Heading North

Friday, 18 June, 2010

Edinburgh to Stirling

This morning we collected a car and commenced our trip to the Highlands, we plan to cover small distances each day to allow time for sight seeing. Our first stop was at the Falkirk Wheel which is a rotating boat lift near the town of Falkirk and connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The two canals were previously connected by a series of 11 locks, but by the 1930s these had fallen into disuse, were filled in and the land built on.

A plan to regenerate the canals to reconnect Glasgow with Edinburgh was led by British Waterways with support and funding from several local authorities and other organizations. It was decided early on that instead of simply recreating the historic lock flight, a competition would be held to create a dramatic 21st century landmark structure to reconnect the canals and the design for the Falkirk Wheel won the competition.

The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres (79 ft), roughly equivalent to the height of an eight- storey building. The Union Canal, however, is 11m higher than the aqueduct which meets the wheel, so boats must pass through a pair of locks to descend from this canal onto the aqueduct at the top of the wheel. The aqueduct could not have been positioned higher due to conflicts with the historic Roman built Antonine Wall and a 180 m. tunnel has been constructed to run under the wall near the Roman Rough Castle Fort.

The wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and is regarded as an engineering landmark for Scotland. The wheel has an overall diameter of 35 m. and consists of two opposing arms which extend 15 m. beyond the central axle and take the shape of a Celtic-inspired, double-headed axe. Two sets of these axe-shaped arms are attached about 25 m. apart to a large diameter axle. Two water-filled caissons, each with a capacity of 360,000 l, are fitted between the ends of the arms and these lift or lower boats 25 m. from the top aqueduct to the basin at the bottom.

These caissons always weigh the same whether or not they are carrying their combined capacity of 600 tonnes of floating canal barges as, according to Archimedes principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water, so when the boat enters, the amount of water leaving the caisson weighs exactly the same as the boat. This keeps the wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in four minutes while using very little power. It takes just 22.5 kilowatts to power the electric motors, which consume just 1.5 kilowatt-hours of energy in four minutes, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water.

So much for the boring technical stuff and to add something to your vast store of useless information, the engineers who designed the wheel used Lego to build a model and test their design.

Having read so much about the wheel we were still amazed at its size when we arrived and booked a ride on a canal boat to experience its operation. The boat sailed into the caisson and we weren’t aware we were moving until we looked out the window and saw the visitors centre down below, at the top we sailed out and through the Rough Castle tunnel to the basin below the two locks on the Union Canal, where we reversed and sailed back to the wheel. When we entered the caisson to descend a small canal boat entered with us and the two boats descended together, from the wheel the small boat entered a hand operated lock to descend around 3 m. to the Forth and Clyde Canal.

After sitting and watching several more lifts we left to drive to Stirling and on the way saw a sign for Wallace’s Monument and decided a detour was in order. Wallace’s monument was built on The Abbey Craig a large hill near Stirling in the 1860s to commemorate Sir William Wallace victory of the British at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and it is visible from many kilometres away. When we arrived at the base of the hill we were surprised to see a visitors’ centre had been built since our last visit and the interior floors in the monument have been converted to display areas telling the story of Wallace and many other Scottish heroes and how the monument was built. From the top of the hill today, another sunny day, two in a row! We could see the River Forth, Stirling, the Pentland Hills and many other landmarks and with birds singing in the trees around it was a very pleasant and relaxing visit.

From the monument we drove to Stirling and checked into the Youth Hostel, which is next door to the Old Jail and less than half a kilometre from the Castle, an ideal location.

Saturday, 19 June, 2010

Stirling to Braemar

Another sunny day which must be a record for Scotland, we drove up the hill from the hostel to view Stirling Castle to remind us of a previous visit but didn’t go inside but instead found the A9 and drove towards Perth. (No we aren’t lost, this Perth is in Scotland.) The visit to Perth was purely for shopping as there is a branch of Lakeland Stores in town, the store with thousands of items that no housewife can live without, you’ve heard of Big Boys Toys this is a store full of Big Girls Toys.

From Perth it was a short drive, if we’d taken the correct road the first time, to Scone and the Palace of Scone. Old Scone was situated on the River Tay and was recognised by the Romans for its importance on their advance into Scotland. Scone has been an important part of Scottish history and was first mentioned as an important centre of royal and ecclesiastical power in AD 906. As Scone developed a great Augustine abbey was established in the 12^th Century and the palace, originally a Bishop’s palace was created around 1600. Following the reformation supporters of John Knox burnt the abbey down but left the palace.

However Scone’s great importance was as the crowning place of Kings of Scots, this tradition commenced from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin, who created the Kingdom of Scone in the 9^th Century and all the Kings of Scots were crowned on Moot Hill seated upon the Stone of Scone. Even after the stones removal to Westminster Abbey by Edward I in1296, Moot Hill continued to be used as the crowning place of Kings of Scots, the last coronation was that of King Charles II as King of Scots in 1651, some nine years before he was restored to the English throne. Some of the Kings crowned on Moot Hill include Robert the Bruce and Macbeth.

Moot Hill is an artificially created mound, in ancient times the various Kings in Scotland had to swear allegiance before the King of Scots on their own ground but due to the dangers of travelling, the Kings came to Scone carrying boots filled with soil from their kingdom which they poured on the ground and stood on it to declare their allegiance, over the centuries this soil has formed Moot Hill or as it also called Boot Hill.

From Scone we headed towards Braemar thinking an hour of quiet driving was all that was needed to cover the 48 miles, forgetting that in the UK, particularly Scotland, many of the so called major roads are little lanes winding up and down hills and through woods, so our “hour” took two hours particularly as we had to drive over the Cairngorms a very rugged part of Scotland, on the mountains there are still many patches of snow, probably ice, still visible. We were talking about the time in 1975 when we were here with the boys and stopped to take them up the mountain to see their first snow when we rounded a bend and there in front of us was the same chair lift. We stopped the car to photograph a statue on the side of the road and on getting out found the wind to be as icy as the last time we visited. We think it was a statue and not a couple who stopped to take in the view and froze.

Driving on through rugged scenery we arrived on the outskirts of Braemar to be greeted with a beautifully manicured golf course, such a contrast to the Cairngorms. Arriving at the hostel we found that it still followed the tradition of old and didn’t open till 5:00 pm so we sat on a bench in the sun and read until the warden opened. Another tradition is that we are in separate dormitories as they only have two private rooms, we are here for two nights so may drive to Balmoral tomorrow.

Sunday, 20 June, 2010

Braemar and around

Today looked as if it may rain when we drove into the village of Braemar but we only spent a short while looking around and then drove out on the road to Aberdeen.

Our first stop was at Ballater to visit the old railway station used by Queen Victoria and subsequent monarchs when they came to stay at Balmoral. The rail line reached Ballater from Aberdeen in 1866 and the directors proposed extending it to Balmoral for the Queen but Victoria was against the proposal as she didn’t want the pristine Deeside landscape spoilt by train lines, she preferred to travel to Balmoral by horse and carriage. The passenger service continued until 1966 when the line was closed and the track is now used as a bike path beside the Dee River.

Driving another 27 miles we arrived at Crathes Castle. In the UK distances are still measured in miles and speed limits in MPH, by European law goods in shops must be sold by metric measure and packaging is in grams, kg and litres but supermarkets display the cost as per kg or lb and milk is packaged in half, one, two or four pints and the quantity shown as litres with pints underneath. When we were here last time stall holder at markets were fined for selling vegetables by pound weight not kg.

Crathes Castle is built on land gifted to the Burnett family by Robert the Bruce and the castle was built in the late 1500s and the family continued to live there until the 1960s when the more modern wing burnt down, they now live about two minutes from the castle. In the 1950s the Lord gifted the castle and 600 acres to the Scottish National Trust but retained the right to live there, and the family also retained ownership of many of the treasures but allows the SNT to display them.

The old part of the castle contains four floors accessed by two turnpike (spiral) stone staircases and although some rooms have been modernised many of the rooms have exposed beams with timber panel between and all the beams have biblical and other sayings painted along them in colour and the panels in between are painted with medieval people, some of the stone alcove ceilings are also painted.

The castle’s old walled kitchen garden covering several acres was converted in the late 1800s early 1900s into several formal and informal gardens with yew tree hedges dividing it into various themed areas and pathways lined with spring flowering plants and we spent a pleasant hour strolling along the paths.

We decided that we wouldn’t drive on to Aberdeen even though it was only eight miles away and headed back to Braemar, stopping to look at an old suspension bridge over the River Dee at Cambus o’ May which when the railway was operating had a small station on the river’s edge, the building is now a private house.

Continuing on to Braemar we passed Balmoral but it was too late in the day to pay a visit. On our way to Tomintoul tomorrow we may drop in for morning tea. Arriving back at the hostel we found that there aren’t any women booked in tonight so Ann and I can share a dormitory.

Monday, 21 June, 2010

Braemar to Tomintoul

After leaving the hostel we drove into Braemar to buy some food and afterwards drove around six miles to the Linn of Dee, apparently a “Linn” is a waterfall and there may have been a larger one upstream but where the road crossed the river over a little stone bridge built in the 1850s there was quite a deep gorge gouged through the rocks and the several falls had a 2 – 3 m. drop. Driving back into Braemar we stopped at a viewing area over the River Dee and saw around 35 Red deer fording the river and they stood on a sand bank for quite a while before moving onto the grass the contrast between the sand and the deer allowed us a good view of the herd.

Our next stop was at Royal Lochnager Distillery which received the “Royal” appendage during the reign of Queen Victoria when the owner sent a note to Balmoral inviting Prince Albert to visit to view the whisky making process. To his surprise next day the Queen, the Prince and their three eldest children arrived to be shown over the distillery and they all sample the end product, two days later they received the first of many orders from Balmoral.

Following in the Royal tradition we received a tour to witness the process, though these days the barley is delivered already malted and not done in the malting loft but the rest of the process has remained the same and at the conclusion of the tour we received a dram of the end product.

The boundary of the Balmoral Estate is about 100 m. from the distillery but Queen Elizabeth has climbed the fence for a taste but they’re still hoping.

From the distillery we drove along a single lane road for about 8 miles towards Tomintoul before it widened to allow cars to pass without having to pull into a small passing bay. At one stage an approaching delivery van decided it was big enough not to worry about pulling into a passing bay or to slow down enough to let us reach one and forced us onto the grass edge, not a pleasant experience. Driving along through the Cairngorm National Park, Ann commented about all the different colours on the mountain and she could see where the army got its idea for the camouflage colours.

Arriving at Tomintoul a little village reputed to be the highest in the Highlands at a height of 350 m. The village was built in the latter part of the 1700s by the Duke of Gordon to encourage the scattered community to move to a central location. The village partly owes its location to the line of the Military Road built through the area following the Jacobite rebellion in 1745 and the site was also used as an army garrison. The village grew from a population of 37 in 1794 to a peak of around 530 in 1825 and is now stabilised at about 250 people.

The Crown Estate of Glenlivet’s office is situated in the village and the 23,000 hectare estate forms part of the Crown Estate and was acquired in 1937, though now days all the income goes direct to the Government in lieu of the Queen paying income tax.

The hostel in the village is an old school house and like many small hostels doesn’t open till 5:00 so to fill in time we went for a walk along a public footpath past farmer’s fields and enjoyed the view of the Avon River from a hill at the edge of the woods. Returning to the hostel we were pleasantly surprised to find we were the only booking so instead of being in separate dormitories we were given a female dormitory with an en-suite to share. Tonight is the longest day and here in Scotland it will be well after midnight before it gets dark, but that won’t stop us sleeping.

Monday, 21 June, 2010

Tomintoul to Inverness

As predicted to longest day didn’t interfere with our sleeping, I’m not sure when it got dark but I woke up at 3:00 am and it was light again.

We left the hostel and drove up a dirt track to see the view of the River Avon that apparently appealed to Queen Victoria, driving on we arrived at the Bridge of Avon, a stone bridge over the Avon built in 1754 as part of the Military Road, quite picturesque, there were two fishermen trying their luck along the rapids but they weren’t having a lot of luck.

From the bridge we drove along a narrow road towards Dufftown passing several distilleries, including Glenlivet but as it was rather early to imbibe we drove on to Dufftown where we stopped at Glenfiddich distillery, we last visited Glenfiddich in 1975 so thought we should stop to make a quality check. The tour was rather shorter than yesterday’s but the short tour was more than compensated by providing a 12, 15 and 18 year old single malt to sample together with instructions on how to “nose” and taste and the best part, it was free but as they have 122 million litres in storage I don’t suppose they would miss a few drams. By the car park they have a nice grassed picnic area so we enjoyed lunch in the sunshine before driving on.

Our next stop was at Brodie Castle a 16^th Century building with several additions up to the 19^th Century. The property had been in the possession of the family from the 1300s as there was a letter from Robert the Bruce telling them to clean out their ponds and hinting if they didn’t comply they may no longer be the owners.

The last Laird couldn’t afford to carry out the required maintenance so he sold it to the Scottish National Trust with the provision that he could live in the residence until he died. After the Trust took over he used to assist with ticket selling and acting as a guide until he died. One of the highlights of the castle is the collection of paintings from Old Masters to 20^th Century modern art and water colours. The wife of a previous Laird purchased many in the 1920s and she had a budget of no more than £20 a painting, obviously she knew her art as these paintings are worth many thousands today.

After a very interesting tour led by a man from Adelaide who took early retirement and sold up and moved to Scotland we walked down to the “pond”, past some beautiful Coper Beeches, where there was a family of swans with six cygnets blocking the path so we decided not to incur the wroth of the two adults and returned to the car to drive to Inverness.

Arriving at the outskirts of Inverness we had no idea where the hostel was situated and we only had vague instructions of where it was situated, we found it after half an hour driving around the city centre and horror it’s situated in a pedestrian area, so we had to juggle our luggage and park some distance away. I will have to go to the car park before 8:00 am tomorrow and buy a parking ticket or our accommodation cost will rise sharply, if we have to add on the cost of a fine.