Ell of a good time

We farewelled Pitlochry at our usual time of 9am, meandering south for the next few days, back towards Edinburgh.

First stop was Dunkeld, one of the most complete 18th-century towns in Scotland, having been almost entirely rebuilt after most of the original town was destroyed during the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

We did a cache-guided walking tour of the town, visiting the cathedral, riverfront and market square. Close to the market square is the Ell Shop (1757), which has an ell-stick attached to one corner, once used to measure cloth and other commodities in the marketplace. An ell is a now obsolete unit of measure which was mainly used in the tailoring business, and was originally the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. To standardise it, Edward I of England required that every town have one official ell-stick, and Dunkeld's is still on display.
(the word ell literally means "arm", and survives in the form of the word "elbow" (arm-bend)).

Lunch was in a cafe in the village of Spittalfield, before continuing on to Dundee for the night.

We drove up to the highest point of the city, known as Dundee Law. (law is Scottish for hill). It has a large war memorial at it's peak and provides panoramic 360 degree views of the city and waterfront.Read more