Scotland the Brave - Report 4

Our last full day in the Highlands started off pretty much like many of the other days. Breakfast and then we set off for a day of sightseeing, with no great plans. Just after leaving the glamping we took the left turn on to the A833 heading towards Beauly.

Beauly is a small town to the north of Inverness. I found a parking place in the centre and we took Reggie across to a small cafe - The Corner on the Square. Most of our tourist trips involve starting with a coffee whilst we think of where we are going next. Of course we sat outside in what was a rarity on this trip - the sun.

In Beauly just along the high street is the ruins of an old Priory. We had a walk over there and then down to the river, or as close as we could get to it. It was mostly fenced, so once again no paddling for Reggie.

Once we had exhausted the high spots of the town we set off towards Inverness.  Whilst we were here I thought it a good idea to visit my Mum rather than leave it to the next day when we could be going back home. The story of how my Mum came to rest here is in The Ashes Tour blog.

The weather was good and despite not having the TomTom location plumbed in we easily found the Rothiemurchus estate and the car-park where we had left the bikes.

Reggie was enjoying the woodlands and the special dog exercising area. Sadly we needed the loos but they were out of order and we had to wait for portaloos to be delivered.  We went along the lake and found the spot where we had put her ashes.  It was quite sad standing there and looking up to the undergrowth and trees. After some minutes of reflection we set off back to the car and headed out.

Loch An Eilein

Mum is in there somewhere.

Mum's view of the lake and castle ruin

The plan was to find somewhere to have lunch in Aviemore.  In the end we went into Tesco and bought some sandwiches to have a picnic.

As with all unplanned things, sometimes they don't work out and we struggled to find a picnic spot or something similar. In the end we turned off the A9 and stopped at a few picnic tables in Carrbridge.

The remainder of the day was taken up with getting back to the glampsite and another stop at the co-op to buy dinner.

The weather had held up today and we were very lucky. Tomorrow we set off for home.