Blogs from Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Dear All Greetings from the Scottish Highlands! I’m really quite excited to be here. While there is much to see in the country, it seems that the Highlands are what make Scotland quintessentially Scotland. It is the region of high fells, forested hills, snow-capped mountains, rushing rivers and Highland Games such as tossing the caber. It is also the wildest part of Great Britain, where wild deer are common and golden eagles can still be seen. I am looking forward to exploring this part of the country for the next six days: three days spent here in Ballater in the eastern part of the Cairngorms National Park, and three days spent in Carrbridge near Aviemore, in the northern part. My goodness the weather has changed since yesterday. So far I think I’ve been really fortunate with ... read more

We have arrived in the highlands! We left the Fife area this morning, and headed north to Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven. It was a bit of a drive out of the way, but well worth it. Dunnottar Castle is an old castle/ruins situated on a cliff over the ocean. We learned about the Castle while in Edinburgh, as it was where an 8 month siege against Cromwell's forces saved the "honours of Scotland." It took several stairs down and up to access the castle, but was stunning to view the ruins and ocean as the backdrop. From Dunnottar, we headed east into the Cairngorms and highlands. We visited Balmoral Castle (since I apparently love to visit everywhere associated with the monarchy) late this afternoon. Not as exciting as I expected - very lovely grounds, beautiful home, ... read more

Thursday, August 8th—The mystery of the escaped frogs and many men in Skirts oh, we mean Kilts! We woke up to the frogs who escaped from their enclosure…we think a “vicious pumus” came in the middle of the night to either release them or munch on a midnight snack of frog legs! We were off in a flash to make our 2 hour journey through gorgeous Scottish mountains up to Tarland where the Highland Games were being held. The Highland games were according to Becca were, strongly fantastic! We watched huge men (in skirts) flip what would be best described as phone poles up into the air while balancing the base in their hands and then lunging the pole and over itself (Caber toss), large hammers (more like a huge clubs) being thrown for distance and ... read more