The Falls of Dochart

Monty Python’s Michael Palin is featured in the book, discussing the Falls of Dochart in Killin. Killin is the ancestral home to Clan Macnab, with many of the clan’s chiefs buried on the island situated in the falls – Innis Bhuidhe.

You can read Palin’s piece below, and for more information on the burial island you can read my report from the Macnab chief’s memorial which was held in 2013.

Michael Palin

It’s hard to know where to begin. Scotland is so richly endowed with great landscapes, breathtaking views and fine cities that picking out a favourite place seems unfair to all the others. But if I had to narrow my focus and forget the Forth-Clyde canal walk in Glasgow, the Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay and the King’s House Hotel in Glencoe, I’d settle for the Falls of Dochart in Killin. They’re dramatic without being fierce and the way the water twists and tumbles over the rocks is pleasing rather than awesome. They’re accessible too. You can get close to them. Thrilling for a child, I should think, and not intimidating to an oldie like me. I’d call them the friendly falls.

So much of what is beautiful about Scotland has water at the heart of it, whether it’s the rivers and streams, or the lochs and Sounds and Firths into which they flow. One of the great delights of a visit to the Falls of Dochart is their location. From whichever direction you approach the landscape is magnificent. From the west the valley of the Dochart leads you towards the Falls, with Ben More the sentinel to the south, rising over 1,100 metres. Coming at them from the east the road runs, for 14 glorious miles, beside the silver finger of Loch Tay with the dark flanks of the Ben Lawers range rising over 1,200 metres on the far side. Powerful, mysterious, hugely impressive highland scenery.

I think though that a favourite place has to be something more than just an aesthetic choice. There have to be personal elements. And so there are with me and the Falls of Dochart. In my mid-teens I’d met a girl on holiday in Suffolk, and we’d got on very well and the next year we’d met up again by the chilly grey North Sea and our holiday romance blossomed again. The year after that she wasn’t there and I was, for a while, very sad, as I never expected to see her again. Two years later, through the letter-box, came one of those significant communications that can change the course of a lifetime, like unexpectedly good exam results or a successful job application. In my case it was a postcard with a picture of the Falls of Dochart on the front.

On the back was a message from the girl I’d never expected to see again. She was on holiday up in the Highlands and had heard via a friend that I had got into Oxford University. This was followed by some snide reference to the fact that they must have lowered their standards, which, as humour had always been at the heart of our relationship, I found deeply reassuring. 
Reunited by the Falls of Dochart, we later met up and the holiday romance has developed into a 46-
year marriage.

Was it predestination or just plain good fortune that led me to another relationship that was to shape my life, and which was to bring me to see the Falls of Dochart for myself? Whilst at Oxford I met and started to write with a Welshman from Esher in Surrey called Terry Jones. A few years later, by way of The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set, he and I teamed up with three fellow writers and performers from Cambridge, called Idle, Cleese and Chapman. Joined by an American animator named Gilliam, we became Monty Python’s Flying Circus. After a few years of television we wrote and produced our first film, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Among many other things it featured a killer rabbit that lived in the terrifying Cave of Caerbannog.

The film was almost entirely shot in Scotland and the home of the killer rabbit was on the hillside overlooking Loch Tay. Which is how, on 6 May 1974, on an afternoon free of filming, I first saw the Falls Of Dochart for myself. I was with John Cleese and we sat on the rocks with the water spilling around us and talked about the future of Python and John’s urge to be free of his obligations to the group. When the time came to go, my hired car wouldn’t start and John helped me push it up the hill to Killin’s only garage.

In 2005, Terry Jones and myself returned to Scotland to film a short video of our search for the Holy Grail locations which was to be included in a new DVD release. By now, just over 30 years after John had expressed his frustrations with the group, the Holy Grail had been a huge international success and transformed the outlook for 
Python. We had stayed together, on and off, for two more films, the 
Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.

Before Terry and I went on our quest to rediscover the location of the Cave of Caerbannog I insisted that we stop at the Falls. I stepped carefully out onto a rock in the middle of the river, sat down, took my shoes off and dangled my feet in the cool fast-flowing waters of the Dochart. I thought about my life and how this place had come to mean so much to me.

Seven years has gone by since then. John Cleese has just got 
married, for the fourth time, Terry Jones and I are meeting for a drink tomorrow and my wife has just rung to check on our three-year -old grandson who has come down with what he calls chicken 
pops. And a few hundred miles north the river will be bubbling and swirling down the Falls of 
Dochart.

© Michael Palin from My Favourite Place, which is being distributed throughout Scotland as part of Book Week Scotland

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Macnab Country – The village of Killin and Loch Tay from Stron a’Chlachain. Photo by Andy Hall

Last Friday Amanda and I attended the memorial service for James Charles Macnab of Macnab, 23rd Chief of Clan Macnab. The memorial was held in the Killin Kirk, followed by interment of the ashes of James and his wife Diana on the ancient Macnab burial island of Innis Bhuidhe.

The journey from Edinbugh to Killin took us about two hours by car; passing through quaint Stirlingshire countryside, then the very edges of the Highlands via The Trossochs National Park. I’m rather ashamed to admit that I haven’t been further north than Edinburgh since I arrived in Scotland, so once we were on the road I felt an instant sense of relief when the grey and charcoal stone of Edinburgh gave way to brown and khaki earthy fields. We passed the still, deep waters of Loch Lubnaig, then on through the rocky and unforgiving mountain ranges towards Killin. My ears popped as we drove further up winding roads into the hills; passing mountains with giant cracks in their sides, snow capped peaks and weathered shards of rock poking out of steep slopes. The landscape certainly does remind me of New Zealand, but there’s a much more imposing, dramatic element to it that I have completely fallen head over heels for.

Dochart Falls, Killin

The beautifully wild Dochart Falls greeted us upon arrival in Killin. Situated on the River Dochart, the falls pass through the town, past the island of Innis Bhuidhe then onto Loch Tay. We walked to the kirk at the other end of the town, where inside a sea of mourners were wearing tartans of all different colours and patterns. The minister began the service by mentioning that the kirk was not very old by Scotland’s standards – it was only built the year before the 1745 Rising. The service featured songs and readings by the youngest generation of Macnabs, and a stirring eulogy delivered by the new chief, James William Macnab of Macnab. He recollected his father’s fantastic sense of humour, and his love for the land around Killin. The late chief was a particularly keen shot, and would insist upon hunting in his kilt. On one particular outing the chief jumped into a bush, disturbing a trio of grouse who got caught in his kilt as they tried to flee.

The procession gathers outside Killin Kirk

After the service the attendees gathered outside the kirk for a procession along the main street of Killin towards the burial island. With a piper leading the way the new chief and his brother carried the ashes of their father and mother, followed by family, clansmen and other mourners. As we were walking we noticed black smoke rising further along the road, which turned out to be a barn that had caught fire. As we got closer firefighters told us that we would not be able to get through as there was a risk of explosion, and we would have to turn back. We had turned around when the new chief yelled out to us to follow him through a field around the burning building. In a moment of comedy that I’m sure the late chief would have appreciated, hundreds of mourners (some of us hobbling in heels) were sent marching through a field around the outskirts of Killin.

The procession begins

The procession on Innis Bhuidhe

The Macnab Crypt at the far end of Innis Bhuidhe

The ancient burial island of Innis Bhuidhe was absolutely beautiful. Roughly half the size of a football field, the island is covered in lush woodland with a path leading down the middle towards the ancient crypt where Macnab chiefs are buried. The procession was lead to the crypt by Pipe Major Greig Canning playing the Macnab piobaireachd – The Gathering of the Macnabs. After a short prayer the ashes of the late chief and his wife were laid to rest, and his pennon and cap badge were handed over to the new Macnab of Macnab, announcing the new chief. Following the interment we stopped briefly at the hotel where the wake was being held. We chatted with the new chief, and toasted him with a glass of whisky that I’m sure flowed freely for the rest of the evening.

On our way back to Edinburgh we passed a number of Highland Heritage tour buses going in the other direction. Each bus was emblazoned with a clan name across the front – MacLeod, MacGregor, and Macnab to name a few. How amazing that a few miles back along the road, the modern day versions of those great clans had gathered just a few hours earlier.

You can view our photos from the memorial in an album on Tartan Footprint, and I have also uploaded the Order of Service here. Oh and just in case you’re wondering, I do have more travel in Scotland planned for April!

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