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A few weeks back, we went in and around Perth, experiencing poor visibility and freezing temperatures. It was awesome!

Every time I move to a new country, I try to learn as much as possible about the place. I like to do so the most through a hands-on approach, by traveling around. So, when I recently moved to Scotland, I started putting together a map of places I'd like to visit, and suddenly I had plenty of ideas for a trip (pictured right). The problem is that most were far in the Highlands, and getting there takes some time and money - commodities I don't have an abundance of at the moment. So, I looked into some closer and more accessible locations from my flat and added a handful of points of interest in Perth. Fast forward, I went to see them with a friend on Sunday.

There was an inversion that day, obscuring the city in a veil of mist. I hoped to be able to climb above it, on a hill behind the town.

We set off by browsing downtown Perth, which features several interesting structures.

One place where we spent a tad more time was St John's Kirk, where were interesting stained glass windows and also a total of 63 bells (!), 35 of which can be played from a carillon.  We were lucky; a local carillonneur was actually playing them at the time of our visit — Quite an experience.

Then we crossed the Tay River via the Queen's Bridge, which offers a nice view of St. Matthew's Church from the 19th century, and Smeaton's Bridge, which opened in 1771.

Once behind the bridge, we started ascending towards the Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park. Going uphill, the elevation wasn't the only increasing value. The houses around were bigger and the cars fancier with every step. Eventually, we passed this monastery of St Mary...

..and soon after that, we entered the forest.

The fog was still dense enough to bring some doubts regarding the views from the cliff, but I couldn't be happier, as the frozen surroundings were brilliant to see.

It was an unbounded, raw scene, like from a movie set. Atmospheric through the roof.

As we were getting closer to the hill's summit, the woods opened a bit, and shortly afterward, we stood on the cliff. As expected, one couldn't see too far, but still...

Suddenly, the wind thinned the haze for a short moment, allowing a brief view of the point of interest ahead of us: the Kinnoull Tower.

We reached the tower a few minutes later. There was nobody around, just the tower and drops leading to a valley filled with fog thick as pea soup.

The tower has no fascinating history of being a fortification; it was commissioned in the early 19th century by the 9th Earl of Kinnoull as a decoration of his land. Nevertheless, I liked it. And at this point, it was clear that while the fog obscured some views, it actually enhanced everything else.

The forest around was well-mixed. Spruces, oaks, pines, ash trees... it constantly changed. Descending from the tower, a section of the path looked like a cathedral's nave constructed of robust beeches..

Sometime later, we went out of the forest to a small settlement.

A couple of houses are accompanied by extensive fields with horses. One of them caused a small, unexpected adventure on our way back – his leg got stuck in a strap supporting a fence pole, so we helped him out.

The region has a wide range of birds, but one species was more visible today than others: ravens. Here I saw one on the ground and hoped it would fly into my composition. It did!

Behind the settlement, we got to the Deuchny Hill, which has an arboretum. Beautiful trees piercing the mist were neat to look at, and the smell was top-notch. However, there was another cultivated area farther away that I had no idea about and which got me pretty excited: they have a bike park there.

Banked turns, obstacles, fast and technical trails all set in this lovely environment.. heaven! I hope I will be able to get a mountain bike; it's been too long since I rode down something similar. Anyway. Although I had marked more exciting sights to see further, considering the approaching sunset, we opted to turn around and began our way back to Perth.

In a bit, we were next to the tower again. This time, there were a few people around, but any distant views were still nowhere to be seen. Yet, as during the rest of the day, there were cool things to look at.

To return to the city, we took a path on the cliff's edge, which gradually revealed some decent prospects of the valley below us.

We reached Perth at dusk. It was pretty, but cold.

So we stopped for a cup of tea, and as the daylight vanished altogether, we returned home.

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If you enjoyed the pics of the mysterious weather in this article, you might also like..:

Magical canyon in the Jizera Mountains..

..or two gorges in Lower Austria

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