Wanderung 21

Lands Ho! Scotland, England, Shetland, Iceland, Newfoundland

August - September 2009

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009: Aviemore, Scotland

Scotland had alread impressed us with the extraordinary changes in scenery as we traveled the fairly short distance from Edinburgh northward to Aviemore. The lowlands in the fertile river plains outside of Edinburgh were a bucolic pastoral countryside with small fields and pastures following a gently rolling landscape out to the horizon. Lots of sheep, a few cattle, hayfields, and the occassional golden-headed grain crops that were probably wheat, oats, or barly.

In the Pitlochry area (between the lowlands and the highlands) the landscape reminded us very strongly of the Black Forest area of southern Germany. Picturesque small towns nestle beside the farms and fields in the broad valleys bordered by hedges and patches of deciduous trees like oak, but up on the slopes and atop the hills were the dark, coniferous forests so like the Black Forest.

In the Aviemore area we were in the Highlands proper. The mountains stood out very clear and stark against the sky as they were covered in a thin layer of low-lying vegetation, mostly heather and bracken we assumed. Some of the valleys also just had that thin coating of heath, and those areas looked very stark and severe indeed; I wondered how people ever survived there as we drove through them. Other valleys, like in Aviemore, still had some pastures and fields in the bottomlands along the rivers, but nevertheless have those heath-covered hills and mountains loomed up at the sides.

To compare with North America: all of Scotland was covered by glaciers, so all the mountains and hills have rounded tops rather than the sharp peaks of the Rocky Mountains. The Cairngorm Mountains next to Aviemore are about the height and shape of the Smoky Mountains in the Eastern US, but completely devoid of the heavy deciduous forests of that region. I think you would be close if you visualize the Sandia Mountains around Albuquerque, New Mexico, but picture them with a complete covering of heath containing a mosaic of dark and light patches. Possibly some of the low mountains of Labrador or Newfoundland would also be covered by heath and look like the Scottish Highlands, but I have not yet toured those areas and am thus guessing.

But as scenic as it all was, we awakened to the steady drumbeat of a moderately hard rainfall and decided to postpone our Volksmarch in Aviemore for a day and work indoors instead. Bob worked on the journal and Monika crocheted an Afghan for our upcoming grandson during the morning, but we finally were going stir crazy and so broke off to take a walk in the rain around noon. Wandering down the main street of Aviemore, we stopped at several of the outdoor stores that announced "clearance sales" but even their sale prices were way too steep for our blood. But at the end of the last shopping center on the main street we found the Speyside Woollen Mill store and its clearance prices were worthy of the name. Bob bought a very nice, light acrylic sweater for 6 pounds and Monika found a beautiful cardigan and top each for 10 pounds. After that we purchased some groceries at the Tesco store down the street and had a nice lunch with pasta salad and chicken pieces in our room.

During the afternoon we just goofed around on the internet--facebook is a great way to waste time--and reading, but by late afternoon the rain had let up a bit and we took a walk just to get some exercise. We first walked North a few blocks and serendipitously we ran across a sign for a ring of stones. Curious, we followed the signage in to the next street and over a block, where we did indeed find a ring of stones dating back 4000 years. Now that's old! So even the Picts were putting up rings of stone just like the ancient British down at Stonehenge. Interesting.


 

Returning to the main road for a bit we passed an old church. We then cut eastward across the railroad tracks toward the local golf course--every Scottish town seems to have one--and immediately after the tracks cut back South on a road on the other side of the River Spey. This was already far enough out of town that we walked past sheep in a pasture.

Keeping to the main road for a mile or so we finally arrived back near the center of Aviemore but on the other side of the River Spey. By continuing to follow the road we wandered past the old locomotive sheds where they presumably store the steam locomotive that is used for the excursion rides up and down the river. At last we found a tunnel under the railroad tracks that led us past "The Vault" night club and back into the middle of town.

Our walk had taken an hour and that was enough for the day, so we just retired to our room for the evening. Music was playing in the pub downstairs around the time we went to bed; they had their weekly jam session going. It was a variety of (heavily amplified) folk and rock music, and if we had had more energy we might have joined in the fun. But Bob was was out like a light and slept right through it all although Monika stayed awake listening until they finally gave up around midnight.

Copyright 2010 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Index
Map of Scotland Map of England Map of Rest of Lands Epilog

August 2009
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
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2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
September 2009
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30

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