Dollar Glen

National Trust trails open, Historic Scotland buildings closed

In a rare foray to the east, we were collecting some curtains from Tillicoultry, and we decided to make a day of it. Dollar is a douce town at the foot of the Ochils that boasts an impressive independent school with its original buildings designed by William Playfair, some mighty impressive sandstone villas and a fine glen that climbs towards Castle Campbell, nestling above the gorges that held various minerals that were exploited in earlier centuries. My good friend Ian from the crazy days of Glasgow flat life hailed from Dollar and we often went there for Sunday lunch and would charge up Dollar Glen onto the Ochils for some exercise to recover from Friday night and Saturday exertions and excesses.

Dollar was dead, it may be that the demographic profile of its inhabitants does not trust Boris Johnson's concept of freedom from Covid. There is little freedom for older, thoughtful citizens who may be shielding or anxious to protect other family members and friends. These qualms are not without foundation, there is plenty of evidence on TV and in the press that many of those wallowing in freedom are unvaccinated and super spreaders. Those reluctant to reclaim their freedom are waiting for vaccine passports, booster doses and a fall in the proportion of UK Covid cases to be reduced to levels achieved in most of Europe. 

UK Covid levels have spiked significantly since the July freedom day as the graphs show and vaccinations alone will not bring Covid under control, Many European countries have now overtaken the UK in vaccination rates, they have made faster progress with teenagers and are providing booster vaccinations, whilst the UK seems to have lost the impetus of our vaccination programmes. Just as important is that most European countries have retained social distancing, the wearing of masks and introduced vaccine passports. Will the UK government never learn those lessons that they are always promising to learn?

All the cafes in Dollar were closed and only the Inn at Dollar was open for food. We gave it a miss and collected a roll from the bakery and drove to the start of the walk to Dollar Glen. It was the only decent day of the week, there had been a morning frost and the views had been exceptional on a pre-breakfast climb up and run down Lime Craig. It is a steep climb to Castle Campbell that sits on a ledge between the Care and Sorrow burns. Like most Historic Scotland buildings, it is still closed so we explored its perimeter walls before heading down the steep but excellent footpath to the west of the Sorrow Burn. 

It was still mid-afternoon so we decided to visit the Japanese Garden- at Cowden Castle, a couple of miles east of Dollar. The signs said bookings were required in advance but we decided to try and blag our way in. When we arrived the car park was full, this is where all the baby boomers were hanging out. But they were beginning to leave and we had no difficulty getting tickets. The gardens were emptying and the late afternoon sun was giving the gardens the sharp focus that is the essence of their beauty. An hour or so later we were almost the last to leave at 5pm, the gardens had generated enough ideas to give me back-breaking garden projects until the end of Covid, a life sentence in an alternative sort of freedom.  

Castle Campbell and the Ochils

Castle Campbell

Castle Campbell from Dollar Glen

Japanese Garden

Don't bring the children

Solace

How am I going create something like this?