rachel.blog

Category: Cairngorms

  • The Balmoral pyramid

    The Balmoral pyramid

    Today is the first day we’ve been allowed to leave Aberdeen after almost 4 months of lockdown. It was Boxing Day 2020 when all of Scotland was put into lockdown. Nearly 4 months later restrictions are starting to lift and we’re allowed to leave the city for exercise and mental health but still cannot stay […]

  • An Lochan Uaine and the BMW i3

    An Lochan Uaine and the BMW i3

    I managed to tick swimming in An Lochan Uaine (green loch) off my bucket list today. It’s an emerald-coloured lochan with a sandy beach about 5 miles from Aviemore. It’s so inviting that even Daniel and Ben ventured into the water, despite the frigid temperature. I’m not sure what the temperature was exactly but it […]

  • Cairngorm Mountain, Aviemore

    Cairngorm Mountain, Aviemore

    We awoke today to the loveliest day I’ve ever seen. It snowed overnight, so there was a fresh coating of the powdery stuff everywhere, and then the sun came out and the whole world seemed to sparkle. We managed to get up to Cairngorm Mountain but only just as they didn’t open the road until […]

  • Aviemore, Scotland

    Snows transforms the outside into one giant playground. Every hill becomes a slippery slide, every twig a potential arm for a snowman, and every flake of snow a potential snowball for tossing at loved ones. Kids love it, I love it. My long suffering husband doesn’t love it quite so much. Walking around is like […]

  • The train to Aviemore

    We’re spending the weekend in Aviemore in the Cairngorms and I’m writing this from the train. Oh, how I love trains, even all the bad things like when the people sitting nearby seem to fart the whole way or when a group of rowdy youths gets on stinking of cigarettes or when you go to the […]

  • Ballater in the snow

    Ballater in the snow

    It snowed this morning in Ballater. I was ecstatic. An Australian in the snow is a bit like a puppy with a smelly leather shoe to chew. Ben was less excited about it. This is the Royal Station in Ballater, a magnificent building: The River Dee, which is lovely in all kinds of weather, was particularly beautiful […]

  • Christmas in the Cairngorms

    Christmas Day in the Scottish Cairngorms looks like this: Lots of people said to me before we moved here that we’d be shocked by the number of people and the amount of traffic. Maybe this is true for the rest of the UK but not here in the north-east corner where the roads are extraordinarily […]