Ah - the Cairngorms

Well I am slowly moving on with this Blog - still in the Black Isle in Scotland, and this particular day we took off to the Cairngorm National Park.

 I really wanted to do this, as nearly 4 decades ago, I spent some time over the Christmas holidays, skiing in the Cairngorms,  thoroughly enjoying it  - staying at Grantown-on-Spey I believe.

Our first stop en route was Carr-bridge - a village about 10 miles north of Cairngorm's best known ski town - Aviemore - Carr-bridge actually forms a gateway to the Cairngorms National Park.  There seems to be some variation of the spelling, sometimes it does not have the hyphen, other times it does - I've gone with the hyphen as per the map above!!!

Carr-bridge's most famous landmark is the old packhorse bridge, from which the village is named.

The bridge built in 1717, is the eldest stone bridge in the Highlands.  It was severely damaged in the "buckle spate" of 1829 which left it in the condition it is in today.

The very clear River Dulnain flows through Carrbridge

This village hosts two popular annual competitions - "The Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship" in early October - sounds a tad different,  and the "Carve Carrbridge" Scottish Open Chainsaw Carving Competition.  Probably the reason why we saw some works of carved wooden art around the village.

There were a couple of great shops here, Margaret and I just had to wander through, bought some lovely cards, and I think she also found a great locally made pottery vase.

Couldn't help but stop here - Loch Morlich

How beautiful was this Loch and it's reflections 

We were met by an over friendly "mother duck and her large crew"

It is a freshwater Loch

near Aviemore

Long stretches of its shoreline are formed of sandy beaches.

This Loch is home to a watersports center with kayaking, sailing and windsurfing.

There is a yacht club 

and cycling routes around the Loch.

In the 2nd World War the area around Loch Morlich was used as a commando school.

In particular it was used as a training area for the Kompani Linge (the Norwegian Independent (army) Company, trained by the British Special Operations Executive,

because of the close resemblance of the area, both in landscape and climate, to Norway.

We left Loch Morlich  (far right on the map below),

and headed for Cairn Gorm (centre of the map above)

We planned to take the UK's highest funicular railway

which runs from the Base Station at 2083 ft to the Ptarmigan Top Station at 3598 ft above sea level

a most comfortable 2km journey to just below the summit of Cairn Gorm at 4085 ft

Britain's 6th highest mountain.

Looks like it was definitely a "4 layer" day for moi.

The Cairngorm National Park is the U.K's largest at 1400 square miles

It is the home to "46 Munros" (mountains over 3000 feet high)

The Cairngorms feature the highest, coldest and snowiest plateaux in the British Isles and are home to five of the six highest mountains in Scotland.

We were so lucky that it was surprisingly clear at the top

Someone's definitely in need of a hair cut - and looking forward to a steaming hot chocolate - inside.

How's this for a view over the Cairngorms - with a hot chocolate in hand???

*******

We obviously "funicularied" down to the base again

Next plan was to drive across to another part of the Cairngorm National Park - near Loch Garten (far right on map above)

and to do this we needed to pass Loch Morlich again

No, we definitely needed to stop

as it looked like there was some action happening

A small dinghy race was underway

The blue sails reflected on the Loch 

Looked just stunning

The Cairngorm N.P area is home to a quarter of Scotland's native woodland with the biggest continuous stretches of near-natural vegetation in Britain.  It is refuge for a host of rare plants and creatures, including 25% of the U.K.'s threatened species.

We had arrived at Abernethy Reserve, Loch Garten - it's wild landscape embraces three of the UK's highest peaks and the largest single trace of Caledonian pinewood - a remnant of the great forest that once covered much of highland Scotland.

This reserve is a natural refuge for Scotland's rarest and most Iconic birds.  Snow buntings and ptarmigan can be see on its high plateau, capercaillie and crossbills in its forest.

However, we were here to hopefully see Loch Garten's Ospreys

and that we did from the Osprey Centre which provides fantastic views of these magnificent creatures - we saw Mr. Osprey deliver a fish to the nest, and Mrs Osprey, feeding one of her two hatchlings in the nest.

We could see what was going on in that nest first hand - thanks to close up views, via a non-invasive CCTV camera - just magic!!!

On our way out, we saw this little chap

he (not sure) and the little bird friend - both feeding together

As Australia has no squirrels - I tend to be very fond of these little chaps.

However I do know that the North American grey squirrel introduced to Britain and other parts of Europe during the 19th Century reportedly as a curiosity to satisfy the Victorian penchant for novelty, has shown how adaptable and hardy it is and has thrived in Britain's parks, gardens and woodlands, and now outnumbering the native red squirrel by 66 to one. The chart below shows how the red squirrels have retreated to the north - most UK reds are confined now to Scotland, Cumbria, the Isle of Wight and island in Poole Harbour.  It seems that the two cannot co-exist in the same habitat.

The introduced grey squirrel is bigger and stronger than the UK's native red squirrel, and able to outcompete the red in almost every phase of their life history, and it is also thought that the grey is more resistant to disease than the red.  The grey are also responsible for causing significant damage to woodland of both economic and amenity value and recent studies have reported that they are having a serious impact on Britain's already imperilled woodland birds.  I have read where there is now an organised cull on the grey in the UK, and of course I have certainly heard of the garden and woodland damage they do to our friend's gardens in the USA - not so cute over there.

All that aside, I took numerous photos of this little critter, however, they were definitely outnumbered by Kevin's photographic efforts below.

A super day, glorious scenery, and again thanks to our "guides" and our "driver".

******

The weather was changeable - however we still attempted to photograph when the sky was a bit grim.

One morning we raced around after a "heron" - I missed any decent shots of that bird.

but managed some photos of the industry in the Cromarty Firth

Invergorden, across the Firth remains a major centre for the repair and refurbishment

of rigs for the North Sea and beyond.

Love this one of the moored yachts backdropped by the rigs.

******

Another afternoon after we had visited the super Tain Pottery just north of the Black Isle, followed by a great lunch at the Barn near the Cromarty Bridge - the heavens really opened up. On the way back,  I think Kevin saw another heron - car came to a stop, he took off in the pouring rain, however, we 3 decided to stay within the car.  Kevin came back with a pile of seal photos - apparently there were a whole group playing in that rain!

Love the one below - taken from some distance with a quite a bit of cropping to this size.

Another morning early Kevin decided to go down to the Lighthouse for some photographs.

I should have gone as well, but I was playing with the Mac and yesterday's photos

How wonderful does the Moray Firth look on a clear day

Clouds and all (over Fort George) below!

******

It was time to leave the Black Isle, M and K for Sheffield, and us for Whitby in Yorkshire. 

En route we stopped at the charming town of Pitlochry

walked up one side of it

and down the other side - taking in most of the shops,

stopping for a super lunch, finishing up with a visit to their Heather gems factory - where they create jewellery from stems of heather -( the old stems are dried, shotblasted to remove the bark and dyed various colours using natural dyes) - just had to bring back a piece.

We had already decided to only drive halfway today, and had booked at the Hilton Hydro Hotel in Dunblane (below)

a lovely grand old place, very comfy newly renovated rooms as well.

We met for a drink and snack in the Hotel's Lounge Bar

and how lucky were we, tonight was the formal of a College near Dunblane

and we were sitting  just where these young ones were gathering.

Kilts were certainly the favoured attire for the young men

Most of the gowns were lovely, however we did wonder about the comfort of some of those high "soled" extra high heels?

Then we saw this little character - how wise was she 

sneakers with matching pink socks - so comfy for the night, in fact you could only see the sneakers when she pulled at her skirt to trot down some stairs.

From here we headed in different directions, Sheffield and Whitby

A big farewell to Scotland - had a really great time there - almost 3 weeks, and we loved it.

We circle Loch Ness

This day we were again in our guides (M and K's) hands, it was wonderful not having to make any decisions as to where we should go and what should we see today - it all just happened.  Anyway we ventured out at about the usual time of around 10 am and headed south - the plan was to circle Loch Ness.

 

 

 We travelled through some stunning country

 

 

on the east of Loch Ness 

 

 

 Surprisingly this is is the original road down the side of Loch Ness, not the popular West side - and the Great Glenn walk,  which is a comparatively recent development.

 

 

This east road was built in a network of military roads across the Highlands in the aftermath of the 1715 Jacobite uprising.

 

 

Our first stop was at the Falls of Foyer

 

 

Kevin and I decided it was photograph time, but I only covered about half of the route, Kevin continued on and took these following shots.

 

 

The Falls of Foyer is a waterfall on the River Foyers - it has a fall of about 165ft

 

 

and the River Foyers drops into a gorge leading to Loch Ness

 

 

 Highland Cattle enjoy their Loch Ness surrounds

  

 

The next river we came to is the Fechlin at Whitebridge

 

 

and the "Wade" Bridge built in 1732 - one of the finest military bridges in Scotland

 

 

General George Wade was the British Military Commander of the Army  from 1715 - between 1725 and 1737 Wade oversaw the construction of some 250 miles of road, plus 40 bridges, including the Tay Bridge at Aberfeldy.

 

 

General Wade let William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland (age 24) take command of the army in 1745 (mind you General Wade was 72 at that stage) - they pursued the Jacobites to their eventual demise at the Battle of Culloden.

 

 

This bridge is currently under repair and restoration.

 

 

We then drove through a stunning Glen.

 

 

The Great Glen

 

 

stunning views wherever you turned

 

  

 

 

Our wagon parked high in the Glen

 

 

We passed a couple of smaller Lochs

 

 

en route to Fort Augustus - yes, named after the Duke of Cumberland - William Augustus,

 

 

and its outstanding Caledonian Canal.

 

 

This canal connects the Scottish East coast at Inverness with the West Coast at Corpach near Fort William.

 

 

It was constructed in the 19th Century by Thomas Telford and is a sister canal of the Gota Canal in Sweden, also constructed by the same brilliant engineer - Thomas Telford.  He built this Canal with a team of people, many of whom had helped him with the great Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in North Wales, which we had visited, and taken a longboat across about a month prior.

 

 

The canal runs 62 miles from north east to south west. 

 

 

Only one third of the entire length is man made,

 

 

the rest being formed by Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness (entry below), Loch Oich and Loch Lochy.

  

 

These Lochs are part of the Great Glen - a geological fault in the Earth's crust. 

 

 

There are 29 locks, four aqueducts and 10 bridges in the course of this canal (pinched the photo above - just for the aerial view of such a project)

*****

It was just a little damp in Fort Augustus, so after checking out the canal, the Canal Visitors Centre, a shop here and there, we went to a quaint little pub on the banks of the Caledonian and had a long hot coffee, before heading north on the western side of Loch Ness.

***** 

Next stop - Urquhart Castle

Once one of Scotland's largest medieval castles,

 



 

Urquhart Castle remains an impressive stronghold despite its ruinous state.

It is situated on the headland overlooking Loch Ness

 



 

The remains include a tower house that commands splendid views of the famous loch and the Great Glen. 

 

 

When one first enters - they have the opportunity to view a movie about Urquhart, and at the end, the curtains are drawn and there she sits in her magnificence right in front of you.



 

 

Urquhart Castle is Historic Scotland's 3rd busiest site.



 



 

It is believed this castle was built in the early 13th Century



 

This Castle witnessed considerable conflict throughout its 500 years as a medieval fortress



 

and its history from 13th to 17th centuries was particularly bloody.

 



Following Edward 1's invasion, it fell into English hands and was then reclaimed

 



and lost again!

 

In the 14th century, it figured prominently in the Scots' struggle for independence and came under the control of Robert the Bruce after he became King of Scots.



 

How's this for a view over Loch Ness??

 



 

Back to the history - In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle and glen were frequently raided from the west by the ambitious MacDonald Lords of the Isles.

 

 

One can't help thinking, if you were going to build a castle to survey this wide glen, and the loch itself

 

 

this is where you would build it!

 

Many of the sitings of the Loch Ness Monster are seen in this area

 

However, we did not venture anywhere for spotting "Nessy".

*****

 

We continued back up the west side of Loch Ness, through the Great Glen,  and followed up our superb day with an absolutely delicious dinner at the "Crofters Bistro" in Rosemarkie.

 



 

An extremely popular local dish here is "Cullen Skink".  Yes, we tried it, absolutely superb - smoked haddock, potatoes, leek etc in a creamy sauce - just sooh good.