Aviemore Again

Guislich Farm, Aviemore, 7-9 October 2008

We arrived at the cottage in heavy rain after a 2.5 hour drive. As we had climbed up a steep section of the A9 in torrential rain we were amazed to see a man on a bike cycling ahead of us- not just any bike but a PENNY FARTHING! The next day we spotted his bike outside a café in Aviemore so he made it despite the crappy weather. I Googled him and I think this is him, doing a charity ride from Lands End to John O'Groats for Macmillan Cancer Support: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2008/09/22/binley-man-starts-mammoth-ride-on-penny-farthing-92746-21871075/
I hadn’t realised that those bikes have no brakes!

The last time I was here was in June when the weather was glorious. As we bumped up the wet, muddy, pot-holed track, we heard the underside of the car scraping on the road and we startled a buzzard. We ended up parking a few hundred yards from the cottage since the tyres were skidding in the mud. All Michael’s hard work washing the car was wasted! The rain stopped for long enough for us to get all our food, bags and bedding out of the car and to bring in some firewood from the shed.

The cottage on Guislich Farm, Rothiemurchus estate peeking out from behind the trees

In the summer, the cottage’s water tank remains full and there’s no need to drain the system as you need to do in winter in case of frost/ ice bursting the pipes. I was annoyed we’d just missed the summer season by a week as we needed to work out how to turn the water on, and fill the tank which took us 30 minutes of following convoluted instructions and references to non-existent red taps! Draining it when we left took even longer!

Our first day was spent settling in, lighting the stove, preparing chilli for dinner and a wee trip into nearby Aviemore when luckily the rain had stopped and we could wander round. The horrible metallic scraping under the car was worse on the way back down the track so we had a detour via the mechanic’s where he found a redundant bent piece of metal and removed it – we were relieved it wasn’t something serious.

The muddy bumpy pot-holed road up to the cottage

The living/ dining room warmed up so much we were too warm, contrary to my worries we’d be cold and I didn’t sleep well cos I was so hot! We woke on Wednesday to glorious sunshine and to noisy pheasants in the garden – they sound a bit like turkeys.

We decided to make the most of the good weather and go up the mountain to the top of Cairn Gorm which I had done in June. The Cairngorms have a unique environment, which is described as ‘alpine semi-tundra moorland’, meaning there are many rare plants, birds and animals. The highest, coldest and snowiest plateaux in the British Isles are here along with five of the six highest mountains in Scotland including Cairn Gorm (the blue cairn).The area also has a primeval forest, one of the last in Britain, called the Caledonian Forest.

The wind near the top was really strong and bitterly cold. On the way up Michael spotted a pair of ptarmigan on the rocks right next to us (have a look here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/p/ptarmigan/index.asp) – I hadn’t seen them so he spoke to tell me at which point they took fright and flew off, too quick for me to take a photo but I got a good view. They were in their ‘in between’ plumage which is part white and part brown so they blend in with the rocks and pockets of snow- very clever.

Michael on the way up to the summit of Cairn Gorm shortly before we saw 2 ptarmigan

The alpine landscape at the summit
Michael pointing to the ridge we had just climbed

We took a leisurely 4 hours to do the walk and took the easy route down via path which has been built right to the summit- the have really changed the mountain with the funicular and mountain top restaurant which were controversial with locals.

We popped into the village afterwards for a coffee at a place recommended by a walker we’d met on the way down Cairn Gorm- the Mountain Café – I know they use organic produce but, frankly, £5.50 for a bowl of porridge and £5 for a cafetiere of coffee is taking the mic!

In the Caledonian pine forest

On Thursday rain was forecast but luckily it was dry for most of the day but windy enough to close down the funicular. We’d planned a low-level walk on some forest tracks starting at the Rothiemurchus Visitor Centre and ended up walking for 10 miles through lovely ancient pine and birch forest. The trees were beautiful, the pines have almost blue needles with a very red bark, and the birches looked a lot like Australian eucalyptus trees. Where the trees thinned out there were loads of spiny juniper bushes covered in ripe berries so we had to taste them and were amazed they taste just like gin – you could make your own if you lived locally!

Juniper berries- there were bushes everywhere in the forest. They do taste just like gin!

We also popped over to Loch Garten, which apparently is the best place in the UK to view ospreys, but we had just missed them as they’d migrated the week before – though I am still convinced I saw one over a smaller loch on our way there.

It was lovely to escape from TVs, computers and Gameboys etc for a few days and we spent our evenings cooking, eating chatting and playing games of cards, yahtzee and Tantrix (a new game a bit like a more complicated version of dominoes courtesy of my friend Cat).