Highland Fling! - 2 of 2

Day 5 - CairnGorm and Loch Morlich

You can get the Funicular Railway up the UK's 6th highest mountain, CairnGorm, but for some reason we decided to walk between the two stations along the very aptly named Windy Ridge.

A Highland Fling! - 1 of 2

This year the family had our summer holiday early - we went to the Scottish Highlands!  When I was young we had a holiday by Loch Ness, going as far north as Fort William, but it was long enough ago that I only remember bits and pieces of it. On my last solo trip I went to Edinburgh and Aviemore, and had wanted to explore further north again, so this was the perfect choice for a trip away together.

Holiday diary: Day 2 in Aviemore

My full day in Aviemore today, and I've made the most of it.  The hostel is barely 10mins walk from the tran station and bus stops, so I caught the 31 up to the Cairn Gorm base station.  I met a guy from Switzerland who'd been heading to Inverness and got off the train here on a whim.  He had no map, no plan, and a will to birdwatch!  He decided to come too, and I left him at the base station.  I was taking the funicular railway to Ptarmigan station, just 120m below the summit of Cairn Gorm.  It's the sixth highest mountain in the UK, with neighbour Ben MacDui coming in second.  We could have seen Ben Nevis on a clear day, but there was some mild cloud haze that stopped us seeing the furthest visible peaks, 97 miles away!  It was a breezy 5 degrees Celsius when our guide John led us out onto the mountain.  

Looking down on Ptarmigan station, and Loch Morlich behind

Holiday diary: Day 1 in Aviemore

The trip to Aviemore took about two hours by train, crossing the Forth Bridge and then making our way north past Perth, out of the Lowlands and into the Highlands.  Suddenly the landscape got a lot more dramatic!  Blue and ruddy brown mountains loomed up, some of them with their heads in clouds, some of them with the clouds descending to smother both them and us!  However by the time we reached Aviemore the sun had come out and... it is beautiful here.

Holiday diary: Day 2 in Edinburgh

A full day today.  I spent the morning climbing and descending Arthur's Seat.  It's about an hour each way, especially if you stop to dawdle and photograph things as often as I do.

Salisbury Craig

Holiday diary: Day 1 in Edinburgh

So I'm off on my solo holiday to Scotland.  Two days in Edinburgh and one-and-a-bit days in Aviemore.  I've decided to do the whole trip by footpower and public transport. Between Newcastle and Edinburgh, travelling up the east coast by train, there are some fantastic sea views, and shortly after we cross into Scotland, Arthurs Seat hauls into view.  And with that in mind... it looks ridiculously big.  This isn't  the first time I've seen it, but last time I wasn't planning to walk up it.  It just pops up out of nowhere!  (I forget, it's a volcano)  Thing is, it's not the biggest rock out there.  I'm heading to the highlands in a few days...