With a three day weekend lined up Kim and I planned a weekend in the Highlands. Fortunately the snow stopped and the road was cleared so the trip was all go. We left around 4 pm and the trip took 2 and ¼ hours. We just made it up the snow covered drive to Justin’s house and after minor troubles with the front gate we had arrived. Justin’s place was a nice getaway pad. Two bedrooms, nice interior and great views over the snow capped highlands. Unpacked, put a pizza in the oven and made chocolate chip biscuits, then settled in and watched the opening game of the six nations Wales V England. Game was a bit boring with England prevailing.
Saturday the day was clear and the sunshine even had some warmth. We set-off on a walk through some Larch forest next to the swollen river Spey. It was very quiet, apart from the odd dog walker and a pair of circling screeching hawks. Somehow we went off track and ended up on the wrong side of the golf course. I blamed Kim for her shocking navigation skills! We nipped back in to the Metropolis that is Grantown and went for Lunch at a cafe. Then we did the obligatory walk up and down the main street, which took about 10 mins. We ducked into a couple of boutiquey shops as well. Took a slow drive out to Kims Grandparents place which is the setting for the infamous stone-wigg “fishing week”, taking place EVERY August. I got quite excited when I saw a white weasel carrying a black mouse in the grandparents front Garden. As is tradition we then walked up the hill behind the house. The heather was thick and quite marshy in parts and I had to Piggy Back Kim for some stretches. We made to the Rocky out-crop and took some good photo’s. Back at the car we carried on further up the road. We drove over a bridge and some locals even stopped as and asked us if we were lost! Back at Justin’s house we caught the exciting end of the Italy Ireland game where Italy snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We then watched and excellent game of Rugby, France v Scotland. France were victors, but Scotland were definitely not disgraced. Chicken Korma for Dinner with Chocolate chippy biscuits for dessert. We then watched a good movie about writing and basketball with Sean Connery.
Sunday, we had a great sleep in. Then we both went for a run, although not together. Kim refused to run with me. I ran for an hour up the main road it was quite icy and snowy in parts. We cleaned up after Breakfast and decided to make a slow departure back to Dundee. We stopped in at the Craggowen Adventure centre to get info for our next trip to Grantown. We took the ‘B’ roads through to Aviemore stopping at Loch Morlich. Then we cruised on more ‘B’ roads passed Loch Inch stopping several times to take a few snapshots. It was at this point that I discovered the heat shield had come away from around my exhaust pipe. It was making a bit of a noise when we were driving, so I just turned the radio up a little louder. It was a tad after 2 pm and our stomachs were both rumbling. We tried to get food at a hotel in Newtonmore, but the Kitchen had closed. We were starting to get dizzy with hunger so we burst into a local book store come cafe. A sweet old lady ran it, and she served up food to keep our wolves at the door. We carried on along the A9 to Bruar. A bit of a tourist hotspot, but because it was off-season it wasn’t so bad. We enjoyed Aero Hot chocolates before walking up the valley and checking out the impressive Bruar falls. Kim slept as we made our way back to Dundee. The end of a relaxing weekend, great to get away and get some fresh highland air into the old lungs!
