Cairngorms, Balmoral Castle, Rait Antiques, Huntingtower Castle

Another trip post! CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE TRIP POSTS. 

We left Aviemore / the Inverness area and headed to a suburb of Edinburgh, making several stops along the way. We took the long way around so we could drive through the Cairngorms and also see Balmoral Castle. 

The first part of the video (shared at the end, below) shows several nice views around the Cairngorms and also the river (River Dee - beautiful scenery) at Balmoral. There were a few impressive looking cold-weather sports places (lodges? resorts? I looked a few up - one was Lecht Ski Centre and another was Glenshee Ski Centre ... so maybe they are called Ski Centres?! But then I saw another called Snowsports Centre - a bit more broad of a term) within the Cairngorms - so if you are a winter sport person, that's the place to be. We did NOT tour Balmoral. It wasn't open when we got there, and we couldn't even see it from the parking place. We had a nice rest, though. Here are a few photos of that ...

Corgarff Castle 16th Century

River Dee at Balmoral

We split from Corban and Megan somewhere between Balmoral and Perth ... side note, we met up with each other at a gas station once we got out of the Cairngorms. I am sure the toilet there won the prize for the most water used in a toilet anywhere in the WORLD. It used so much water and flushed for such a long amount of time that I was laughing and laughing. Maybe it was so funny because I was very tired, but the irony was there because that whole place (Europe in general) does all they can to conserve every bit of everything, and here this toilet flushed out a river with every use. Anyway, Corban and Megan had to go on back to Balloch to meet the man that rescued their passports and cash, so we moseyed our way to that evening's final destination. 

The first major stop we made was a BEAUTIFUL town / village named Braemar, still in the Cairngorms. I did manage some video footage. We walked the main street, stopped in a few shops, and enjoyed the perfect weather and scenery. I bought Brianna a gift while there (a wool poncho). I guess they have a major Highland Games event there each year - it's in a week or so if you are interested, LOL!! Here's the website: The Braemar Gathering 

From Braemar we headed to an antiques place near Perth called Rait Antiques Centre (in Rait, Perth), that David found on the map. It looks like it used to be a barn and stable area???? A handful of antique "booths" (each "booth" was a separate building but was all attached), and also a cafe and a few other businesses. The actual little village of Rait was absolutely picturesque and fun to drive through. David found several things, and the man there boxed everything up and shipped it to the U.S. so we did not have to deal with it at the airport. Here is a picture of a very unique looking rose bush / shrub that was in Rait.

After the antiques centre we had take away lunch in a town called Coupar Angus. We ordered toasties at Oaklié’s Sandwich House and went to a few thrift stores nearby while waiting for the sandwiches to be done. 

When Corban and Megan were done doing what they had to do, they stopped at The National Wallace Monument (click on the name to see their website - the building is amazing) in Stirling. David and I were a bit sad we didn't get to see that!! Corban said Wallace's sword was massive.  Megan did send a few photos through whatsapp ... here they are. I assume the sword is a full-size replica?? Notice that the sword tip is actually in front of him, so it's even taller than shown. Yikes!! 

This is a tapestry - here's what Megan said about it: I thought this was a pretty neat tapestry made by a bunch of quilter ladies. They each embroidered a piece and it was fascinating to see what different stitches and techniques they used.

They also went to Huntingtower Castle on the outskirts of Perth ... which we managed to also see not long after them. It was pretty neat :) Lots of video footage on for that one. I loved the ceiling in one of the rooms, so I took a few photos. This first photo, though, is a bit of a map of the castle.

Pigeon nest boxes - see the pigeon in the top left?

We stopped at Aldi and then found the airbnb - it was in Currie, which is a suburb of Edinburgh. The airbnb (tour in the video) was so nice!! Not fancy, not big at all, but very adequate and a peaceful setting. It's actually on google map - Harbour Hill Cottage Self Catering Accommodation in Currie. It happened to be right on a public path, so there was quite a lot of hikers / walkers / bicyclists passing to and fro. Corban and Megan opted to eat at a fancier place in Currie. I opted to make a simple soup for me and David and then we took a long walk in the the Scottish countryside. It was still perfect weather - ALL DAY LONG (and nearly the entire trip). A very full day, but it all went really well and we all enjoyed ourselves. 

Here are two photos from the walk this evening, but we all walked a few more times, too. :)

As usual: sheep, sheep everywhere!

And now the video. Enjoy!!! The next post will be our day in Edinburgh. 

Falls of Foyers, Loch Ness, Leakey's Bookstore, Highland Folk Museum

Loch Ness!

What can I say except that this part of our trip was my most favorite. If I ever get to go back to Scotland, this is where I'll base myself, with Skye being a close second (though Skye is a very doable day trip if I base myself in the Aviemore / Inverness area). (like the other TRIP POSTS there are photos first and then a video at the end of this post)

We stayed two nights at an airbnb in Aviemore, which is about 35 minutes southeast of Inverness. On the first morning David and I walked in search of a coffee shop. Strangely enough, it was near impossible to find an actual coffee shop that opened earlier than 8am ANYWHERE in the U.K. I don't quite understand that, but whatevs. We walked from one end of the town to almost the other end and finally found a shop that was open at 730. We sat at the shop for a while, giving Corban and Megan time to get their family up and ready .... I / we tried to be mindful of giving them some private time in the mornings and evenings so they could have a little bit of 'normal' as a family. :) :) 

Our first stop of the day was the Falls of Foyers near Loch Ness (or maybe it's a part of Loch Ness?). SO BEAUTIFUL! The whole day had perfect weather, so our morning hike to see the Falls was perfect. There was a little gift shop there, too, and we all enjoyed nosing around. Here are a few photos of on the way to and at Falls of Foyers.

highland cattle

the same cattle

View of Loch Ness from Falls of Foyers

We then headed towards Inverness along the coast of Loch Ness, looking for places to stop and get out along the way so we could see the Loch.  The road was single-track nearly this entire time, which made for some stressful riding for me. No surprise there. EEEEK!!! I found myself wondering if I lived there would I eventually get used to this way of living, or be perpetually stressed out and on edge every time I got into a vehicle? Hmmmm...
Here are a few photos of Loch Ness.

Making a "tough" motion, I think?!?!

A path to the Loch

A sweet moment captured - an older couple we met a few times.

We spent a handful of hours in Inverness, walking around, visiting a few shops (including the famous Leakey's Bookstore), and eating lunch. We walked past a shop with old printing presses inside, so we stopped in to have a chat. Very fascinating! Here are photos of that.

On the way back to Aviemore, we bypassed it and went to the Highland Folk Museum. ALL OF US loved this place and wished we had more than 15 minutes to spend here!! It closed at 5pm and we arrived at about 4:45. I got a lot of video footage, but here are a few pictures. 

Our final stop of the day before going back to the airbnb was Aldi. I bought a glass bottle of the famous Scottish soda called IRN BRU. They just went back to the original formula and I got a kick out of the label advertising, "Old and Unimproved". :) :) Based on the color, you'd assume it would taste like "orange" but it tastes more like "bubblegum". Not my cup of tea, but still it's fun to have the bottle sitting on my fridge, reminding me of the trip.

Ok, here's the video for this day ... so many wonderful, beautiful, and fun things to share! Enjoy! The next post will be our long way around drive from Aviemore to Edinburgh. 
Love to all, j

Isle of Lewis - Callanish Standing Stones, Norse Mill and Kiln, Whale Bone Arch

Day 7 - I think - was mostly the Isle of Lewis. Take time to look up where this island is!! It's so rugged and strange and beautiful. Much of it is covered by moorland. Harris is so rugged / mountainous / craggy (??) that the population is really small. I'd love to go back when there is more grass. Like the other trip posts, this post will contain photos of this day and a video at the end. This video is much shorter than the last video. And an interesting side note ... we could see the Minch most of the time, however I hardly ever focused the camera towards the water ... I'm not sure why!! It was all so neat.

We started the morning at the hostel mentioned in the last post. I had my porridge as usual (did I mention that at all yet??? I actually made a large batch of porridge at home before the trip ... I freeze dried it, blitzed it to make it smaller, and divided into 14 baggies. Breakfast for 2 weeks, done. It worked out GREAT!!) - I prepared it in the hostel kitchen while chatting with a fellow hostel guest. He was actually on a bicycle ride through the Highlands and that day was his final day before backtracking home. 

We packed our things and headed to one of the Callanish Standing Stones sites. These were so neat!!!! I'll include a few photos of the stones, but the videos are pretty comprehensive. I'll also include photos of the information that was shared at the site; some of it overlaps since I was taking the photos from a single graphic (I can't think of what name to give it? A sign board? Information board?).

Beautiful skies on the way to the Callanish Stones ... 

After Callanish Stones we head to the Norse Kiln and Mill. This was a very neat piece of history that was reproduced in great accuracy. It was fun to imagine what life must have been like when the people totally depended on these kilns and mills.

We passed the Whale Bone Arch along the way ... I think Megan has a really good picture of this, but also the video shows it a bit better.

And like the history of the Norse Kilns and Mills, the Blackhouses are so fascinating!!! You can see some blackhouse ruins along the way, but the Blackhouse, Arnol, is preserved and you can tour it. We did NOT tour it (maybe next time?) but did go into the visitor center and saw the replica model. A peak into our next day - we did get to see a blackhouse replica ... but more on that next time!

From here we headed to the town of Stornoway ... walked a little and had lunch before waiting in line at the ferry terminal. 
Lunch was delicious but I only got a picture of Corban's ... homemade chicken ramen of some sort.

This was our final ferry, and it was by far the must turbulent waters. The man at the hostel learned that I also would really like to visit Shetland but was not able to fit it in to this trip ... he told me those waters are always rough. It was another Cal-Mac Ferry called the MV Loch Seaforth. Here are a few photos of that, but there's more on the video linked below.

Just off the ferry ... neat!

The ferry took us to Ullapool, and from there we drove south down through Inverness and on to our airbnb in Aviemore where we stayed 2 nights. We loaded up at an Aldi before going to the airbnb and had an almost normal family dinner. It was nice!!

Ok, here's the video. Enjoy!!! Next time will be about Loch Ness, Inverness, and other places nearby.