Crikey, it’s freezing !!! Just before 8am, I dashed to the shower block across crispy white grass. I checked the thermometer that I had hung on Eileen’s wing mirror: -7°c (20f)……that’s well below freezing! Overnight the puddles all around the campsite had become skating rinks for pixies. Happily, the shower block was warm and the hot water was heavenly, then with ski jacket back on, I nipped back to Eileen while looking up at the snow on the nearby mountains.
We drove up to Culloden and spent a couple of hours shuffling around the extensive exhibition and out on to the very chilly battlefield. The timing of our visit seemed a little interesting with Scotland having decided yesterday to hold a referendum for independence from the United Kingdom. It will be interesting to see what the decision is in two years’ time.
From Culloden, we headed up to Nairn on the coast of the Moray Firth. It seemed a very nice town, but the beach might have felt a wee bit more enticing in summertime. A campsite in Grantown on Spey was Tuesday night’s rest stop and risotto was on the menu for dinner.
And then we woke up to an even frostier morning! We didn’t hear of any road closures through the mountains, so decided to take Eileen along the A939 further in to the Cairngorms. We passed through Speybridge- very solid but icy bridge, Bridge of Brown- nothing but a closed tearoom, Bridge of Avon- nothing but a small bridge, but the scenery everywhere was very pretty, especially with everything cloaked in white.
We stopped at the Lecht Ski Area to chuck snowballs at each other and then passed through Cock Bridge where we didn’t see a bridge or a cock, but there was a 16thc castle nearby. Mind you, with the clouds starting to build, Corgarff Castle looked like a rather desolate and gloomy place for the Redcoats to be stationed at, when hunting down Jacobite sympathisers in the mid-18th century and later on helping to stamp out the illegal production and smuggling of whisky.
We continued on through Braemar to the Linn of Dee, here there was a very nice bridge and it was a very pretty spot for our picnic. There was no welly boot splashing in puddles today, it was more a case of crunching or skating until the rain came down after lunch.
We drove back through Braemar, along the Dee Valley to the gates of Balmoral Castle. No-one was home, so we drove on to the small town of Ballater which became popular in the nineteenth century because the water from the well there was believed to help cure scrofula!? Not sure what that is, but it doesn’t sound too comfortable! As we don’t have scrofula (as far as we know), we had a nice afternoon tea in the old Railway station where Queen Victoria used to alight when coming by train to Balmoral for her holidays. There are no trains or track any more, but the scones in the waiting room are very tasty; I recommend them.
After that we drove on to the campsite at Banchory and settled in for another wet evening of good food and two episodes of Mad Men.
In the words of Supertramp….”it’s raining again” and we’ve decided that we definitely prefer the frost to the rain. On Thursday, we headed further downhill to the coast at Stonehaven and wandered along the beach which was littered with large chunks of trees and mountains of seaweed. The town had suffered severe storms a week or two ago and there were still sodden sandbags in front of some of the houses. Whilst marvelling at the wonderful variety of colours in the pebbles on the beach I managed to spread my body damage a little further. Slipping on the wooden esplanade I landed on my right wrist and shoulder this time and am now feeling thoroughly old all over. Rodney has written me off, I apparently need trading in for a fitter, younger woman……
Just a little further down the coast was Dunnottar Castle. It’s a fabulously romantic ruined castle, which was built in the 9th century, on top of a lump of rock. There are sheer cliffs on three sides and it sits jutting out in to the North Sea, with numerous seagulls wheeling around it. It has a rather gruesome past for many reasons, one being that in 1297 William Wallace burnt the place down, burning alive the whole of the English Plantagenet garrison that was based there. I don’t remember hearing about that in the movie….!
We wandered around it for quite a while, wading through huge muddy puddles and slippery steps trying to imagine what the castle would look like with solid walls, ceilings and rooms full of people.
From Dunnottar, we drove on down the coast to Duncan and Claire’s home at Ethie Mains, near Inverkeilor. For a second time, they gave us a driveway for Eileen and welcomed us in. Rodney went off with Duncan on the quad bike for a tour of the farm and to get some fish from a local fisherman down on their beach and he kindly provided us with a beautiful cod that he had just caught.
Claire and I went for a walk up to Red Head a wonderful cliff top at the north of their property and then we wandered round the headland to the old fishermens’ cottages above Lunan Bay, before picking up the track that headed back to their farmhouse. By the time we got back the sun had set and the well-worn pink wellies were leaking badly. I think I need a far sturdier pair for this country! I took Claire up on her offer of having a hot bath, which was heavenly deep and I found it hard to get myself out of it, as it was so wonderful enjoying my first bath in absolutely ages. But knowing Claire was cooking the cod and that dinner wouldn’t be far off, I dragged myself out and enjoyed another wonderful meal. We spent the evening chatting in front of the fire before curling up for a good night’s sleep in an enormous bed in a room that would fit three Eileens inside!!!
The next morning, we continued chatting over breakfast and finally said our goodbyes at 11:30am. Thank you so much, Claire and Duncan, for being such wonderful hosts and looking after us so well for a second time and we look forward to seeing you again as soon as we can.
We got on the road again, stopping in Arbroath to gaze out at Bell Rock Lighthouse, way out at sea, and to buy some Abroath Smokies; thank you for the recommendation Claire, they were so delicious. We then drove through Dundee, past Scott’s ship ‘Discovery’ and on beside the Firth of Tay towards Perth. We wanted to get fairly close to Stirling, so we continued on past Dron, Drunzie, Yetts of Muckhart, Pool of Muckhart, Dollar and finally pulled up at the Witches Crag campsite near Blairlogie, just north of Stirling.