The Cairngorms

Today we left the city for the country and visited the majestic Cairngorms, the highest mountain range in Britain. It was spectacular and my wish for snow finally came true. The scenery was a mix of woodland, mountains, castles, villages, rivers and fields but I’ll let my photos tell the story.

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Me in the village of Braemar. You won’t find a happier person than an Australian in the snow.

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We fed the ducks.

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One of the many castles we saw.

The rest of the photos were taken at a place called the Linn of Quoich. Linn is Gaelic for pool of water. IMG_5207

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The circular hole is called the Devil’s Punchbowl.

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All of this was just an hour and a half from Aberdeen. Any city that has this on its doorstep is all right by me.

16 thoughts on “The Cairngorms”

    1. It does, Mary. I was sad to leave my lovely York. The snow and scenery did soften the blow though. I’ve been to quite a few cities in the UK now and there’s no place like York.

  1. The Cairngorms in winter are super, a proper wilderness with reindeer and everything
    Glad you got some snow but a shame you had to go so far to find it. This winter has been so dull and dreary so far; dreich as they might say up there

    1. It really was a proper wilderness and I’m told it’s a great place for camping and swimming in the summer. What I found surprising and pleasing is that freedom camping is allowed here. This is not the case in New Zealand. Also interesting to me is that although much of the land is privately owned, freedom to roam laws mean unfettered access to the public.

      1. Funny you should mention NZ, I found this too. Everyone talks about “freedom camping” in NZ like you can camp anywhere you like…and then you get there and discover that you can only camp freely where you’re told to 🙂 The access laws in Scotland are indeed very good, but then there’s hardly anyone here so it *can* work well.

      2. There is no freedom camping in New Zealand. And not only that but there is no public access to private property. I think the right to roam law that you have here is excellent.

  2. Yay! You got your snow, so happy for you! I heard we might get snow here in Somerset today but not yet – although it is very cold. Beautiful photos of a beautiful part of the world.

    1. I get the same thing from New Zealanders, Victor, who scoff when I refer to what they perceive to be hills as mountains. But I’m from fairly flat Australia, so they’re mountains to me.

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