Firetop

On Wednesday morning we awoke to another beautiful sunny Scottish day, having overslept and only just made breakfast we had to rush to pack and check out by 11am. Having said goodbye to Melville Castle we drove around the Edinburgh City Ring Road and over the Forth Bridge (at a £1 toll fee) heading in the direction of Perth. The drive was relatively easy, very few cars or lorries about and we could see the mountains and grey clouds ahead of us on the horizon. It was certainly picturesque from the outset with hills and widely differing weather systems on show from West to East. Having passed both Perth and Dundee we were making good time - so at Forfar decided to take a large detour West via the Grampian Mountains.

By taking a left turn towards Glamis - home of Glamis Castle (made famous in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth) we set off in the direction of Blairgowrie. We stopped to take some photos of Glamis Castle’s pointy spires - from a distance as it was closed to the public at this time of year. As we continued enroute we watched the outside temperature gauge on the Vectra drop from 10 degrees down to an eventual -1 degree, icey patches appeared on the roads, as did the odd snow-covered field. The Vectra didn’t seem to want to go slowly which meant driving comfortably was quite difficult, if I didn’t know better I’d almost say the engine was idling too fast.

The drive from Glamis to Blairgowrie was amazingly beautiful, to the South the sun just peaked over the hills, lighting them up like the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings. We stopped a few times to take photographs which just couldn’t be missed. However, by now we were both hungry and desperately in need of a toilet and were glad to reach Blairgowrie. After parking in an ice covered picnic area by the river we found a small quaint hotel called ‘The Victoria Hotel’ – like something from the 1960s we weren’t sure if we wanted to proceed when we first entered the dark entrance hall, but the food we received was fine, the toilets typically pub-damaged. For £8 a head for a two-course meal you can’t really go wrong, I did laugh when I heard the proprietor explaining to his new Polish waiter what a Courgette was.

Having been rested for 30 minutes, Suzie_Q and I were slightly apprehensive about our drive up into the Grampians towards the Cairngorm National Park. Suzie_Q insisted on visiting Woolworths to buy candles and a newsagent for matches “You can survive all night in the snow with a candle” she insisted so I went along with it, even adding a reduced price torch to our haul.

As we drove up higher and higher towards Braemar the views were simply stunning, temperatures outside the hire car were now 0 degrees, snow covered most hills and the mountains ahead of us were spectacular. For some reason the locals insisted on driving right up my backside even though I thought we were shooting along considering the weather conditions. I had to keep pulling over to let them pass – but this provided a few photo opportunities.

Braemar was meant to have a population of over 8500 according to our guidebook. However, we passed through it inside one minute and saw only caravan parks, a few houses and two people. Considering it has a reputation for being the coldest place in Scotland it was actually 0.5 degrees and not the minus 29 we’d read about. On the other side of Braemar, as we headed towards Aberdeen through Ballater, there was hardly any snow at all. Ski runs were deserted, ski lifts hung redundant on hillsides and bare rocks were the only thing on show with sheep and flowing rivers (not frozen). The ski holiday season looks like it won’t even begin this year, a pity for local businesses.

Balmoral Castle, between Braemar and Ballater is well hidden from the roadside by a mass of trees, we couldn’t see any photo opportunities as we drove by which was a real shame. I saw only two cars on the whole journey from Braemar to Ballater, I dare say it’s a different story in the summer when the Queen is in town and the guided tours are running again.

By 5:30pm we had reached Aberdeen and despite overshooting the entrance for our new hotel ‘Norwood Hall‘ twice we were checked in by 6pm and greeted by a basket of fruit and a congratulations card. A long day’s driving had been well worth it for the views, photo opportunities and exposure to snow – however brief!

Technorati Tags: edinburgh, aberdeen, forth bridge, glamis castle, macbeth, blairgowrie, braemar, balmoral, ballater, scotland, skiing

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