Inverness to home

It was time to start heading towards home, our journey would take us south via the notorious A9, a short hop of 40 miles to the Glenmore Forest within in the Cairngorm National Park, near Aviemore.

As we were leaving the campsite a very last minute decision took us to turn right, rather than the planned left towards Inverness to the road south, a slight detour to the only distillery left on the Black Isle, at Muir of Ord, a place we have visited a few times in the past.

The Black Isle is not an island but a peninsular to the west and north of Inverness thought to derive from the Gaelic "eilean" meaning "island" and "dubh" meaning "black", most likely a reference to the distinctively dark fertile soil.

There is something special about visiting a distillery, the proud heritage, the long history, the brick buildings, the distinctive smell, the inviting atmosphere.

Glen Ord distillery is owned by Diageo and has started to produce whisky targeting Asian markets to compete with the dominant Macallan. Their sherry cask Gen Ord has been upped to become "The Singleton of Glen Ord". That said, a non peaty sherry cask whisky is a good starter for any newbie to whisky tasting!

Before long we were off again, the weather remained inclement, threatening rain clouds and a distinctively chilly air for the middle of June.

Finally leaving the Inverness area we continued our journey south, the mountains that would normally come into view were largely obscured .... shrouded in low lying cloud and mist.

After driving through Aviemore with its abundance of outdoor sports shops, we turned up along the Coylumbridge road out to Glenmore Forest, around 7 miles later we arrived at Glenmore Campsite on the shore of Loch Morlich, we had gently climbed up to 300m, it was hard to tell if the rain had started on the drive or we were just immersing ourselves in low level cloud.

Glenmore Forest is part of the Cairngorm National Park, the ascent to 300m is less obvious than the section after the campsite where the road steepens, the ski markers become more frequent and a hairpin bend marks the final push up the hill to the car park and ski lifts.

Fun Fact: The Cairngorms is home to four of the five highest mountains in the UK;

• Ben Macdui 4,295 ft (1,309m)

• Braeriach 4,252 ft (1,296m)

• Cairn Toul 4,236 ft (1,291m)

• Sgor an Lochain 4,127 ft (1,258m)

• The Cairn Gorm is 4,081 ft (1,244m) – the sixth highest mountain in the Uk.

The Cairngorm plateau is the highest and has the most extensive range of arctic mountain landscape in the British Isles, as well as having 55 Munro’s (mountains above 3000 feet (914m) in height) in the Park.

We took a drive up to the Coire Cas car park at 635m above sea level.... sadly there was little to see .. the cloud had further closed in obscuring the normally stunning vista towards Loch Morlich directly below as well as further down the valley towards Aviemore.

Retracing steps for the second time that day, we headed down the road for a late lunch at the infamous Red Squirrel ...just next to our campsite which was opposite the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre (alas had closed for the day), however their 150 strong herd was still roaming the local hillsides.

The rain continued throughout the night... waking up to the cloud and mist which had stayed around us, the incessant rain was not in the plan... some birthday sunshine was being sought.... so upon checking the weather forecast... rather than stay another day in the immersive rain cloud we opted to head further south... where we hoped to see blue sky!

A quick booking online to Invermill Campsite at Dunkeld, we were packed up and off.

We continued south on the A9, partial dual carriageway - partial not!..... historically known as "The Spine of Scotland" it is the longest road in the country running up the middle for 273 miles, connecting Scrabster Harbour (Thurso) in the far north before becoming the M9 just south of Dunblane. (Stirlingshire).

The drive is a little more interesting heading north due to leaving the bigger towns behind, the scenery changing from lush green lowland rolling hills to the wild heather and gorse of the highland mountains.

Along the route there is no Green Welly stop .. however it does have the more upmarket offering of the "House of Bruar" .... a fabulous stop by Blair Atholl... a remote yet extensive high end shopping and foodie heaven on the A9...... plus it has a fantastic little fish & chip shop.. serving lobster and chips!... the House of Bruar toilet facilities are quite grand and rather convenient as well!

Before long we arrived at Invermill, just 2 minutes off the A9, our lovely campsite 1 mile from the Perthshire town of Dunkeld.

It was sunny and warm ... what a difference from being above sea level, just 70 miles further north.

It was time to break out the bikes and take a cycle to explore the local area, from the campsite our route took us over the River Braan, through the woods alongside the River Tay, over the Thomas Telford Bridge, (built in 1809) into the pretty little town of Dunkeld, which happened to be the religious capital of Scotland in the 9th century, forged by Kenneth MacAlpin the First King of Scotland.

Fun Fact: ThomasTelford a Scot from Dumfriesshire - a self taught stonemason who became a notable civil engineer of his day, a significant amount of his work is still evident today - including the Caledonian Canal and St Katherine's Dock by the Tower of London amongst many others, the English town Telford was also named after him!

Our bike ride took us around Dunkeld Cathedral where in 1689 the battle of Dunkeld was fought around the cathedral grounds between the Jacobite Highland clans loyal to James II and VII and a government force supporting William II and III.

The cathedral is part ruin - part under restoration, the flat meadow land around the church remains makes it easy to imagine the location of past battles fought.

Cycling in the sunshine can be thirsty work, luckily we happened to stumble across some Dunkeld hostelries with River Tay frontages, giving us a choice of places for a birthday dinner, the sunny evening and our biking efforts allowed us take the opportunity to sample all available establishments for needed refreshment ( and purely for research 😇) to narrow down our choice of dinner venue.

The following morning we set off to our final stop in the land of the square slice, tattie scone, clootie dumpling, Cullen Skink and Arbroath Smokie ... we were off to the Scottish Borders, to the People's Republic of Peebles.

Peebles is a lovely little town around 20 miles south of Edinburgh, and home to another great friend from childhood (the Barrhead trio that is made up of 3 lifelong friends; myself, Shona of Oban and Sandra of Peebles).

Sandra had warned us in advance ... it was Beltane, and as part of their town's week long festival that is Peebles Beltane we would be there for the "Peebles March" a mass horse riding event that goes through the town on one evening.

Fun Fact: What's the story of Beltane?

Well....Beltane is a festival that dates back over 400 years marking the return of summer with the lighting of fires; where people could burn their winter bedding and floor coverings, ready to be replaced afresh. Bel was a Celtic deity, and the name Beltane means the "fire of Bel" Fire was central to the celebrations on the belief that it had protective powers. It was thought that rituals of walking around, or even leaping over bonfires would bring good fortune, fertility and happiness to people and their livestock.

Our daytime activity, an amble around town, ably escorted by our tour guide Rosie (Sandra and John's daughter), her local knowledge of her home town interesting, the tour also took us along the high street with its great selection of independent shops out to Peebles Hydro.

On the walk up the hill to the Hydro we came across some rather chilled alpacas, friendly and curious ..initially they were up and munching the grass, before deciding to take it easy and chill, just lifting their heads enough to see if were were still about, later finding out their names are Steve, Barry and Nigel.

We also popped into the Hydro's Gin School, home of 1881 Gin, the school built over what was Peebles Victorian Swimming Pool, with much of it still intact below the flooring, we were informed that the pool may make an appearance in the future as part of any gin school developments, the venue is very much worth a visit should anyone be in the area, the gin school impressive and outstanding.

NB: A little promo for a friend https://1881distillery.com/

That evening we headed out to see the "Peebles March - ride out" Sandra and John providing the local intel of the event. Firstly the "Coronets" had to be appointed - duly done on the grand steps of Peebles Old Parish Church, a ceremony with lots of tradition and pomp. The Coronets then led the mass horse ride out... over 120 horses around the town's perimeter and across the town ford on the River Tweed.

Audience participation was encouraged towards the Coronets and their riders as they passed by, we participated well giving hearty "hurrahs" with a thrusted arm raised aloft each time it was proclaimed to the horse riders, they in turn reciprocated the same greeting to the many townsfolk lining the streets as the horses passed at pace, the greeting exchanged between parties given in the most enthusiastic of manners.

The final event of the evening commenced around 22.30, accompanied by the pipe band marching down the high street, the Coronets emerged from the Tontine Hotel to dance a reel in the street, the coronets kept the reel going and going for over 20 minutes with enthusiasm and gusto... it certainly looked tiring just watching.

The Tontine Hotel dates back to 1808 and is the only building on Peebles High Street which is set back from the road, forming a small open square to the front of the building.  The building takes its name from the way in which it was funded; the tontine principle and it is thought that Napoleonic prisoners of war may have helped to build the hotel. 

The following morning we were up and out, saying goodbye to Sandra, John and Rosie, and thanking them for their lovely hospitality.

The drive south was scheduled to take around 7 hours, we also planned a morning coffee stop at Tebay.

The hour long drive route from Peebles to the M74 took us past Stobo Castle, over the scenic Devil's Beeftub (yes that's a place on the A701) then out towards Moffat and the road to England.

Before long, we were driving through the Cumbrian lakes where the traffic flow was comfortably sparse, next it was onto the part of the M6 which squeezes itself between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester.. the traffic then became quite lumpy!!

The final stop was at our van yard, to pick up the car, to then head home... it was just over 9 hours....

Tassie's next tour is planned for August / September - we are off to France and possibly Spain!