The Rowan Tree Country Hotel Aviemore

This weekend I was working at the Mitchell Trophy swim meet in Inverness - naturally I took the opportunity to take some photos along the way :)<br><br>Unfortunately the weather on the way up was far from the best. There was a grim moment somewhere in the middle of ...

... king - who told her that if she put her face in the enchanted river for 7 seconds, her beauty would be restored forver and peace would return. Which she did - and which we did too! Yup! threw our faces, in the middle of the rain, on cold slippery rocks! (hopefully i'll be able to upload photos at the next hostel!). <br><br>Phew - what a day! and what an entry! Tonight at the hostel is the Tartan Yoga party, so i had better go and see what outfit Josh has created. <br><br>Till next time! <br>

... is sadly known for being voted the city with the ugliest people in Scotland! Not the best of awards to win. Had a quick look around and Josh even managed to squeeze in a quick haircut! <br><br>Then to the local distillery, a quick tour and some samples - i had a quick taste, but i'm truly not a whiskey person - josh said the Penderyn one in Wales was better. <br><br>Onwards to Loch Ness which is the best known of the 4 Lochs in the Scottish Highlands ...

... yes, run your **** off, because Euston Station runs out of ideas after about five minutes.<br><br>Around the clumps of travellers with their luggage flowed a stream of commuters, blank faced and oblivious to everything, with an unswayable determination to get home one minute quicker than they did the day before. <br><br>Even when on my daily commute I see the clumps of travellers, and I&#8217;m jealous of all of them, from the single mother with a frivolous number of children ...

... us to the other bank so across we went over the bridge. Well we stumbled on this restaurant which was quite large and the price was cheap but it was dead. Anyway being a bit skint we decided that it looked alright and decided to pull up a table. Dave noticed that there was a lovely blond lady sitting by herself and next thing we know there were 4. Well Jenny ended up being from Finland so next thing ya know I'm saying the one thing I know in Finnish "how are you ...

... to be steep and very rough track through a private estate. The views, landscape and wildness were brilliant but I was really worried that I'd damage one of my wheels as the bike was quite loaded with supplies etc. Arrived at the hostel an hour or so later than I had hoped. Distance travelled 109.12 miles, time on bike 8.25 hours. Highlight of the day....a bottle of whisky from the Dalwhinnie distillery from Sue and the children. Andrew

... only for buses and taxis). We eventually made it the hotel and its really nice located on a street with a lot of pubs and FANTASTIC views of the castle. We had a meal and then went to a local pub (which is supposedly haunted) for a beer before coming back to get a good night's sleep. This city is phenomonal, though. Kathy is already trying to talk me into moving here.....and thats only after 2 hours of walking it and seeing only a few city blocks!!!!