Happy Hogmanay everyone!
It was my birthday and I usually like to explore somewhere new in Scotland on that day. Walking, hiking, running, anything to get me outdoors after Christmas festivities!
So … despite Storm Frank causing chaos, Alan and I headed up north for the day to Perthshire, the heart of Scotland.
It was watching the Outlander TV series that inspired me to visit this area. Season 1 was filmed in our bonnie Scotland. Also, a brilliant blogger had already visited some of the filming locations and shared her adventures which made me want to visit even more. Thanks Susanne from Adventures around Scotland!
I was hoping to find the filming location for Craigh Na Dun, a small cluster of Scots Pine trees with a mysterious circle of standing stones. The standing stones are not real sadly, but the location is.
The journey
It was wet and wild when we left home, but when we reached Glasgow it was clearer and I could see the mountains. It looked promising!
But then it totally changed … as you would expect in Scotland. Storm Frank was upon us as we got nearer to Perthshire with rivers and lochs flooded.
This part of Scotland was so beautiful! The autumn colours were vibrant and when I was in the car I kept seeing photos I wanted to capture, but we had nowhere to stop. To really explore and photograph this area we would need to be on foot.
Ironically, there was a camper type van in front of us for a wee while with the Fraser clan moto ‘Je suis prest’ on the back. It means ‘I am ready’. This was significant as the Outlander series includes characters who are from Clan Fraser!
Kinloch Rannoch was our first place to explore but the road was getting worse. We’d driven through what we thought was deep water before but further ahead it got deeper and more dangerous. Following the car in front was our decision whether to go through the water or not. When eventually the other car turned around so did we.
Tummel Bridge
So we headed back to Tummel Bridge and took photos of the raging River Tummel.
Wow, what a lot of very fast running water. The noise was so loud I could hardly hear Alan speak. It was very dangerous looking but impressive too.
I was lucky I wasn’t driving so admired the scenery along the way. All Alan could hear from me was “wow, look at that, it’s so beautiful, watch that huge puddle!”
Schiehallion mountain
We stopped to admire the Schiehallion mountain which is a Munro (a mountain over 3,000 feet). One of my challenges next year is to climb a Munro, so this might be the one.
Update: I finally completed my challenge in May 2016 and climbed the beautiful Schiehallion mountain.
The fictional Craigh Na Dun
I was so happy when Alan found the location where the fictional standing stones were filmed. We waited until the rain went off a bit and headed up to the trees.
The mounts for the fake standing stones were still there from the filming! Either that or they’d mysteriously shrunk into the ground! Mmm … we were very careful not to disturb anything.
The scenery was just so beautiful though, even on a dull, stormy day.
I wanted to take lots of photos and stay longer but after about five minutes Storm Frank popped by unexpectedly with a squall of wind. The rain was hammering down in all directions and we were soaked to the skin.
Frank almost below me off my feet at one point. He wasn’t happy at all! It was like a sign for us to leave now, even though they were not real standing stones.
I had to get one more photo before I left though. This was the hardest photo ever. The wind kept blowing Jamie and Claire down and I could hardly stay standing sometimes with the gusts.
Jamie and Claire were soaked to the skin too, but they kindly stayed to pose for a photo, only just!
We headed back to the car soaked to the skin, then after about five minutes it calmed down and we saw blue sky! What was that all about? Spooky!
I really didn’t want to leave, but it was going to get dark in an hour so for safety reasons we needed to start our journey home.
Another strange thing was our satellite navigation in the car suddenly stopped working … we really depended on this to get back out. After about ten minutes of trying to turn it on, eventually it worked.
The way out
The flooding was getting worse with almost every road back out being closed.
We must have tried about four ways out. It eventually got really dark and we were driving through small windy roads not being able to see the deep water in places.
We really thought we were going be to stranded and was thinking of parking in a car park overnight, sleeping in the car. We had some food, our camping stove and a sleeping bag, so we did come prepared.
It would have been an experience, but we really needed to get back home for my children and our two cats.
After a few hours we eventually we found a way out to the A9 and was on our way home. Phew!
It was a great adventure to say the least and I will visit again as the scenery is stunning.
I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year!
Thanks for reading.
Love, Dawn-Marie x
Love Exploring Scotland 
Hello Dawn-Marie,
I plan to go to Scotland this summer and maybe going to see some of Outlander’s filming location. Thank you for the pictures ! Not like the others, with a bit of Google Map searching, I was able to find the two Craigh Na Dun location (the crossing and the hill).
Thank you for sharing this.
Best regards 😀
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You’re welcome :). I’m happy you found it! You’ll love the area. If you need any more help or information e-mail me at loveexploringscotland@gmail.com
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Hello Dawn-Marie,
many thanks for your blog and that you share your experiences with us!
I will come to Scotland in April this year and I hope to have time for visiting the fil location of Craigh Na Dun.
Would you be so kind to give me the “adress” or the exactly direction of the set?
Many thanks for your reply.
Yvonne
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Hello Yvonne! Thanks for reading my blog. Of course I can help :). Could you e-mail me at loveexploringscotland@gmail.com so I can send you the details. Many thanks Dawn-Marie 🙂
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Hello!! I’m planning to go to Scotland in July. Would you be so kind to give me the direction to get to “Craig Na Dum” set.
Very appreciated!
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Hi there, could you email me on loveexploringscotland@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you. Many thanks
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Hello,
I am Kati from Germany and I am a big fan of “Outlander”. I knew the standing stones are made of Styrofoam and Craigh Na Dun is just a fictional hill. But I know the filming location is somewhere at Loch Rannoch / Kinloch Rannoch. Can you tell me where I exactly could find this location? Thank you.
Kind regards from Germany, Kat
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Hi Kati, can you email me on loveexploringscotland@gmail.com and I can send more information. Many thanks 😃
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Hello I’m planning to go to Kinloch Rannoch next June. Can you be so kind to tell me which road shall I take to reach “craigh Na Dun! Thank you
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Hi Elsa, can you e-mail me on loveexploringscotland@gmail.com. Many thanks 🙂
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You had a great adventure and got home safely which is the main thing. Thanks for the follow on my travel blog. I’m going to enjoy your exploration in Scotland.
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Hello! Thank you too for the follow 🙂 I’m just starting out with blogging. It’s more of a diary but a great way to learn how to write and I’ll hopefully get better. Have a happy and healthy New Year 🙂
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Congratulations on being freshly pressed
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Thank you so much. I’m a beginner and this is my first one 🙂
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I know that and it is why I put you in front of my followers:)
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I typically somehow find a way to check my followers daily. If you write I will either like or reblog to get you exposure.:)
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Thanks, I’m finding a whole new world in blogging I never knew existed! 🙂
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I started in mid May and was slow with it until mid September. I have over 16000 hits now and a lot of content and am ready to publish several books on several topics. I am trying to do free lance blogging but one site I tried was a disaster. I kind of need to do the writing and get paid for it due to a lot of reasons:)
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Wow, great number of hits! Sounds like it takes up a lot of your time. I’m just doing this as a hobby at the moment and hope to encourage people to go out and walk and explore. I’m slow at reading and writing but hoping by doing this it will help me get better! Fingers crossed! Thanks 🙂
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I started off slow at first as well and only had one form of writing then I went back to old school roots and added a couple and I took off
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Reblogged this on wwwpalfitness.
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You are from Scotland?
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Hello! Yes I live in Scotland. Thanks for the follow and liking my post. Happy New Year 🙂
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You’re welcome and thanks to u too for the follow. It’s my eternal wish to visit your country someday. I’ve heard mant stories and myths about the highlands and their scenic beauty
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I hope you manage to visit one day and the sun is shining! 🙂
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Thanks
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Glad you had a good day despite the weather. The scenery in Scotland is always spectacular but you do tend to get every seasons weather in a short space of time 🙂
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Thanks Ali! Yes, our weather is interesting to say the least! I loved it though, I don’t mind our weather, makes it more exciting. Have a happy and health new year 🙂 x
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Happy new year to you too x
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