A is for Aviemore

It's here, the month of April when the craziness of the A to Z blogging challenge takes place - a post for every letter of the alphabet on every day in April except Sundays. I've chosen the Scottish Highlands as my theme so I hope you'll come with me on this month long exploration of the area we've called home for 15 months.

Aviemore is 33 miles away from where we live in Nairn, sits in the Cairngorms national park and isn't a very big town, but it's very popular with tourists and has lots of events throughout the year and is a great base for exploring the national park.

The actual town is really only one main street of shops, and everywhere you look you can see that it's an outdoor sports area, with lots of shops that cater for walkers, climbers, skiers, cyclists, etc.

A unique thing about Aviemore is that it has produced 15 Olympians which is more than any other area of the UK per head of population. The majority of these are unsurprisingly in Winter Olympic sports.

A must do activity is a trip on the strathspey railway - stepping back in time in vintage carriages pulled by a steam engine. The journey takes 1 hour & 40 minutes and takes you past some amazing scenery and stops at some really pretty stations.

You can even book to have afternoon tea in a carriage which is a great way to celebrate a special occasion, though we just did it for the fun of it.

If you go at the right time of the year you get to see fields of heather spread out beyond the window of your carriage - quintessentially Scottish.

One of the big events held in Aviemore which is fabulous is Thunder in the Glens - basically thousands of Harley Davidsons in one place for a weekend. The population of Aviemore is just under 3,000, but on the weekend of the thunder they have up to 5,000 bikes at the event and more people that just come for the amazing spectacle.

The rumble of the engines is constant and the variety of styles and paintjobs on the bikes is incredible.

If you're lucky a nice man in leather will even let you sit on his bike for a photo.

Take the road out of Aviemore and you get to the Cairngorm Mountain Railway - a funicular railway that takes you up the mountain. At the base of the railway is the highest working phone box in the UK, which the telecom company keep threatening to take away but each time they do it hits the news.

This is the little train that takes you up the mountain where there is a restaurant and giftshop and usually a great view but typically the day we went up there were clouds everywhere.

The clouds did clear briefly and yes the view was well worth it.

There you have it, the town of Aviemore - make sure you visit if you're ever in the area. One down, twentyfive to go - next we have B is for Battlefields.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and do something nice for yourself this week.

Pamela & Ken
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