Scotland 2003
Introduction
Once again, we rented a self catering cottage in Braemar.
The big plus this time was a new Sony P92 digital camera. The freedom to take or retake pictures at conventional quality levels!
18th October 2003
The journey takes about nine hours (with breaks) and the traffic posed no problems. Autumn is already well advanced in Scotland with most trees clothed in gorgeous yellows and reds. Some have already lost their leaves.
19th October 2003
Our first walk is approximately 10 miles to the 818m summit of Carn Liath. A cold and wintry wind greeted us at the summit but we were rewarded with fine views. Shortly after descending, the weather deteriorated but brightened again later. A toad scampered across out path later and I was able to take several pictures.
20th October 2003
The mountain behind Braemar serves as a site for a mast sporting various antennae. The walk up was achieved in record time but during the descent down the service road, it became clear that something was wrong with my left knee. When we reached the cottage, it was very painful and stiff.
It continued to be a significant problem despite treatment with anti-inflammatory gel for the rest of the week.
21st October 2003
The knee problem meant that we took a day out from walking and visited Ballater, the rail town used by Queen Victoria to reach Balmoral Castle.
The old station, now serving as a tea room is well maintained as you can see here.
22nd October 2003
The day started with snow and this persisted for most of the morning. We took three low level walks, all starting and finishing in Braemar. The knee problem continued, thank goodness for walking poles.
23rd October 2003
The finest walking day of the holiday. Early mist flanked the mountains providing spectacular scenes and optical effects. It lifted as we reached the loch and the remainder of the day was bright and cool.
24th October 2003
In deference the long walk the previous day, we visited Linn of Dee and retraced some of the walks we made in our previous visit. Water levels were noticeably lower with many rocks exposed on the edges of the river.