It was the end of our long weekend in Edinburgh. Errin and David would head back home. Dennis and I would drive up to Aviemore. But, not before a nice breakfast at Valvona & Crolla. Dennis had French Toast, Errin got porridge, Dave got an Irish breakfast, and I got an egg sandwich. Everybody enjoyed the food, but my sandwich was quite salty. I thought the Cafe Americano was delicious!
We said goodbye to our friends and to Edinburgh. Took a cab to the rental car place and were fitted with a micro car. Loaded up and then headed for Aviemore. It was a very nervewracking 45 minutes, getting out of Edinburgh. There were numerous fast moving, multiple lane roundabouts. Dennis only hit the curb once, and I thought he did very well. It’s odd being on the other side of the car and the road!
Thankfully, the Scottish drivers are very accomodating. People generally were very helpful, letting us merge at the last minute, and not riding our tails for driving so slow. The drive got prettier and less stressful as we progressed northward. Crossing the Forth Bridge, we seemed to be in another country. The greenery was astounding and rolling beautiful hills turned slowly into mountains.
We stopped in Pitlochry for picnic lunch (we ate near the Salmon Locks). Stopping off at the visitor’s center in town was a great decision. They explained how to get to Queen’s View and gave us some ideas for some local 2-3 hour hikes.
The drive to the Queen’s View was narrow and winding. A few curves left us breathless as oncoming cars when zipping by with inches to spare. We just had to trust the locals knew their cars better than we did!
We parked the car, payed the 2 lb fee, and walked to the Queen’s View. It was a very short 5 minute walk from the parking lot. The area was crowded with local high school aged art students. It was a challenge to take a picture sans teenagers…but we managed!
After the Queen’s View, we drove a few miles down the road to the Allean Forest Walks Trailhead. We decided to hike for about 1.5 hours, just to stretch out the legs and get some exercise. It was a nice way to break up the day of driving. The scenery was so beautiful and we had perfect weather!
We pulled into the Cairngorm Guest House around 7pm. Gail and Peter greeted us and got us settled into our room. We were guided to a local Tapas place for dinner, International Starters. I’d give it a B+. Service was a bit slow, but the quality of the food was great. We liked the Hot Fudge Sundae!
Before bed, I researched local climbing and guiding services. Would the weather hold up for a day on the rock?
Tags: Allean Forest Walk, Aviemore, Cairngorm Guest House, Edinburgh, Pitlochry, Queen's View