Aberfeldy

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I visited Aberfeldy in winter. It's a time of year when there are few tourists around, and yet it is also a time of year when Scotland is at its most beautiful. When I was there a bus stopped at the Black Watch memorial to disgorge its payload of tourists. They all dutifully took a snap or two, got back on the bus, and left. Visitors like that don't actually see Scotland. They just tick things off a list.
In 1787, during his tour of Scotland, Robert Burns visited Aberfeldy. In exploring the area he made his way through a forest at the side of a deep gorge. There, he uncovered a place of such beauty that he felt inspired to write a song. Sitting on a stone ledge, he put pen to paper.

'The braes ascend like lofty wa's, The foaming stream, deep-roaring fa's,
O'er-hung wi' fragrant spreading shaws - The birks of Aberfeldy.'

Today, you can sit on what is claimed to be the very stone ledge sat on by Burns when he penned the song. I have to tell you that, for me, the Birks of Aberfeldy is probably one of the most picturesque, most exciting, and most enchanting places I have ever seen. Just being there makes one want to sigh aloud. And in winter it is magical; a special place where silver unicorns bow their heads above streams of glass.