OK, time for an update. I met with hippy hippy last evening to walk along the Birks of Aberfeldy. There is a rumor that police searched for a very considerable amount of time in one area there where it's a steep and rocky fall down to the water. It was drizzling, and very reminiscent of the weather and lighting of the night Susan vanished, hh says. I'm glad we walked there, but since Susan was last seen near Gatehouse Nursery, it's a little hard to put her in the Birks location.
BTW, sar2them, Susan left Moness after a little spat, walked out with nothing but the spare change in her pockets. No phone, no passport, nothing.
I spent two nights at Errichel B&B. Errichel Farm is the 600+ acres that Crieff Road semi-circles around from Aberfeldy to Gatehouse Nursery, more or less. It was really nice to be in the middle of what I consider to the main the area of interest.
I was able to speak to the person who reported the first sighting. That person placed a walker of Susan's stature on Crieff Rd at approx 7:45. The time was pretty certain because the person had to pull off to send a text message right afterward, and the time stamp on that was 7:47. The driver was not able to confirm that it was Susan, and the driver recollected seeing dark pants, not khakis. The person rolled down the window and asked Susan 2 or 3 times if she wanted a lift, needed help,... Susan turned her head away from the driver, so it was not possible to see a face. Susan didn't speak. This driver is careful to note that it may or may not have been Susan, but agrees that there are few pedestrians on Crieff Road. I've yet to see any with many trips up and down the road.
I emailed Iain Marshall of K9 Search and Rescue--Thank you, Ironside!!! I'm eager to hear back from him. I'd love for Iain, Barra his dog, hippy hippy, and me to go to the area where hh's dog ran off, barking and getting bloodied. And to confirm: hh was not allowed out of the police car when trying to show/tell them where the dog went. We don't know yet if police took dogs there. I hope to meet the detective now that his holiday has ended. Since this is not a criminal investigation, it's hard to imagine that they won't give me copies of their search grids. Crossing my fingers.
Lastly, the idea of Susan leaving Crieff Rd to hike a ways west on Loch Hoil track, then turning north to take paths between trees, possibly to Dun Hill area, then down to Moness Resort seems such a likely thing for Susan to do. Why go back down that narrow Crieff Rd when there is a track at the top of Dun Hill, and it's not that far from the Loch Hoil track. Equivet, what's your take on this? hh has posted a pic of the map plaque that's located at the Crieff Rd end of Loch Hoil Track. Take a look and you can see what I'm talking about, especially if you mentally overlay hh's screen shot of Google Maps with her rectangular area where the dog event occurred.