A Weekend in Aviemore - Saturday

What a wonderful invention is the mobile phone! Mine rang at just after 8:30am and I did not hear it.....but the voicemail left told me we had a space on the Hill Trip at the Reindeer Centre this morning!  So we ate breakfast after Alan arrived back from the hide.  This was my amazing pancake  breakfast. Then we headed off to the Reindeer Centre for the 11am trip.

I paid for the tickets over the phone and also got our concession prices since we are both over 60. When I went to the shop to pick up our tickets, they did have a look at my walking boots to make sure I had the proper footwear and I vouched for Alan that he did too.  They used to hire out wellies and also offer people lifts to the starting point, but all this has stopped due to Covid rules.  And instead of there being about 2 - 3 visitors per reindeer, the numbers are limited to about 1 person per reindeer. So you really do get up close and personal to them.

After meeting at the car park, we had a 20 minute walk in the beautiful mountains, some steep climbs and some very rocky terrain.  Since I am still having trouble with my knee, I am not sure I could have made it up some of the steps if Alan had not been there to pull me.  It was not a difficult climb, just some big rocks to get over!

Here come the reindeer!

Once we got there, we had 2 guides who explained what would happen and what to watch out for. These animals are very domesticated but there are some things that are just common sense when you are dealing with large animals with antlers that can kick forward if they want to. There are also the midges and flies.  I did not find them a problem, except when standing right next to a big reindeer, with huge antlers about 6 inches from my face....if he twitched to get the flies off, I was a bit at risk of being banged in the face with his antler!

Sadly we were not allowed to hand feed them as in normal times. but not sure I missed that, since it was just so much fun to watch them without the distraction of feeding them or getting slobbery hands!  Or maybe I am confusing them with my Boxer's slobbery way of eating out of my hand!  I will never know.

This was an amazing experience and I highly recommend if you are in this area - go meet the reindeer!

That is my shadow, the antlers are
 about 6 inches from my face!

By the time we finished at the Reindeer Centre it was time to get back to Aviemore and find lunch.  This was another meal deal from Tesco and a quick download of photos for Alan before he needed to get back to the Osprey hides.  I suggested he take the car this time so I could go get a Strawberry Daiquiri!  We saw these amazing daiquiris while walking around Aviemore on Thursday and I decided I needed one of them. This was ok with Alan and he left for the hide.

But then I realised I had left my fleece and my raincoat in the car!  This was not good.  In Scotland, there is a saying not to "cast your clut until May is oot".   Meaning don't take off your coat until May is out.  But this is August....and I still needed them since it could get chilly or even rain.  Not to have my outer clothing would defeat the purpose of letting Alan take the car.  So I had to run out of our room and hope to catch him before he left with them.

Running down steps with my stiff knee when I usually still go downstairs like a child was a very bad idea and I fell down them!  Very strange feeling as I was sliding down these rather steep steps.  Looking back, I think it was great that they were so steep, because I literally slid down them.  Alan heard the crash and came back as I was sliding.  We both knew he was in a hurry and also that I was not injured, the main evidence of that was I just could not stop laughing.  I got my fleece and raincoat and Alan went on his way.  Yes, I was a bit sore, knee was twisted a bit and my ribs were sore if I tried to turn too fast.

But this did not interfere with my plans first stop was directly across the street at St Andrew's church.  They had been advertising an art show and this was the only time I was near the church during the time they were open.  It was a lovely display of artwork done by the members, some of whom were sitting together at the altar side of the church.  I started talking to the and it was nice to speak to local people in such a tourist town. We exchanged impressions of what it is like to live in a tourist town.  Although where I live is considered one, it does not feel like that to me.  I lived in a popular town in Florida and watched it go from a sleepy beautiful place to an overbuilt, over developed and over crowded destination.  I had to move away it was just too much for me.  Although these women could understand my feelings, they also have the gorgeous and spacious countryside to escape to if necessary.  This art show is held annually starting on the first Wednesday of August and going through the weekend.  In normal years there would be cakes, teas and coffees and it would have been held in the church hall. The church hall is now a food bank and that is why the show is in the body of the Kirk this year.

The main reason I let Alan take the car this evening was my plan to  go to Mambo's. and getting that daiquiri!  It just looked too good when we walked by on Friday for me not to get one.  I chose to sit inside since the picnic tables outside seat 6 people and it seemed a bit selfish to use one only for me. There were no people inside when I sat at first.  Another family came in and sat relatively close to me and when the coldness of the daiquiri made me start to cough, I felt compelled to explain to them it was the cold causing this, nothing more sinister!  This Daiquiri was as good as it looked, glad I did this.

As I was walking along, I decided not to go as far as the train station due to my knee being a bit sore. Then I noticed people watching the rail line along the fence and saw that, had I walked to the station when I had decided not to, I would have seen the Strathspey Railway coming in!

Alan was a bit later coming back tonight. What I didn't realise was he had come back a bit earlier the night before due to them stopping early as a result of very heavy rain.

We walked to a pizza place intending to get it to go and eat in our room since it closed at 9. But the seating outside was still out and they said it was ok to go ahead and eat there.  It seemed a good idea not to take it back and smell up the room, but the midges ate us alive!