Pitlochry

Why base here

Pitlochry is a town of 2,694 people on the River Tummel, 26 miles north of Perth, and Wikipedia describes it as largely Victorian: it grew into a tourist resort after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited in 1842 and the railway arrived in 1863. The Tummel was dammed for hydro-electric power in 1947 to 1951, which created Loch Faskally north of the town, and the A9 has bypassed the high street since 1981. The case for sleeping here is one fact about the map: Ben Vrackie, an 842m Corbett, starts about 1.3km north of the centre, and Pitlochry is the only one of the three Perthshire bases on this site with a railway station. The case against is that Wikipedia also calls it a popular base for coach holidays, so the main street is busy in summer, and that the bigger hills are a drive away.

On foot versus by car

Ben Vrackie is the walk that justifies the town. Walkhighlands starts it at the Ben Vrackie car park on a lane north-west of Moulin, reached by turning left off the A924 immediately behind the Moulin Hotel, with a second car park 250m further up, and adds that the hill “can easily be walked from Pitlochry”. The start grid reference, NN 943595, lies about 1.3km north of the town’s own reference, so walking out adds at least 2.6km to the round of 10.2km and 780m of ascent.

The Birks of Aberfeldy is a 14.6-mile drive by the shortest road, according to the Pitlochry Scotland visitor site’s distance table, but it does not need a car: Yules Buses run from beside Pitlochry station to Aberfeldy, and Walkhighlands starts the walk on foot from the main square of Aberfeldy. Schiehallion is the one that does need wheels. Walkhighlands lists no public transport to the Braes of Foss car park, which is around 18km west-south-west of Pitlochry in a straight line, so that hill is a car day or a taxi.

Practicalities

Pitlochry station is 45.5km from Perth on the Highland Main Line, and Wikipedia lists ScotRail trains between Inverness and Edinburgh or Glasgow, plus the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston. The Pitlochry Scotland visitor site adds intercity coaches from Inverness, Perth, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and says Yules Buses also serve Blair Atholl and Kinloch Rannoch. Its parking page lists council car parks on Atholl Road, Ferry Road and Rie-Achan Road, a private one on Armoury Road, and free parking at the SSE visitor centre by the dam, and records no long-stay car park in the town. Timetables change; Traveline Scotland publishes the current ones.