Castleview Bed & Breakfast Dufftown

... the path which turned in to a bit of a scramble and started to get very steep and slippery so we decided it was not worth risking a slip as the drop was quite significant and we would have probably broken a few bones, and made a hasty retreat.

Walking back from the loch to the car, which was about 7 miles we were startled by the passing of a fighter jet through the glen at almost ground level, leaving us with our ...

Today was a bit of a washout, in two ways actually. First, I didn't get to bed until 05:45 as I was up in the bar drinking until very late (or early, you could say). Secondly, I was woken up to a wet foot as water was pouring through the ceiling through the smoke detector and onto the end of my bed. I quickly got dressed and went down to reception and they found that someone upstairs had left a tap running and the plug in...whoops!

Aviemore, Scotland, United Kingdom peterward

Today we encountered a Heiland Coo Bull and his wife and baby. We approached cautiously to take photo's and immediately the bull moved towards us letting us know he was protecting his investments. Here are a couple photo's of this family.

We went to the top of the Caringorm Mountains (the 6th highest mountain in Britain). We took a funicular to the top and it was quite something, about 50 degrees at the top and quite windy.

Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland, United Kingdom zumwalt

Today we toured all over the country side and I was just dying to see the Heiland Coo, said in American it is the Highland Cow. This thing is harry and reddish brown with big horns. Our driver promised me we would see one and sure enough here it is. The Coo looked right at me for this shot!

We went to Cradeur Castle and toured the castle, the beautiful ...

Check out this photo which I took as we were passing through the Caringorm Mountains in the Highlands of Scotland. Out of the blue on the side of a mountain were the future Zumwalts, cast in stone looking at the beauty of the area. I am not sure how the artist knew what we were going to look like in our dotage, however I felt the sculpturer was remarkable ...

Rothes is the little Scottish village where the Glen Grant Whiskey Distillery is located. It is part of the Speyside Whisky Trail, where the largest concentration of Scotch whisky distilleries is located in Scotland. This large valley is popular among distillers because this is where most of the barley is grown for the distillation process.

The distillery has a nice garden and a gift shop.

... to the "Duff House" to take a photo and backing back down the driveway really quickly, it was getting late & we pulled up on this soccer field by the water & hid behind the soccer hall and parked their for the night, it was even a better view than the caravan park across the road - and it was free!
We are having trouble downloading our photos onto the external harddrive so hopefully some photos will appear shortly.

... And honestly, my stomach was happier with the haggis than the battered mars. That's right, a deep fried candy bar. Only in the UK. I only ate a couple of bites. Jodi ate most of it! But I tried it and thats what is important.
Tomorrow is going to be a transit nightmare: drive to Glasgow to drop off the car, bus/train from Glasgow to Stranrear and ferry to Belfast, taxi to hotel. Dreading it already. Stupid stupid plan.

... scottish food stop in the highlands! Weird!

Anyway we crusied onto Aviemore and i don't think this sleepy little town was quite ready for the contiki group of 50 to land on their door step! Monday night is usually fairly tame, but then the pub with the paiano accordian player doing his show to the usual 4 regulars was over run with out-of-towners. it didn't take long for the bar to be lined with jager bombs and the rest as they say is history! We drank until we were kicked out ...

... we could see) is very like parts of southern New Zealand. As we drove along we saw a lot of phesants and hares out in the paddocks and some of the party members saw some deer as we passed through the area near Balmoral estate. We managed to catch a glimpse of Balmoral castle but only a glimpse as we drove past. It seemed strange in Aviemore to see lots of rabbits around the hotel grounds and with very little fear of anyone who was about.