Wanderung 21

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

August - September 2009

Friday, September 4th, 2009: Aviemore Volksmarch and Caingorm Mountains, Scotland

By daybreak the rain had fallen off to a light drizzle, so we decided after breakfast to take the Volksmarch that started just down the road in Rothiemurchus. Parking in a small lot across from a curious roadside store selling authentic Nepalese and Tibetan goods, we started off on our circuit hike into the highlands of the Cairngorm Mountains National Park. Our first leg was to follow a small local road southeast past some fields and pastures to Blackpark, which turned out to be the name of the house at a Y intersection in the road.

Branching left we continued southeast on the road even as it crossed a cattle grid (American: cattle guard) and became a farm road. We seemed to be traversing some large, rural estate with cattle in the pastures and bee hives nestled in the heath.

The landscape shifted from pasture to more forest mixed with heath as we wandered on. The heath was in bloom and the fields of light purplish blossoms had a unique, gentle beauty. It reminded Monika of the Lueneberger Heide just south of Hamburg, Germany, when it was in bloom. At one intersection we found a curious set of implements sticking up in the air. We asked a local couple we met what that was all about and were told they were fire fighting tools, just in case!

The couple also had a very good map of the area and helped us with the somewhat obscure directions for our Volksmarch. We learned that we should turn right (West) at Lochan Deo (Gaelic for sparkling lake), a very small loch about the size of a farm pond in the U.S. From there we had to cross two streams to get to our next checkpoint, and we were concerned that with the 4 inches of rain we had received in the last 24 hours the streams might not be fordable. Fortunately, the park service or the local landowner had built small but sturdy bridges across both streams and we had no problems at all despite the fact that the streams were in fact overflowing their banks a bit.

Continuing West we arrived at a path circling Loch an Eilein (lake with an island) and turned right to circle clockwise around the shore. After crossing the stream that was the outlet of the loch we found the visitor's center. It was situated in a ramshackle old whitewashed cottage with a remarkably low doorway. The label carved and painted in the lintel just above the doorway succinctly and appropriately said just "Duck"! The proprietor was very friendly, however, so we bought a map and a Coca-Cola before proceeding on our way.

Before starting our return journey, however, we wanted to get a closer look at that island in the loch because we saw pictures that indicated the ruins of some old castle were located on it. Following the shoreline a little more counter-clockwise around the lake, we reached a vantage point where the island was only a couple hundred yards off shore and we could take fairly nice pictures of it. That castle, by the way, was build 700 years ago and served for several centuries as a refuge for the local folk in times of war and civil strife. In particular, the local people sheltered there safely during the Jacobite revolutions.

Retracing our steps to the visitor's center, we continued northeastward back to Blackpark house, but then turned into the forest to follow some bicycle trails back to the car park. Along the way we saw a strange bird taking a bath and some of the healthiest looking fungi I had ever seen! Probably poisonous, though. Once back at the car park we hopped in for the short drive back to our hotel, shifted rooms to the Honeymoon Suite (better late than never!!), had lunch in the pub downstairs (stake and ale pie--very good!), and debated what to do next.


 

The rain had stopped and the overcast seemed to be lifting a bit, so we decided to try the funicular railway that ascends Cairngorm Mountain, the highest mountain in the national park. As we drove the winding road up to the funicular station on the side of the mountain, the solid layer of overcast above us seemed to be getting closer and closer. When we finally pulled into the parking lot beside the station, the clouds were just a hundred feet or so above us and unfortunately completely cloaking the top of the mountain. Arrrgh! That seemed to make the ride to the top rather pointless, so we settled for walking on the hiking paths right around the station and taking a peek at the exhibits inside it. Unexpectly, the exhibits included a gravity-powered racing car used to race down the mountain on that narrow twisty access road. Wow, that sounded like one of the biggest, baddest Soap Box Derby races ever and to do it in that spindly vehicle must have been quite an experience!

But the clouds finally closed in even at the level of the station and Bob started to get antsy about driving down a mountainside on the wrong side of the road in the fog. So we hustled back to the car and started our descent. Fortunately, we came out of the clouds rather quickly and the drive was not a problem. In fact, we had such a good view out over the Cairngorm Mountains and Loch Morlich in the distance that we stopped at an wide spot in the road to take some panoramic pictures. Very impressive view, that was.

Returning to our hotel, we just had a couple slices of bread with cheese for dinner as both breakfast and lunch had been high-calorie meals. Then we settled in for an evening of Internetting, reading, journal editing, backing up pictures, and all those wild and crazy things we do while traveling on our Wanderungs! And so to bed.

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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