The High Life

Coming down from the high of Skye with a bang, we found ourselves in Drumnadrochit, close to Loch Ness. Drumnadrochit did not have a positive effect on morale. At all. We had chosen to stay at a stables which was also a campsite … alas, it was a stables first and a campsite WAY down in last place. To call it an after thought would be giving it too much importance. It was a bummer from start to finish, from the ridiculous manoeuvring to get into the site QUIETLY PAST THE HORSES to the moment we left. It was a shrine to the horses – definitely not the paying visitors – and we were dumped in a desperate kind of car park full of horse manure and frankly odd guests and workers. A boy was amusing himself playing badminton with stones (as you do) and aiming them quite successfully at our van. Our neighbours were of the sulky, gruff, see-you- Jimmy swearing variety. It was all a bit mank.

After the wild beauty and peace of Skye, Loch Ness was a tourist trappy nightmare. We winced at every plastic nessie and statue and didn’t hang around. We had a quick look at Inverness and the Moray Firth (the dolphins had now left, typically). We quickly cleansed ourselves of manure and headed to Aviemore. Yes, Jenna was massively annoyed that she didn’t get to ride the horses but we didn’t want to give the owners any more money by this point.

The Cairngorms are consistently the highest, coldest and snowiest part of the UK. We had never been here before and as with many places on this trip I kick myself about that and am very glad to have redressed it. The whole area is stunning, the last refuge of the great boreal forest in the UK, the home of red squirrels, red deer, pine martens, ptarmigans and even reindeer. If you live in Britain please, please find the time to come here. You couldn’t do much better than stay at Rothiemurchus just outside Aviemore … a wonderful estate with great campsite … also a Hilton, should you prefer. Every morning I woke up and looked out over a rushing wee burn deep in pine forest. It was so loud I wondered whether it would a) keep me awake or b) make me wet the bed. Luckily, it did neither.  Red squirrels hopped around the soft forest floor – it was simply idyllic. Not since Algonquin in Canada had we stayed in a place so beautiful amongst the trees, except here they don’t have black bears, of course.