It's a New Year and we're 2 weeks in to it already. Deeside was cold for weeks. We had a spot of snow several weeks ago - late November? - and after that, the temperature stayed low for as long as I can remember, making it difficult to get out and about safely, whether on foot or bike. Arbor Court was a skating rink for weeks.
Finally, on the 12th day (6th Jan), Jo and I managed to get out for a decent walk. We headed up the railway line at Burnett Park and then through the forest paths, coming out past the newish development where the Cooks live. We walked through that estate for a bit then headed up the at first narrow track which soon took us back on to the old railway track and up to Brathens. We did a loop round and back home - Strava failed me, but it was about 5 miles. As usual, Jo picked up a stick to walk with:
Less than a week later, we were off to Loch Rannoch Highland Club for a short break. We drove over on Thursday, stopping at the Horn for brunch, then at the Hermitage (near Dunkeld) for a short walk. I forced a reluctant half smile from Jo in Ossian's Hall, overlooking the waterfall:
We walked up to Ossian's Cave:
Then it was on to our accommodation at Kinloch Rannoch, where we found we'd been upgraded to a 2 bedroom unit, which would come in handy when Dawn arrived on Saturday as she was due to share with us. Snow-covered Schiehallion was looking lovely from our window overlooking the loch:
The car was packed with what looked like all our worldly goods, including my mountain bike and hybrid, but it meant we could eat in whenever we wanted - as we did on the first night after coffee, then beer at the adjacent hotel.
On Friday, Jo and I decided we would try one of the local walks. We opted for the Nature walk, which was a nice friendly 4 kms stroll. Coffee and scones in the Riverside Cafe then it was off again for more walks in the afternoon - to Carie on the south side of the loch, where we completed the red and blue walks - a similar distance to the morning walk. Our strangest discovery was these semi-circular rings, each of which had one of their stones slap bang in the middle with what looked like an old Celtic/Pictish symbol:
We still had enough daylight left to do some more walking so we thought we would head to the Black Wood of Rannoch, but we couldn't find the start of this walk, nor anywhere to park, so we just carried on driving along the south side of the loch until we reached the t-junction at the western end. Turn left to Rannoch station, or right back to our lodge? We chose the former - it was only 5 miles and we knew they had filmed some Harry Potter scenes at the station so we had to get some photos to send to Braeden.
Rannoch Moor is one of the last real wildernesses in the UK and we knew the station would be unmanned, but it's very well kept and welcoming, even at this time of year. There's a small visitor centre and although the well-known little tea room doesn't open again until March, there was a small self service counter with an honesty box:
We took a walk down to nearby Loch Laidon and even spotted one of the rare trains from the south heading out to Fort William and beyond to Mallaig. Here's a few of the photos I took:
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| A family of deer have been fed daily for years by an old man, but he's in hospital so one of his neighbours stood in so that the animals - and birds - didn't miss their treats. |
Jo had cooked mince and tatties for tea and had made apple crumble for afters, whilst Helen had made soup for starters.
On Sunday morning, the targeted walk was up to MacGregor's Cave. It was a lovely walk, albeit there were a few mumbles from behind on the climb up, and there was one tricky crossing of a burn:
We missed the "cave" the first time. It turned out to be a proper construction - how could we have missed this?:
Time now for coffee and scones back at the Riverside Cafe, after which it was time for our afternoon rambles, the first of which was at the Black Wood of Rannoch, which Jo and I had failed to find the day before. It wasn't easy this time either, but we took a gamble on what looked like one end of the circular walk and it turned out OK. There was a bit of a climb at the start but everyone managed OK and soon we were back down to the road to head back to the car. A familiar site was Barry striding ahead with the girls trailing behind:
Just time for one more walk on the south side of the loch - Camghouran falls and river walk:
We had decided that we would have dinner on Sunday night in the hotel where Barry and Helen were staying - and very nice it was too - and Barry picked up the bill. That's one we owe him.
The forecast for Monday and beyond wasn't great so we just hung around in the morning and then finished off Helen's soup at lunchtime, after which Barry, Helen and Dawn were heading back south. Jo and I also decided it might be wise if we too left earlier than planned - we didn't want to get stuck or delayed on the Tuesday when we are due to pick up Luca.
So that was it - a lovely long weekend.
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