As salmon undertake epic autumn spawning journeys up the River Tay from the sea, Sheila Sim attempts to follow their progress – on her bike
Photos: Sheila Sim
DISCOVER
Waiting my turn to step on to the viewing platform at Ossian’s Hall, I can feel the rumble of water vibrating through my feet. I’m at Black Linn Falls. Sheltered within an autumnal cathedral of beech, fir and larch, this is one of Scotland’s most magnificent viewpoints. As two tripod-laden photographers make way for me, I step forward and gasp at the sight of the rushing water below.
Ossian’s Hall is a romantic folly dating back to 1783; it is part of a designed landscape known as the Hermitage, now under the stewardship of the National Trust for Scotland. The Black Linn Falls are its main attraction; situated on the River Braan (a tributary of the River Tay), they are renowned as one of the best places to see salmon leaping, and autumn is traditionally the best time to witness this iconic sight. Alas, not today; not for me. I have lingered for as long as possible hoping for a glimpse of this heroic fish, but the queue of people behind me is growing, so I move aside.
TWO-WHEELED TOURING
I’m cycling National Route 77, known as the Salmon Run. This 54-mile route loosely follows the course of the River Tay from its estuary at Dundee, upstream to Perth and then Dunkeld, before diverting to the River Tummel and finishing in Pitlochry. It is named in honour of the salmon – the ‘King of Fish’ – that migrate back to their spawning grounds along this route every year. This amazing creature (its name deriving from the Latin salire, ‘to leap’) is woven into Scottish myth and culture. The Celts associated the salmon with wisdom, and it features in Glasgow’s coat of arms.
I’m new to cycling, and I should be candid about the effort involved in this trip. Bradley Wiggins could enjoy a lazy breakfast in Dundee and make it to the end of the route in Pitlochry in good time for lunch; an experienced touring cyclist would do it in a day. But what’s the rush, when there is so much to see and enjoy along the way? I am making a three-day break of it, to make sure I don’t miss anything.
The route begins at the Dundee waterfront, where the famous Tay Rail Bridge crosses the estuary to Fife. Leaving the city behind in drizzly rain, a country road takes me through the fertile fields of the Carse of Gowrie. In Victorian times, this area was famous for its apples, pears and p
