This is the verbal picture of my living in rural Aberfeldy for the past four months. Before we delve in, if you prefer just looking at pretty pictures please go and view my friend Alistair McDonald’s previous Tiree post. If ScotGEM Stories were a book (million pound idea!) his would be on the front cover.
Before you ask, ‘Aberfeldy? Isn’t that in Wales?’, I’ll tell you that it’s a small town off the A9 near Pitlochry, halfway between St Andrews and Inverness. It’s arguably the dead centre of Scotland but that doesn’t mean you’re far from the water. The charming grey-stone town is built on the River Tay which flows from Loch Tay, past Kenmore, all the way to the sea at Dundee. As the largest volume river in Great Britain, it attracts watersport enthusiasts from around the country who fancy a paddle or dare to speed down the rapids at Grandtully.
I’m staying just past the town’s very own eponymous distillery, in the outhouse of a kind local called Margaret. She has a collie dog, (seemingly a prerequisite for country living) called Peggy, who welcomes me home every day after a day’s work at the surgery. I feel like I’ve been transported twenty years into my future.
The work is just as idyllic. I drive the five minute ‘commute’ to the surgery in town three days a week to meet patients from all walks of life. The Aberfeldy practice is paired to a smaller one up at Kinloch Rannoch that the GPs take turns covering. The area that these practices cover is impressive. From the depths of Glen Lyon, Britain’s longest enclosed valley, all the way up to the edge of the Rannoch Moor which featured in the film Trainspotting with the train station in the middle of nowhere.
Living on my own here is quite isolating having spent the last two years in cities, so I’m extremely grateful for the times I can meet with my friend Katie who’s based at the practice in Pitlochry. You need each other more than ever in these ‘adventure’ years so in all the hustle and bustle of studies, don’t undervalue your friendships.
