Bleak by zizkov
If you want to see some bleak empty scenery, but don't have time to get to the Highlands, then visit Sherrifmuir. North of Stirling, West of the A9, its the kind of place that can be bleak cold and windswept even in the middle of summer. Oh, and there is a pub in the middle (Sherrifmuir Inn).Sheriffmuir was the site of an crucial battle in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Despite superior Jacobite numbers, the battle was inconclusive: the Jacobite forces withdrawing, rather than press on for victory. This demoralised the Jacobite cause and more or less ended the rebellion. There is a monument to the battle above Dunblane. There is an account of the battle on the Clan Cameron website.
And an account in verse from Scotland's second most famous poet William McGonagall.
To reach it (by car) turn right just past the University (from Stirling) or by the golf club (Dunblane) - there are also two roads in from the A9 north of Dunblane. If you are feeling energetic, a 3-4 hour walk round, starting from the University. And just behind the University, but quite elevated, there is a place to park which can give you easy access to Dumyat (the first summit of the Ochils).
