Down from the Highlands to Cumbernauld

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We are finding it difficult to prepare a meal at this hostel without the manager being about and wanting to chat and this morning is no different.

With few people staying last night we had the showers to ourselves which made the ‘sharing’ side more acceptable to us.

Once we got breakfast out of the way we loaded up the car and set off under grey skies on the A93 with the aim of getting to Broughty Ferry on the east coast by lunchtime. We have been there before but Gretchen was keen to see if her great, great grandfather’s property was still recognisable as 4 years ago it looked like there were major renovations or alterations under way.

The road from Braemar climbs steadily to the ski field at Glenshee and the scenery along the way, even with the overcast sky, was dramatic with the hills looking very foreboding.

The ski field is at the top of the pass and just beyond that the road drops steeply for several kilometres giving you the sense you are leaving the Highlands behind.

We had set the fastest route in the GPS and at the Bridge of Cally we turned left off the A93 onto a minor road that wasn’t much more than a farm track although it was sealed. I was just hoping that there would be no oncoming traffic especially any farm machinery because there was nowhere to go if we were surprised on one of the many bends.

We actually ended up doing 10km without seeing another vehicle which probably wasn’t surprising seeing that there was only one farmhouse close to the road in all that distance.

The road bought us out in Alyth and then it was across country to the town of Meigle where for only the second time on the BBA V2 and after nearly 30,000km travelled......we were signalled to pull over by a policeman.

It had us guessing as the policeman came over to the car because we had been obeying the 50kph speed limit and as far as we could remember, given way at the roundabouts in the town etc etc etc.So what did he want????

I wound the passengers window down (he was still on the footpath) and he poked his head in and asked ‘Are we lost’. Gretchen replied no as we had GPS and before she could add any more he spotted the atlas on her knee and he added ‘and you have an atlas too!’

He then got to the point. Apparently we were driving with our fog lights on and that was against the road rules, not that we realised that. We also hadn’t been aware that we had had only our fog lights on since we picked the car up in London over two weeks ago and nearly 5000km driven through England and Scotland. Unlike other rentals we have had the lights in the car do not automatically come on when you start the engine and we have turning them manually when we start up each time.

He then noted the car was a rental and he deduced that we were not locals and said that on this occasion he would let us off .He then became very helpful and offered to check out our lights as I had a play with the controls to get the right lights on. With the right running lights showing for daylight driving and a ‘enjoy your rest of the time in Scotland’ we were on our way relieved that we hadn’t incurred a traffic fine!

We made it down to Broughty Ferry for lunch but the weather was too cold and windy to do anything other than eat in the car again and it seems like we are not going to be able to enjoy a boot lunch until we get a better day weatherwise.

The house in Broughty Ferry had been refurbished since we were last here in 2009 and it was now one dwelling rather than the flats it had previously been. The large area of land in front of the house had had new lawn laid down and was now park like.

The heavy overcast hadn’t improved at all during the day as we drove down the A90 through the outskirts of Dundee and then onto the A9 and down to Cumbernauld and a couple of nights at another Travelodge.

Tomorrow we will take the short drive into Glasgow and then depending upon the weather we will either look for some outdoor sightseeing if the weather is dry or if it’s wet then we will need to do something indoors.

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