The Great Scottish Adventure
Day 3
Kilmahog/Ben A’an
We allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping in today until 9:00am, as we were still exhausted from our travels, and only had a couple of nearby locations on our itinerary. When we were ready we went into Callander for breakfast at the Deli Ecosse. A delicious meal, but found the bacon to be quite different to what we are used to in the US. Still tasty, but not the same.
After breakfast we went to the Kilmahog Cemetery to seek out the burial sites of some of my ancestors. I had heard stories from my sister. Carlin, who had been there years ago. It was also noted in Barbara Stewarts book. And upon further research through a couple of websites, I found confirmation that ancestors had been buried here.
The location was easy to find, if you knew what you were looking for. But passing vehicles from the road would never even see it. As it was off the road a short distance and totally overgrown. The graveyard is situated on the site of a mid 13th century chapel, which no longer exists, and is noted in Papal records from 1259.
The first thing you come to is the gated stone arch entrance, with a bell hanging in a gable at the top. The bell dates back to the 15th century. Local lore tells this story of the bell:
“Around 1540, the notorious Highland freebooter Donald Stewart of Appin (“Donald of the Hammer”) raided the Earl of Menteith’s island castle on the Lake of Menteith. Donald and his hungry men devoured a feast prepared for the Grahams and stole the castle’s signal-bell. The infuriated Grahams pursued them over the hills, leading to a fierce battle where the Grahams were routed and the Earl’s son was slain.
Passing through Balquhidder, Donald left the heavy signal-bell with a local McLaren family as payment for hospitality. The bell remained in Balquhidder for generations before being traded to a McLaren in Blairgarry to settle a debt.
Around 1770, Archibald McLaren offered the bell to the families who used the ancient Kilmahog graveyard, provided they built a proper structure for it. The locals cut fine oak from Coilachallan Wood to hang the relic.
Years later, the wooden structure was controversially torn down and the bell moved to Leny House, causing local outrage until it was returned and mounted above the cemetery’s stone gateway.”
We found many headstones of Stewarts and I will need to do some further research to figure out if there is any relation to our family. Many of the headstones were so old that it was impossible to decipher anything legible. The main one I was searching for was Robert McDonachie Stewart, which all records I have found show he was buried here. He lived in the 1700’s which would possibly explain why I was unable to find it. The headstone was just too old to be read. Many of the Stewart ones I did find were from the 1800’s.
From Kilmahog we continued to follow the trail of my ancestry. Into Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, to the northwest shores of Loch Achray. To find a location that was, back in the day, called Wester Ardcheanochdan. A farmstead settlement and home of Robert McDonachie Stewart. Today there are no signs of the original settlement. It was demolished in the 19th century to build the Trossachs Hotel (now the Tigh Mor Trossachs). Robert McDonachie Stewart’s sons, David and Robert, later became land agents and played a documented role in the early Scottish colonization and settlement of Prince Edward Island, Canada (David being my 4th great-grandfather)!
Knowing there would be no signs of the homestead, our goal here was to hike up to the top of Ben A’an. My relative Barbara Stewart mentioned hiking this in her book, as well as stories from my sister Carlin on her visit here. How cool would it be to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors! No doubt they must have hiked to the top of this nearby mountain.
Distance wise, the hike is short, but elevation gain is pretty big and extremely steep for this senior out of shape body. But we stuck with it through the periodic rain, winds and biting midges (something we will have to endure more of here in Scotland), and made it to the top. Amazing views of Loch Katrine, Loch Achray and the surrounding mountains!
I took a series of photos with both my wide angle and long 100-400mm lens. If I’m going to carry that beast of a lens up there, I’m dang sure going to use it! Hopefully some good images as the atmosphere was amazing. Rain was threatening to move back in so we hobbled our way back down the steep rocky trail back to our little home on wheels.
Back in Callander we topped off the tank with diesel and stocked up on supplies at the local Co-Op (one of our favorite European grocery chains).
Then back at camp we plugged in the van to charge the leisure battery (and run the fridge, lights and outlets), topped off the water tank and had some sandwiches for dinner. Time for the evening chore of charging camera batteries, phones, battery banks and downloading photos from the camera to the external solid state drive.
What adventures await us tomorrow? We’ll just have to wait and see…
Funny how, a bell could make for such a tale! Another Great set!
Thanks! Yes, quite a story!