Scotland - Dornoch to Ballater

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Saturday 14th May 2011 Dornoch to Loch Ness 62 miles........................
Quite a short driving day today as it was quite heavy showers and the road we needed to take was closed due to an accident. We stopped at Evanton to try and find a walk to Black Rock Gorge but sort of gave up as the rain had started and carried on driving along the Cromarty Firth where we stopped and watched a group of seals swimming and playing in the water!
We also had a short stop and a walk along the river at Beauly where there is a 12thC ruined Priory of the valliscaulian order, one of only three houses outside France. It was visited by Mary Queen of Scots in 1564 who called it Beau Lieu ( beautiful place). Nothing too spectacular!
We camped at Borlum Camping & Horse Riding (pitch was in stable yard/car park!) at Drumnadrochit at about 2.30pm and then took a 5 mile walk to the Falls of Divach. A pleasant enough walk but a lot of it was on small roads – we were hoping it was through the woods or along the actual river and the waterfall would probably be more spectacular in the winter! There is also a walk through woodland to Urquart Castle but as the rain started once again we gave up and after watching a bit of a game of Shinty went back to the Van. Tried the dongle again to see if we had internet, as we were near Inverness but no joy! Vodaphone will definitely be getting a complaint when I get home!

Sunday 15th May 2011 Loch Ness to Alford 126 miles.....................
Raining when we got up and rain forecast for most of the day so after looking at Urquhart Castle we pushed on, driving along Loch Ness and up to Inverness. Decided to take a short detour to Fort George as there are Bottle Nose Dolphins in Moray Firth but we didn’t see any!
Carried on through Nairn, had a quick look at the harbour and the old fishermens cottages and then onto Brodie Castle. Had a wander around the grounds and as they only did guided tours which lasted over an hour and the next one wasn’t for another 40 minutes decided to carry on ( tomorrow there are about 4 castles we are seeing!)
Stopped at Glenfiddich Distillery and did a tour (which surprisingly was free!!) – the tour was excellent, very informative and interesting, lasting about 45 minutes and we were then treated to a generous taste of a 12yr, 15yr and 18yr old whiskies! Very nice although I did still prefer the 12 yr old one!
Our last stop for the day was Leith Hall Garden and estate and as we drove in I spotted a deer the other side of the road. As I got out of the Van it leapt away across the road but I managed to get a picture! As the rain had temporarily stopped we had a lovely wander around the huge walled garden, admiring the azaleas and blue poppies and then walked out to the pond and bird hide (we didn’t spot anything!)
The campsite was at Alford and it turned out it was in the grounds of Haughton House. Very pleasant site, although we didn’t explore the grounds too much because of the rain! Hoping for drier weather tomorrow!



Monday 16th May 2011 Alford to Ballater 77 miles..................
Today was a day of castles! We hadn’t realised that a lot of the castles were in the Scottish Highlands – ie west of Aberdeen! We worked out a route for the day taking in four castles and two stone circles and we ambled around all day eventually reaching the campsite later than usual, at about 6.30pm.
Our first castle was Castle Fraser. The castle is only open at weekends but we were able to wander around the huge walled garden...............
Cullerie stone circle is a bronze age cremation site.............. Not really a lot else to say!!!
Drum Castle was next. Wandered around inside and loved the spiral staircase to the tower where you had wonderful views all around. Two very spacious bedrooms on 2nd floor and really nice internal courtyard. The walled garden was divided into four and planted out as they would have been in the 17th, 18th, 19th 20th Centuries........
Crathes Castle was very interesting as it had been given to the Burnett family in 1323 by Robert the Bruce and the Horn of Leys hung in the Old Hall as proof of ownership. There are some amazing paintings on the ceilings and the castle gives you a wonderful sense of history. There is also a spiral staircase, with a trick step on the eleventh step, that Chris managed to trip up despite the warnings!! The walled garden is nearly four acres and divided into sections such as the gold garden or the red garden, rose garden and fountain garden. It is divided up by yew hedges, the first of which was planted in 1703 and there are some most peculiar topiary shapes – the guide told us they were eggs in egg cups, but you still need quite a bit of imagination!
Our last castle was Craigevar Castle.......a wonderfully tall pink tower castle. We had a guided tour and were treated to a very informative interesting history of the Castle – it also has its own ghost! There were only woodland walks and no formal gardens here.
The last stone circle we missed out as we were knackered!! We saw it from a distance at the top of a hill...that was it!
Camped at Ballater for the night – it’s been dry today but cloudy so hoping for some sun tomorrow!

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Comments

[Mick]

where does this end up ?
So then where does this tour end up Gretna Green by any chance ? ;)