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From Dunnet Head we drove south, stopping for two nights in the Cairngorm mountains. The weather was cold, wet and misty, not encouraging for walking, but we put on all the winter clothes we could muster and walked to the top of Mount Cairngorm near the village of Aviemore where we were staying. There was a crowd at the top, nearly all of whom had ascended in the funicular, which we used to go back down to the base station where our car was parked. The Cairngorms are a colourful mountain range, very popular with serious long distance walkers (not us) who undertake hikes of several days duration through these parts. And in winter it’s the UK’s premier skiing destination.
We left the Cairngorms on Sunday morning, travelling to Stonehaven on the east coast where we spent an hour inspecting the atmospheric ruins of the near-impregnable 16th century Dunnottar Castle almost entirely surrounded by plunging cliffs. It was here in 1651 where a small garrison of Scots famously held out for eight months against the might of Cromwell’s army and saved the Scottish crown jewels, now displayed in Edinburgh castle. Human residents have long since gone from Dunnottar but it continues to be home to thousands of seabirds that nest in the cliff faces and look out to sea from the tops of the ruin walls - a birdwatcher’s paradise.
From Dunnottar it was a short two and a half hour drive south to Edinburgh where we dropped the Vauxhall off at the airport and caught a bus into the city centre. Edinburgh Castle was glowing in the last of the day’s sunlight when we walked past it and on up the road to the Black Rose Tavern for our last meal in Scotland – an Angas beef burger with chips.
Scotland was everything we hoped for, and more. It’s scenic, very clean, and easy to get around. The food’s excellent and the people are friendly and helpful. And double all that for the Hebrides.
