Kilravock Castle Inverness

... like me... hmm! This road literally passed over the top of the world... jaw-dropping...





When the road came out, almost in civilisation, we were around Braemar. Not much civilsation for long though - the other side was Glenshee, home to ...

... 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 ...

... the time I got everything sorted and left the hostel it was around midday so I decided to head over to Aviemore via Loch Ness for a few pictures, first stopping at Foyers Falls and then a few places along Loch Ness south shore.

I arrived at Aviemore at around 15:00 and checked in to the Bunk House, got my room sorted and then went for a walk around the town, stopping at Tescos for some food for dinner. Yep, pasta and chicken again!

... I come across some huge bilberries (blaeberries in Scotland) and collect a large bagful to enjoy later.  The sun is out in full strength this afternoon and it turns into a stunning day.  

The North Kessock stretch of the A9 into Inverness is long and the traffic relentless but at least the cycle path provides a safe distance from the road and eventually I reach Inverness Youth Hostel - source of washing machines ...

... t illuminated with the world’s exotica, but instead Birmingham, Leeds and York and the like. And Inverness. I was going to Scotland, and I couldn’t wait.I wasn’t necessarily excited singularly by the fact I was going to Inverness that night, but more by how I was getting there – the sleeper train. For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, I’ve always wanted to travel somewhere on a train and have my own little world, where I can lock myself away ...

... up to Kilravock Castle. When Dave came we had given him a welcome to Scotland pack which had a wee bottle of Dalwhinnie whiskey so we decided to stop in Dalwhinnie to have some dinner. While we were sitting down for dinner in this pub (charging Dave's endless amount of camera batteries) a train went past. That was it Dave wanted to get a pick of a train from the pub. But try as he did after about 4 trains had gone past he still didn't have the pic that he wanted ...

... little subleties behind the whole thing. However at this point I'm out of time and will continue later after I get back from walking around Inverness. Just wanted to mention that cool little detail of my trip. Oh yeah, and I bought myself a bodhran (celtic drum). and a new tin whistle. There was a music shop in Portree and I gave in. You can never stop a musician from buying new instruments!

... flurries which were the source of a great deal of excitement since neither of us has ever seen falling snow. We spent the afternoon walking around the older part of the city and discovered that the city Christmas lights were being switched on at 7pm so we stayed for that. It snowed a bit while we were there and then even heavier just as we arrived back at our B&B. You'll see the pics!!

... little bunks which were reasonably comfy although quite narrow, so we were gently rocked all the way back to London...woke up at 6.45am with a knock at the door and were served our breakfast - croissant, muffin, and little yoghurt and muesli with orange juice! - and pulled in to Euston at 7.10am on Tuesday morning - plenty of time to get to work! It was really good - if only we'd managed to have a cabin on the way up....but we'll be sorting that out with Scotrail presently!

(Originally published at http://www.troysgonewalkabout.com)
< br>A long day of driving beckoned, which we felt was necessary in order to get some appreciation of the rugged Scottish landscape. After scraping the ice off the car’s windscreen we crossed the Firth of Forth parallel to the iconic Forth Rail Bridge and across to St Andrews. Though we were again under a clear blue sky the idea of a round of golf at the Old Course didn’t seem ...