Sunday, October 23, 2016

Exploring the beauty of the Cairngorms

This Saturday was a great fun day out, visiting Cairngorm Mountain and the funicular railway. The resort is only 45 miles away and is stunningly beautiful scenery. This is a picture that we took on the way up the mountain to the start of the railway.


Cairngorm Mountain is the 6th tallest mountain in the UK, and luckily for us there is this lovely little train to take us up as I don't think I could walk there (well not without lots of tears).


Here's a few photos (taken through a very dirty window) of our journey up the mountain.





When we got to the top we had a bit of a Wineglass Bay moment (long story but in short, we've never seen wineglass bay in Tasmania due to cloud) with no view whatsoever. The train doesn't take you right to the top, if you want to do that you have to take a guided walk from the station or walk from the bottom. It's part of the conservation effort in that people who get the train up the mountain can't then walk back down, they have to take the train.


This is a great sign with directions for all the different parts of the mountain - on the left hand side one of the places is 'Over Yonder'. In winter this is one of the main ski resorts in Scotland so the train is then used by skiers to get up to the slopes.


Inside the station/restaurant you'll find the highest post box in the British Isles - I didn't know before we went otherwise I would have taken something to post. Something to remember for next time.


We had lunch in the Ptarmigan restaurant, had a mooch around the shop and took a funny picture of my beloved.


Then, joy oh joy, the wind had blown the clouds away enough for us to get some pictures of the view.



Highup selfie.


We then came back down the mountain on the train and these sculptures are in the ticket hall for the train - they're all carved out of wood.









These sculptures were unveiled in 2014 and celebrate 50 years of snow sports in the Cairngorms. They were created by the sculptor Stan Brooks and each figure weighs 3.3 ton.




One of the things that prompted us to go to the Cairngorms this weekend was a news story that we saw last week. It was about the highest working phone box in the UK that was under threat of being removed. So before that happens, we wanted to see it, and here it is.


As we headed back down toward Aviemore we passed this really pretty house that I couldn't resist taking a picture of.


Our next stop was Rothiemurchus as we spotted a cafe that we were sure would have cake. It's a lovely spot and the colours of the trees are amazing with so many different shades of red, yellow, and orange.


Carved eagle in someones yard - it's carved out of a tree stump.


If you look closely enough you'll see a silly man dangling precariously whilst trying to traverse hanging tyres. It's the treezone aerial adventure which looks scary but you are attached by a harness.


Another pretty tree.


We went into the Druie Cafe for coffee and cake and found it delightfully decorated for Halloween. The building that the cafe and the farmshop are in used to be a primary school - it opened in 1875 and closed in 1969.





The farm shop was great, with lots of fabulous looking food, but my favourite bit was the gift shop which was decorated with all the Christmas things you can buy. So pretty.



Now this is a sign I could have hung up when I was younger.


On the way home we stopped to have a chat to these beautiful horses - it took ages to get a good shot of the bottom three as one of them kept biting the others and causing a very loud reaction.



There you have it, our day out exploring the higher realms of Scotland. Until next time, be good, stay safe, and have a fantabulous week.

Pamela & Ken
xxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S: Final picture is of Bramble Jelly Sassy Pants who had surgery this week and to stop her licking her wound she is wearing a very fashionable vets outfit - my only problem with it is that they didn't have one in pink.


No comments:

Post a Comment