A walk up Ben Shian, or Beinn an t-Sithein, otherwise known as Fairy Hill or the Mountain of the Fairies, at Strathyre, in the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park.
At 572 metres above sea-level, Beinn an t-Sidhean (as it can be spelt) is not as high as some mountains in the area, like Ben Ledi or Ben Vorlich, but it does offer stunning views down to Loch Lubnaig and north towards Loch Earn.
From Strathyre the path takes us steeply up through woodland of the Strathyre Forest. And it's not long before we start to glimpse Loch Lubnaig through the trees. Views are pretty awesome, and at the top we sit on a boulder and chat.
We chat about the 1745 Jacobite rising, the Battle of Culloden, and the atrocities carried out by the British Army under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, otherwise known as Butcher Cumberland, son of King George II. For immediately after the battle, the battlefield was sealed so no one would get out, and to ensure no one got in to witness what was about to take place. Wounded Jacobites were bayoneted or shot; the following day houses in the area were search for wounded Jacobites or any who were hiding - if found, they were dragged back to the battlefield and then bayoneted or shot dead.
And all to do with religion: Catholics and Protestants. Certain British nobles did not want a Catholic King or Queen, and the 1701 Act of Settlement ensured that such a thing could never happen. It still stands, even today.
But not all Protestants agreed; many thought that the Stuarts were the rightful heirs to the throne. And so at Culloden the battle was not between Catholics and Protestants or Scotland versus England, for each side, whether Jacobite or British Army, included both Catholics, Protestants, Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish.
In the months that followed the Battle of Culloden in 1746, British soldiers, or redcoats, under the direct command of the Duke of Cumberland, searched all of Scotland for Jacobites or Jacobite sympathizers. If found, they could be imprisoned, hanged or beheaded, and had their house or property set on fire or forfeited.
In 1746 my own ancestor was forced to go into hiding when redcoats arrived in Strathyre. His wife refused to tell the soldiers where he was, and they began to abuse her. History can at times seem remote when its in the history books, but it is really brought home when that horrific history involves kith and kin.
This is the real story of the atrocities carried out in Scotland after Culloden, when the House of Hanover sought to ensure there would be no return of the House of Stuart by putting the Scottish Highlands into an effective lockdown where any enemy of King George II could expect to receive punishment ranging from deportation to death.
The Highland way of life was now at an end.