Round Knowe

Part of the A9 dualling project from Perth to Inverness.

The A9 is a strategic link between the Highlands of Scotland and the Central Belt. It runs 279 miles from junction 5 of the M9 at Polmont to Scrabster. Originally it ran from Edinburgh. Link

The A9 is a strategic link between the Highlands of Scotland and the Central Belt. It runs 279 miles from junction 5 of the M9 at Polmont to Scrabster. Originally it ran from Edinburgh. Link

The A9 is a strategic link between the Highlands of Scotland and the Central Belt. It runs 279 miles from junction 5 of the M9 at Polmont to Scrabster. Originally it ran from Edinburgh. Link

The A9 is a strategic link between the Highlands of Scotland and the Central Belt. It runs 279 miles from junction 5 of the M9 at Polmont to Scrabster. Originally it ran from Edinburgh. Link

The A9 is a strategic link between the Highlands of Scotland and the Central Belt. It runs 279 miles from junction 5 of the M9 at Polmont to Scrabster. Originally it ran from Edinburgh. Link

The A9 is a strategic link between the Highlands of Scotland and the Central Belt. Running for 273 miles, it is the longest road in Scotland and the fifth-longest A-road in the United Kingdom. Historically it was the main road between Edinburgh and John o' Groats but its importance has been eclipsed somewhat in the south by the A90 across the Forth Road Bridge and the M90 motorway, which now links Edinburgh more directly with Perth, and the M9, which is now the main road between Edinburgh and Bridge of Allan.

The A9 is a strategic link between the Highlands of Scotland and the Central Belt. Running for 273 miles, it is the longest road in Scotland and the fifth-longest A-road in the United Kingdom. Historically it was the main road between Edinburgh and John o' Groats but its importance has been eclipsed somewhat in the south by the A90 across the Forth Road Bridge and the M90 motorway, which now links Edinburgh more directly with Perth, and the M9, which is now the main road between Edinburgh and Bridge of Allan.

The deployment of Orange traffic cones has temporarily reduced the northbound carriageway of the A9 to a single lane.

On December 27th, inclement weather combined with the heavy traffic to cause a quite epic traffic jam on the A9. Several miles of traffic at walking speed around Dunkeld, just before one of the sections that has not been dualled yet.

A low lying stone beside a very old road linking Strathbraan in the west, through the Obney Hills with the old Boat of Caputh. A few years ago someone scraped off a thick mat of vegetation to expose a dozen cup marks, previously unrecorded. Local folklore has it covering a pile of treasure, and this story was dutifully recorded in the OS Place Names Book (Vol. 50, page 63, 1859-62, if you're interested): "it is said that some years ago a man commenced to excavate the soil around the rock in order, if possible, to secure the hidden treasure, while so employed, a small dog suddenly appeared on the top of the rock and desired the man to desist, assuring him at the same time that the reputed treasure was really there, but it was never intended that the eye of mortal should behold it. There are some marks on the rock which the superstitious tell you are the prints of this very sagacious dog’s paws." Nevertheless, someone else has tried:There is a hole about 20cm deep drilled into the stone. Sometime about the 1850s, the sons of the local dominie, John Cameron, got hold of some blasting powder (then widely used to help break up bigger stones while reclaiming farming land from the Muir of Thorn) and drilled the hole. Their father appeared and skelped their lugs, however, before the dog got in on the act.

Conical pillars of dressed stone like these are a signature feature of Murthly estate's designed landscape. This is an entrance to Boar Park, one of nine large irregularly shaped enclosures, amid well-wooded shelter belts, for cattle and sheep along either side of the Grand Avenue, one of the carriage drives to Murthly Castle. A notable feature of these parks, particularly the ones to the east, is that the boundaries are not the usual stone dykes, but ha-has.

Furries and amphibious creatures now have safe passage across four lanes of highway, along with pedestrians, cyclists and horseback riders.

The stone in the centre of this image looks small, but it is currently buried in vegetation. Exposed, i.e. when the fir plantation (a cash crop) is harvested it is about the height of an average person. The Cloven Stone is an ancient boundary marker. Most probably an erratic boulder left behind by the receding ice, it was clearly a notable feature atop the Muir of Thorn.