On a bright and pleasant July morning, 10 members of the RPGS Walking Group set off from Birnam to walk up first the western bank of the River Tay, crossing over the A9 road bridge and then returning via the east side through the grounds of Dunkeld House Hotel and back over the river to Birnam via Telford’s old bridge. The route takes in some splendid silvan scenery including some of the huge conifers that make Perthshire rightly renowned as ‘Big Tree Country’ though the old oaks, including the famous Niel Gow Oak, also added something special in our pursuit of riparian ramblings. A lovely day was completed by an essential -thirst-aid’ stop by the banks of the Tay in the grounds of the Atholl Hotel in Dunkeld where tales of walks past and yet to come were poured over almost as quickly as the refreshments were consumed.