I took Good Friday off work, it was time for a long weekend... After doing a few errands in town I left Dundee about 10:50, it was brilliant spring day and the drive was really nice winding around Loch Earn. I arrived in Killin about 12.30 and spotted Nats and Eddie on the bridge. After catching up we went for lunch at a nice cafe. Tuna toastie for lunch. Back on the road for 10 mins. We tried to drive to the car park for the start of the Ben Lawers walk but the road through the forest was impassable because of the snow. So we parked on the side of the road and started walking. The walk wasn’t too hard, but my sore knee (from rugby) made it a bit more challenging. There was snow, ice and strong winds near the top but this did not deter us! We pushed on to the top. Going down was a lot easier than I anticipated, as we jumped / slid down the snow drifts. Back down we carried on around Loch Tay, passing through picturesque Kenmore to Aberfeldy where we stopped for a drink at the local pub and some hot chips. Then we decided to head back to Dundee, where we stopped in at Tesco’s for pizza’s. Back to the flat, showers, dinner then we hit the wall it had been an active day, and we didn’t even have the energy for cards.
Hot cross buns for breakfast, packed, then on the road in ‘Haggis’ by 9am. Coffees and morning tea at a deserted Glenshee ski centre. There was still snow, but not much. Over the hill and it was 10 minutes down to Braemar. This side of Glenshee was still very wintery, with frozen golf courses and icebergs floating down the river. It took 2 minutes to familiarize ourselves with Braemar, pop . not much. We went into the information centre and we were served by a nice lass. Picked up a few leaflets and we continued to wander around. Simon and Sarah (Eddie cousin and his wife) We went to a cafe for lunch and decided on a plan of attack. I had a delicious cheese burger. Deciding we needed to accomplish something active we decided to walk up the nearest Brae, Creag Choinnich. The track was covered in snow, which made for slow going and a few good snow fights. At the top we got great views of the valleys, the river Dee and Braemar. Next stop was my first whiskey Distillery, near Balmoral castle, The Royal Lochnagar. Entry was a 5r and it was an interesting tour learning about the way 12 year old single malt whisky was made. We had a free taster at the end and I bought a bottle to enjoy later. We had booked dinner at the Braemar lodge at 8pm. So we had time for an extended happy hour, nibbles and 500 at the Backpackers lodge. The lodge was run by a nice old lady and I think her clientele were mainly trampers. Dinner was the best meal I had tasted in a long time a home cooked lamb roast, with sticky toffee pudding for desert, absolutely delicious! Back to the backpackers for more cards, whisky and good times. It was unfortunate the sole karaoke club had shut down by 12, because I was in the zone to kick-on.
Easter Sunday we slept in till 10 a.m, and we had to pack up quickly before the old lady came in with a wet-towel (whatever that means) she wanted to change the sheets. Breakfast (omlete) at the same cafe and then we walked round to the mountain sports shop. We hired bikes for 4 hours and we were away. We biked to the Lin of Dee up the river, past Marr lodge. It was quite cold initially and I wish I had bought my gloves. Once we crossed the bridge with the deep gorge, Simon, Eddie and I went offroad along the river and the girls followed the road. We lost them momentarily, but bumped into them again near Mar lodge the next part of the bike was great fun, biking through snow, large puddles and mud, it was a good challenge. Continued up this side of the river past Braemar until we could finally cross at the Brig o Dee. We slowly peddled back into Braemar around 3 p.m . We stopped in to convenience store for some much needed snacks and then we went to the icecream store. I passed on icecream, because it just didn’t seem right with so much snow and Ice around. Then I had the best score ever. Sitting down at a picnic table I spotted a bin for plastic bottles (20 or so metres away) and as luck would have it I had an empty plastic bottle in my hand. I said Nats watch this. The bottle seemed to hang in the air for an eternity and the wind brought it round and straight into the bin, a once in a million shot! I whooped and danced around rather loudly for the next 30 seconds, the locals must have thought I was crazy. The funny thing was what happened next, I thought I needed to shoot for the bin again, but I didn’t have a plastic bottle so I improvised with a ball of snow. I shot, but this time I was way too long and just as snow ball sailed through the air tough looking ‘biker’ with lots of tattoos walked past the bin with his wife, the snowball narrowly missed her and I got an evil looking stare from the biker, I started to feel queasy all of a sudden. Then the biker yelled out you missed her! And smiled! Phew, I thought that could have gone rather badly. That was the end of the weekend, we said our goodbyes to Sarah and Simon and Nats, Eddie and I headed back to Dundee. This time it was chicken stirfry for dinner. Card games Lexicon, Yahtzee and Up and down the river after chocolate. Eddie was the champ, for the night. A good weekend hanging out with Kiwi mates.
