Sep 26, 2012 - Cairngorms National Park, Scotland

We stayed 5 nights in Aviemore in the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands. Our ½ house was warm and cosy. Actually it was too warm and because we had strict instructions not to touch the heating which was automatic, we had to open the door occasionaly to let in a blast of frigid air. It was a beautiful area. We had aquired a thermos and I got in the habit of packing lunch each day and off we would go . Several times we went north to the coast and it was a job sometimes to coax Paul out of the car to have lunch on a bench somewhere….usually...

Aug 22, 2011 - Scottish Highlands

Well today we travelled to St Andrews visited the 18th hole and the ancient university. As we drove trough the heather-clad highlands we crossed the Tay river and visited Blair Castle, where i saw a collection of guns the most i have ever seen in one place, sure you could have fought 2 wars with them. Well some have asked, have i managed to get the oldies off the bus any quicker, well the answer is yes, on these tours you have to move seats every day, so when it came to my turn on the front, i in true kiwi form, demonstrated, exiting the...

Jul 27, 2009 - Scottish Highlands

Since we have lived in Scotland for a year and had not done any Scottish sightseeing at all we thought we had better try to fit it all in before we left! All was off to a great start on Saturday morning as we packed up the house and said our goodbyes, went out to the car and had a flat tyre…. With that sorted we were on our way to Inverness to the famous Loch Ness to hopefully see the Loch Ness Monster. I know there is really no Loch Ness Monster but surely everyone who visits there does hold a little thought in the back of their mind that...

Apr 24, 2007 - A trip to the Scotland

Monday 24th. April 2007: We had arranged to meet up with Karen (our New Zealand friend from Tibet) at Bridge of Allen railway station at 1pm. so after a wet drive north we arrived, and surprisingly met up on time. Drove up to Aviemore, weather cleared and we looked set OK for the Cairngorms the following day. It was actually quite good weather (for Scotland!) and although there was cloud floating around the tops we managed to climb Cairn Gorm OK and circum-navigate the edges before heading down. Our plan to do Ben Macdui was thwarted by...

Apr 23, 2007 - Scottish Highlands - Aviermore

I met Mel and Sandra at a train station outside of Glasgow and we headed north into the Highlands. We stayed at Aviemore in their Rock and Fell Club Hutt which was in the skiing village and more like a proper house with all the mod cons than a New Zealnd Hutt with just basics away up in the bush. My good New Zealand weather was still with me. Actually UK has had its hottest April for 300 years so I am doing well. We spent a day in the Glenmore Forest Park climbing to the summit of the Gairn Gorm mountain. We then walked around the top of...

Aug 5, 2006 - Inverness, Scotland

The tour departed Pitlochry in the early afternoon and stopped first at an 18th century barracks built by the British to house troops when fighting Jacobite uprising. If you ever watch one of the Scottish history movies you might hear that term so I'll explain it. It's in reference to followers of the deposed king James the 2nd - the Catholic king that was removed from the throne and replaced with Protestant William of Orange. That didn't go over well in Scotland where the majority of the population was Catholic. They're called Jacobites...

Jul 9, 2005 - Aviemore

We picked our hire car up and hit the road first thing in the morning. It felt unusual to be driving as we hadn't driven since we were in the Greek Islands. We drove through Perth and then the mountains started rolling as we made our way north. The scenery was brilliant, with lots of clear fast flowing rivers and green paddocks. We stopped at Balmoral Castle for a while and toured the grounds and castle. It was quite lucky that we dropped in when we did as the castle is only open to visitors for a few months of the year, closing at the end...

Jul 6, 2005 - Skye and onward

We were really looking forward to exploring the north end of Skye, and got a good start the next day to make the most of the nice weather, and see as much as possible. The A855 led us straight into stunning scenery - mountains on the left and many lochs, and the Sound of Raasay to the right. We could see the 'Old Man of Storr' from Portree, and we were heading there to do a walk/climb up to the ridge to get a closer look, and to see the surrounding countryside. The 'Old Man of Storr' is a pinnacle of rock jutting out of the rocky ridge, and...

Aug 2, 2004 - Loch Ness

We found Dunmaglas, the MacGillivray ancestral seat, and Dunlichity Kirk, where the MacGillivrays have their own little graveyard. It was really beautiful in that area & if I ever get a vast sum of money, I'm going to make an offer on the Dunmaglas estate. It's soooo quiet & peaceful & lovely there. We drove all over the area. The Western side of Loch Ness is full of tourists & the hoteliers treat you accordingly (crappy) but the Eastern side is lovely, sparse, very few houses, almost no tourists, one lane roads all over. I can't say enough...

Jun 15, 2004 - On our own and on the road

Tuesday June 8th We set off early Tuesday morning. The kids were in great modes and it really made it easy for us to leave them behind with the grandparents for a few days knowing that they weren't cyring for us as we went out the door. But we have to admit, it was sad to leave them and we both shed a few tears as we set off. First stop for us that day was Aviemore, a cute little village located in the heart of the Cairngorm Mountains. We booked a room at the historic Cairngorm Hotel and were pleasantly suprised with its charm and...