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.

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

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

The circular hole is called the Devil’s Punchbowl.

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.

Posted

January 27, 2014

Photos, Travel

Rachel M

Tags:

Braemar, Cairngorms, Linn of Quoich, photos, Scotland, travel, traveling

Comments

16 responses to “The Cairngorms”

argentumvulgaris

January 27, 2014

Awesome photos Rachel. For me, snow is nice in photos. 🙂

AV

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1. Rachel
  
  January 27, 2014
  
  Snow is nice up close and personal too, provided you have the right gear.
  
  Reply
Mary Walker

January 27, 2014

Just beautiful and softens the blow of leaving York.

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1. Rachel
  
  January 27, 2014
  
  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.
  
  Reply
northernbike

January 27, 2014

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

Reply
1. Rachel
  
  January 27, 2014
  
  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.
  
  Reply
  1. Kit Carruthers
    
    January 27, 2014
    
    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. Rachel
    
    January 27, 2014
    
    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.
Denise

January 27, 2014

What a magical landscape. Makes me want to visit!

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Max

January 27, 2014

Yes, such beautiful landscapes, the winters deciduous trees, and the snow on the highlands are magical.

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paranoiasnfm

January 28, 2014

Spectacular!

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Sherri

January 28, 2014

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.

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belsbror

January 31, 2014

Wonderful photos! Thank you for sharing these. 🙂

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I have an announcement to make | quakerattled

February 28, 2014

[…] some more fairy-tale-looking structures like the Town House. Then on our last day we visited the Cairngorms and I was sold. The thought of living so close to the spectacular Cairngorms was enough to convince […]

Reply
Victor Venema

March 1, 2014

When I call such a hilly landscape, mountains, the Germans give me that oh-my-that-weird-dutch-guy look.

Reply
1. Rachel
  
  March 1, 2014
  
  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.
  
  Reply