A Weekend in Aviemore - Friday

Alan's alarm went off at 4:05am!  He needed to be in the hide at 5am.  Since he would be back for breakfast just after 9, he took the car.  I thought I would get up early and go for a walk, but I got lazy and just did my blog and edited photos while I waited for him to come back.  It was nice to catch up like that.

We are staying at The Park Guesthouse.  I expected it to be more like a bigger B&B, but it was more like a small hotel and I loved it! There was great parking, with all the Covid Rules in place. The link lists all the rules, like the one way system and the fact there would be no cleaning or refreshing of rooms. If we needed towels or more coffee for the room, just let them know and this would be left at our door.  Actually when I did need towels they were hand delivered to me.

Their breakfasts were fab too.  I imagine they had buffet before but now it is all table service, assigned times and tables to make sure of the social distancing and pre-order the night before. We were there 3 nights and there were 3 choices of main breakfast. So I tried them all! The first morning, I got the full Scottish breakfast, complete with Haggis. The second morning, I got the American style pancake, yes only one.  Served with a banana.  OMG, it was SO GOOD!  They made me another one and I just pigged out. These were big and delicious pancakes.  The third morning, as much as I really wanted a repeat of the previous breakfast, I ordered scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and a bagel. Glad I did because it was delicious too.  Breakfast!  My favourite meal!

After this, we went for a drive, not exactly knowing what to do.  I had thought about going to the Highland Wildlife Park or visit the local distillery, the reindeer centre, and many other choices.  The time was more limited for these than I expected since Alan had to be back to the hide by 2!  So we tried the reindeer centre.  No luck!  Again, those Covid rules, have to book ahead and limited space.  Nothing for the whole weekend.  But they kindly put us on a waiting list for Sunday.  I did not hold out much hope but it was nice of them to offer.

Looking out from the Reindeer Centre -
they are in those mountains somewhere!

Even driving around this area is stunning.  We drove along Loch Morlich and were impressed with the beach and all the boats. Since Taymouth I seem to have developed an obsession with getting a kayak. Unfortunately, I am too late in the season now. There don't seem to be any around here, at a decent price anyway.  Oh well, I will have one for next Spring anyway.

RSPB centre, closed!

We also drove to the RSPB bird reserve called Loch Garten, where you can sit in their lookout area to see nesting Ospreys, they are not close though and you need a telescope. However, they are still closed due to Covid and why were we there when Alan can get up close and personal in the hide he is spending most of his time in this weekend?  The road to Boat of Garten was blocked by a vehicle or we might have gotten a coffee there.....not to be this time though. So back to Aviemore to get this man some lunch!

We hear about the congestion on the roads in the Highlands
due to so many people doing Staycations this year.
This is at Loch Morlich.

In case you are thinking of renting a car in Scotland,
this is actually a 2-way road!
Not many are like this, but it is nice to know they can be!

There seemed to be loads of gorgeous,
vintage tractors around too!

Stumbled on this interesting wooden bridge on our drive.

Public trails have stiles like this to help climb over fences.

Lunch consisted of the meal deal at Tesco and eating it in the room so Alan could download his pictures.  Meal deals are our main midday meal when travelling.  Plenty of choice and easy to do, so as not to waste time eating when there are so many more interesting things to do.

at Rothiemurcus

I dropped Alan off at Rothiemurcus and was able to walk in with him and see the hides for myself. There are 5 of them, all at water level and about 20 feet from the centre of the pond, where Ospreys dive for their dinner.  I was so lucky and one actually did this while I was there!  I doubt I will ever be that close to an Osprey again and felt very privileged to see it. Especially when they told me later that there was no other dive for 4 hours.  How they can sit there that long is beyond me!

Arriving back at Aviemore, I took a lovely walk along the Main Street but was not interested in doing much else, since I had also been awake since before 5am!  However, I saw a Costa Coffee and thought yes, that will be my Saturday night treat!  Where I live, Costas are still take away service only and the thought of actually sitting inside and even reading my book was too much to ignore.  Again, all Covid rules applied, including reporting in with the QR number at the table.  But oh boy, a skinny latte and salted caramel brownie....it was wonderful.

Lucky for me, Alan was dropped off by a man from Aberdeen so I did not have to figure out how to get in that car park after it was closed.  (there is a way!)

They stop at the hide around 8pm and this is really too late for Alan to have a meal, so we went into Tesco and got cooked chicken and a salad.  It was enough, but the cold chicken was so cold, it was actually frozen and poor, tired Alan had to get in the car and exchange it for a more edible package!