27 July - Lecht Mine to Tarland

On the morning of the 27th we saw some pretty grim weather ... cold, raining, windy. You know, Scotland!

We carefully packed up the camp - again without touching the floor, and headed south, deeper into the Cairngorms.  Our first task was a climb up a mile-long 20% grade to the Lecht ski area. Yep, 20%. For a mile. Not a fun way to start the day! We had coffee and brekkie at the top, and carried onward.

Well, the nice thing about going UP a 20% grade is that you get to go DOWN! WHEEE!!! We bombed down the hill to Colnabaichin, south on the A939, over the B976, all on our way to Balmoral.

Thankfully, we had more 20% downs than we had 20% ups, so it was a fast ride. A bit white-knuckle at times, considering our bikes each way nearly 80 lbs!

Another beautiful old bridge in the Cairngorms. Seriously, they know how to do bridges in Scotland.

I don't know if you can quite see the grin on boB's face in this picture... but he's mighty happy about another 20% down! We arrived at the Balmoral Estate, the Queen's summer "cottage", and had a lovely tour about the place.

It was quite interesting to be on the Royal estate, and to see how it works. Balmoral Castle is actively managed as a working estate - timber is cut, fields are grazed, livestock is managed - in order to help to pay for itself. Public tours are also a major fundraiser when the Royalty is not at the estate. It was enlightening to see the place where the Royal family vacations, and to feel the history going back hundreds of years illustrated by photos showing generations of royal family. This history, along with the modern workings of the estate, help to give one a sense of the place.

Following our tour of Balmoral we went to (wait for it)...

A DISTILLERY!!!

The Royal Lochnagar distillery was once called the Lochnagar. In 1848, the Royal Family had just purchased the Balmoral Estate and John Begg, the man who ran the Lochnagar distillery, invited his new neighbor - Prince Albert - over for a visit and a dram. The entire Royal family showed up, and immediately after their visit, Price Albert bestowed the distillery with the title "Royal" and it has thus been known as Royal Lochnagar ever since.

We had a fantastic private tour with Alex, who has worked there for over 18 years. She's very personable and friendly, and had loads of great stories to tell. And at the end of it, naturally, we had our personal tasting with her! Excellent whisky, and we highly recommend it.

The Royal Lochnagar distiller is not to far from the town of Tarland, where Paul Anderson lives. Paul is a highly regarded Scottish fiddler, especially among the crowd of musicians who appreciate traditional Scottish music. Paul is also in favor of whisky, and wrote this beautiful strathspey for the distillery. We're going to add this one to our repertoire as soon as we're able!

And now a minor distraction: Sheep. This country is covered in sheep. And it makes sense - wool is warm, and it stays warm when its wet. We both wear mostly wool clothing, and it works. It's expensive and somewhat heavier than the modern technical fabrics, but it has qualities that the synthetics can't beat.

I'm sure we'll have more sheep pictures for you in the coming weeks, but for now we'll put up a picture showing both ends of the cute black-faced sheep we see as we're riding through the country side. 

Continuing down the road from Balmoral, we past through Ballater for lunch and groceries, and continued along The Deeside Way.

We found this fantastic pedestrian bridge over the River Dee. Love the bridges, so we stopped for a gander!

Once we arrived in Tarland we settled down for dinner at the cemetery. There we found this monument to Peter Milne, one of the great Scottish composers and fiddle players from the late 19th century, who lived in Tarland. This monument was erected by the people of Tarland, with the effort led by Paul Anderson.

We had a pint at the Commercial Hotel, then spent the night in a park in Tarland, pitched near the far corner so as not to disturb anyone. 

The Cairngorms are beautiful and rugged, but we're happy to be heading riding flatter lands. We have gotten to be in very good shape physically, but could sure use a break from the bikes. Next day we should arrive in Aberdeen, and then we're on to Shetland after an overnight ferry ride.

42.7 miles.