The Cairngorms

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At last the Cairngorms National Park! We had stayed around the coast until now in the hope that the midges would be gone so that we could enjoy the experience and so far so good.

We stayed near Aviemore and on the first day set off to look round the town and collect information about getting to the top of Cairngorm, however we were too excited to wait and left after five minutes to catch the funicular railway that takes you to within 150m of the top. We could have walked it but the railway looked too much fun. Unfortunately if you go up by train you cannot go onto the summit without a guide (European legislation gets everywhere) but luckily there was a trip we could join and it was well worth it - you cannae go most of the way up a mountain and not get to the top that would be silly!

Cairngorm mountain is the 6th highest in the UK at 1245 meters, and luckily we had a very warm, clear day so we could see all 5 of the higher mountains from the top including Ben Nevis 56 miles away. On the way back down we came across a herd of reindeer which lived on the mountains (we were going to go and see them in the reindeer centre but this little herd came to see us).

Aviemore must be quite a unique place in the UK as it is geared up for the summer just as much as for the winter. In the summer the shops are full of walking, climbing and cycling equipment and then in the winter the same shops change over to skiing equipment. In fact it must have been a strange changeover this year as people started skiing last October and there was still enough snow for people to ski on midsummer’s day (21st June) and beyond. When we climbed Cairngorm mountain at the beginning of September we passed a woman going up with ski’s as there was still a very small patch of snow which hadn’t melted. We found out that this woman went up once a month to see if she could film herself skiing every month of the year and put it on youtube.

We did some local walks around Aviemore which were very pretty, heather, ferns and trees, and it was HOT. We then got a bit ambitious and decided to cycle to Loch Eanaich It was only 7 miles each way but it was a mountain trail with what Trevor described as ‘quite big obstacles’. These ‘obstacles’ included boulders, streams, tree roots, sand pits and patches of shingle. On the way there it was steadily uphill and into a very strong wind, sometimes it was hard to just stand still. It was worth it as the loch was surrounded by mountains and was probably the most remote place we had been to (most of the tracks in the Cairngorms would take at least 3 days to complete, some a lot more, and there are no roads). The wind was so strong that it whipped the water up into a magnificent show. The ride back was very fast, we were even blown uphill and had to keep the brakes on and steer round the rocks etc - great fun.

The weather was great for the whole of our stay, our luck must be changing.

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Photos

Top of Cairngorm
You can tell we didn't walk all of it as we are smiling

The easy way up
In the winter the snow covers the rails

One of the water splashes
Check out those leg muscles