks settling in Perth, and the return of my beloved mountain bike, and the time had come to open the well-worn cover of this fairytale story and leap into its pages.

As with most of my adventures, I had little more than google maps, a wallet full of british pounds, and sheer determination to get me to the X on the map. The train could bring me as far as Pitlochry, a town about 17 miles from the castle, so I booked a couple of nights in an airbnb and away I went.

Blair Cottage

I was fortunate that there was a room available in this charming cottage, just a stone's throw from the train station in Pitlochry. Maria and Frank were absolutely delightful and thought of everything to make my stay enjoyable. The room was cozy and lovely, had its own private ensuite bathroom, and came stocked with bits and bobs of yummy treats to keep me going. Not only did they include a lovely assortment of breakfast food, fruit, lunchables and tea cookies, they even had instant noodles available for a midnight snack. I will definitely be back to stay any time I'm in this neck of the woods for the hiking/mountain biking and scenery.

You can check out Blair Cottage here if you'd like to stay yourself.

After a quick spot of whiskey tea (leave it to the Scots!), I headed out into the rain to explore this lovely wee town. I absolutely fell in love with the beautiful architecture, quaint shops, flowing canals and views over the River Tummel. I had to hold myself back from buying alllll of the highland coo paintings and memorabilia, but did snag a few to add to my growing collection.

Ups and Downs Along the Way

The next morning, I put my camera, snacks and a change of clothes in my backpack and off I went. Roundtrip, I'd be trekking 34 miles/55km which was over five hours of cycling on my mountain bike. When I told the lady at the Pitlochry visitor's center that I was cycling to Dunalistair House, her response was, "You do know this is the highlands, right?!" Translation: you're gonna be climbing a lot of hills you crazy canadian!

Perfect, I love a challenge!

She wasn't wrong. It was pretty much up and down from start to finish, with virtually no flat ground. My strategy was to be extra grateful for every hill I went up on the way there, since that meant I'd be going down them on the way back!

However, I had no chance to even notice the burning in my legs because the views were absolutely out of this world. All my senses were engaged by doing this trek on a bike: breathing in the fresh air, hearing the rushing of the river and the baaing of the sheep, being splashed with mud as cars went by on the narrow single lane road, and appreciating every drop of water in my canteen.

For obvious reasons, I didn't stop long enough to get my big camera out over and over along the way. So below are my iphone captures of the journey.

You can see my video compilation of the journey here on instagram.

My airbnb host warned me that it was a single lane road with no room for cars to pass, so to make sure and stay well off to the side. The big trucks going by me with inches to spare was certainly part of the adrenaline rush.

Lots of hills, twists & turns the whole way

The fact that this gate has a lock made me laugh out loud as I rode by

After a pretty intense 2 hours and 45 minutes, I arrived at these stunning gates and followed the dirt road to the castle ruins.

After many months of dreaming about this moment, I was giddy to turn the corner and finally see the castle right in front of my own eyes!

Photo tip: I noticed the puddles nearby and decided to create some symmetry and interest in the composition by including the reflection of the castle. I knew this would work well because the sun was shining directly on it, and front light makes the most visible reflections. The puddles were quite small, so I put my 16-35mm wide angle lens on my Canon 5D mark iv and got right down on the ground. Yeah, I got a bit muddy, but I didn't come all this way to lose the best angles because of some dirt.

I bracketed the exposure over three different shots and combined them into an HDR image which you can see below.

f/5.6, shutter speed varied, 200ISO, 16mm

Fairy Tale Moments

I spent a couple of hours walking around the castle, viewing it from various perspectives and different directions of light. Because I was conscious of the options for high and low angles, I ended up spotting this fellow on the ground. How perfect! I'd found my fairy tale castle and it came with a frog prince!

Photo tip: I didn't want to frighten him away with a giant lens in his face or the sound of the shutter, so I opted to use my iphone for these shots. To get the low perspective, I turned my iphone upside down so the camera lens was right at ground level. I composed it so the castle was in the background, got in close and tapped the screen to make sure it focused on the toad and not the walls behind him.

It's a shame, but I didn't kiss him. I promised myself no boys on this trip, and alas, that includes princes!

Photo tip: One disadvantage to solo travelling (and there aren't many), is that it's tricky to get photos that include your little ol' self. I couldn't carry my tripod for the long bike ride, but I find that resting my camera on my backpack works in a pinch. Using the self-timer or a remote shutter release can allow you to be included in the frame, which also gives perspective to the size of the building.

The Stories the Walls Tell Me

I have a rule never to look up any information about a ruin before I visit it.

I prefer to let the place tell me its own story. I want to stand in its shadow and feel its presence before I have any preconceived ideas about what happened here.

It's worth noting that I made mention in my journal, while I sat on the grass outside, that I had an intuitive sense of babies cries echoing down the corridors of this castle. It gave me shivers when I felt it. Just now as I was doing my research on Dunalistair castle, I found out that during the Second World War, it served as a school for the children of polish refugees. Maybe that's the connection to the forlorn vibes it was giving me.

Cheers to an Amazing Day!

I'd have stayed forever if I could, but I still had a nearly three hour bike journey back to Pitlochry and needed to do it before dark. My leg muscles were trying to give up on me, but I pep-talked them up the hills, and thankfully, there was more downhill on the way back.

To celebrate, I took myself out to the beautiful Old Mill Inn for a cocktail and a beetroot, feta and avocado salad. It was delicious but it came to a whopping $47 Cdn and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I usually only "eat out" at the supermarket. While eating out in the UK is about double the price in Canada, the cost of groceries is substantially less. To put it into perspective, I had two curry pies from Morrisons Supermarket for dinner the next night for $3.

Learn Photography from me!

If you found the photography tips helpful and would like to learn more about photography from me, I would love to have you sign up for one of my online photography programs. Email northernpersona@telus.net to be added to the wait list. Lots of exciting programs are in the works!