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After an 8:30AM breakfast we set off for the Rothiemurchus Walk. On the way near Coylumbridge, I stopped when a red squirrel crossed the road and stopped by the side. I managed to get a few fuzzy pictures in the poor light.
Click here for more on the Rothiemurchus Forest.
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| Light levels were rather poor and the squirrel too fast moving for clear shots. The first shot was the clearest. These are the best of the bunch. | |||
After parking up at the start point for the walk, we started off into the woods at about 9:45AM. It was a pleasant stroll through open woodland with the sun shining to start with. On the way we found a nice view of the adjacent Am Beanaidh river. However a shower was moving in and it soon got a bit damp. Eventually we reached the iron bridge as the heavens opened a bit more. The bridge doesn't betray its 99 year old age! Then after a dogleg to the left over more open heathers and a nice loch we followed a more open path back as the shower cleared and the sun came out again. The walk took a little under 2 hours.
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| A fork in the path. We took the left path and later returned via the right path. | Heading Southwards through open woodland, the sun coming out at times to cast many tree shadows in the woods. | ||
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| 360 degree panorama of the Am Beanaidh river where it came close to the path. Renée can be seen on the edge of the wood. | Every now and then we saw these nets on sticks holstered in these stands. I wonder what they were for? | A coffee (due to the peat content) coloured stream crossing the path. |
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| Continuing South through the open woodland. | Here the wood is quite dense, with a myriad of dead side branches keeping any off path options very slow indeed. | Breaking out into more open country with a view of the Cairngorms in the distance up ahead. | ||
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| Another fork. We just came from the right path. Later we will go along the left path. | .Following a wider track the last few metres to the bridge. | The Iron Bridge. This is as far as we went, but further upstream the path goes up into Lairig Ghru, passes the Pools of Dee and then follows the river Dee down into Deeside. | Mike on the Iron Bridge. | Looking back downstream from the bridge. |
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| Renée sheltering under an umbrella as the rain gets heavier. | Heading West from the bridge, the open ground is dominated by heather and pine tree saplings. | |||
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| Looking towards Creag Dubh, the Northern slopes below it start to generate cloud in the moisture of the shower. | Lochan Deo. | More forest as we approach the junction where we turn right to head back to the car. | ||
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| Another panorama of Lochan Deo from slightly further along the path. | 360 degree panorama of the junction to the Northwest corner of Lochan Deo. Here we turn right and North to return to the car. |
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| A tree dominated by heather. | More pine tree sapling and heather shots. | Passing through a gate on open ground. | Cloud capped hills in the distance. | |
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| Looking ahead, not too far to go now. | 180 degree panorama of the view to the North, East and South. | A long range shot of Lairig Ghru, a spectacular U-shaped gap in the mountains. | The end of the walk. There's the car behind the gate. |
We then went to the Mountain Café in Aviemore. We had milkshakes and Renée ordered a large cake that was too much for her. Oops... Luckily a box was provided to take it away to finish later.
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| The Mountain Café. | The cake that defeated Renée! | Oh dear Mike is fiddling with that infernal iPhone yet again! | The view of Cairngorm from the café. |
Then we went to the reindeer centre and saw the reindeer in a pen. One of them had just shed an antler so looked strange with just the one. (Apparently this is natural as they regrow them every year.) I also saw another red squirrel or two but failed to get a picture as it grabbed a peanut from a feeder.
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| The reindeer centre near Loch Morlich. | The reindeer pen. | Pictures of the reindeer, including the one that just shed one of its antlers. Is that last reindeer pulling a face at me? :O | |||
On the way out we stopped by the shore of Loch Morlich. The scenery was a bit misty because of the rain but in a pretty serene way. As soon as we got out a large number of ducks made a beeline for us, quacking away noisily. Soon they had us surrounded. Clearly they were used to being fed by people and were very tame. However we had nothing to give them. So after a little while we retreated back to the car.
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| At Loch Morlich an army of ducks come to greet us. | Loch Morlich panorama. | Renée is surrounded. Your food or your life! It also looks like good weather for ducks too. |
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| Closeups of the ducks. Raindrops visible as beads on their feathers. The males with the green heads, brown chests and pale flight feathers distinct from the mottled brown females. These are the tamest ducks I have ever seen. | |||
Then I drove us along the B970 to Kingussie for a little jolly before returning to Aviemore on the B9152.
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| On a pleasant country road once again! | Some cows by the roadside. | Crossing over Feshiebridge, over the River Feshie. | |
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| Passing the Insh area. | The remains of Ruthven Barracks. | Entering Kingussie. | Passing Loch Alvie as we return to Aviemore on the B9152. |
We then returned to the BnB for a bit. Then Renée managed to get a 3pm appointment at a nearby hairdresser so that filled in a small gap in our plans. Then we went back to the BnB under an umbrella as a shower went through. After another rest during which I had a go at trying to work out some laptop wireless issues we headed to La Taverna restaurant where Renée had an all you can eat buffet and I had a large cheeseless pizza.
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| The view of the Cairngorms from La Taverna. | La Taverna. |
Then afterwards it was back again to the BnB to retire for the night.
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