The Central Highlands - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 160

Rhynie Man , a remarkable 6ft-high boulder discovered in 1978, depicting a rare whole
figure, clad in a tunic and holding what is thought to be a ceremonial axe. The original
is in Woodhill House in Aberdeen, but there's a cast on display at the school in Rhynie,
across the road from the church. A further claim to fame for the village is that the
bedrock lying deep beneath it, known as Rhynie Chert , contains plant and insect fossils
up to 400 million years old, making them some of the earth's oldest.

Tap o'Noth
A mile or so from Rhynie, along the A941 to Dufftown, a car park gives access to a
path up the looming Tap o'Noth , Scotland's second-highest Pictish hillfort (1847ft),
where substantial remnants of the wall around the lip of the summit show evidence of
vitrification (fierce burning), probably to fuse the rocks together.

2

The Upper Don valley
Travelling west from Alford, settlements become noticeably more scattered and remote
as the countryside takes on a more open, recognizably Highland appearance. The
Lecht Road , crossing the area of bleak but wonderfully empty high country to the
remote mountain village of Tomintoul (see p.179), passes the Lecht Ski Centre at
2090ft above sea level, but is frequently impassable in winter due to snow.

Kildrummy Castle
Kildrummy,10 miles west of Alford off the A97 • Castle April-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm • £4.50; HS Kildrummy Castle Gardens
April-Oct daily noon-5pm • £4.50
Ten miles from Alford stand the impressive ruins of the thirteenth-century Kildrummy
Castle , where Robert the Bruce sent his wife and children during the Wars of
Independence. he castle blacksmith, bribed with as much gold as he could carry,
set fire to the place and it fell into English hands. Bruce's immediate family survived,
but his brother was executed and the entire garrison hanged, drawn and quartered.
Meanwhile, the duplicitous blacksmith was rewarded for his help by having molten
gold poured down his throat. The sixth earl of Mar used the castle as the headquarters
of the ill-fated Jacobite risings in 1715, but after that Kildrummy became redundant
and it fell into disrepair. Beside the ruins, the separate Kildrummy Castle Gardens are
quite a draw, boasting everything from swathes of azaleas in spring to Himalayan
poppies in summer.

Lost Gallery
4 miles north of Strathdon • Mon & Wed-Sun 11am-5pm • Free • W lostgallery.co.uk
Ten miles west of Kildrummy Castle, the A944 sweeps round into the parish of
Strathdon , little more than a few buildings scattered along the roadside. Four miles
north of here, up a rough track leading into Glen Nochty, lies the unexpected
Lost Gallery , which shows work by some of Scotland's leading modern artists in a
wonderfully remote and tranquil setting.

Corgarff Castle
Corgarff, 10 miles southwest of Strathdon • April-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct-March Sat & Sun 9.30am-4.30pm • £5.50; HS
In Corgarff just off the A939, lies Corgarff Castle , an austere tower house with an
unusual star-shaped curtain wall and an eventful history. Built in 1537, it was turned
into a barracks in 1748, in the aftermath of Culloden, by the Hanoverian government
in order to track down local Jacobite rebels; a century later, English redcoats were
stationed here with the unpopular task of trying to control whisky smuggling. Today
the place has been restored to resemble its days as a barracks, with stark rooms and
rows of hard, uncomfortable beds - authentic touches which also extend to graffiti on
the walls and peat smoke permeating the building from a fire on the upper storey.