Day 8 - The Highlands

13 April 2023

Today we ventured into the Highlands! We set off early, with the aim of reaching Balmoral Castle by midday. On the way we took some detours – exploring a lovely ancient little town called Dunning, and having yummy tea and scones at an alpine village called Glenshee. I’m not sure what I expected the drive to Balmoral to be like, but I had no idea that we would be heading up into snow and passing through ski fields. The main road went right through the middle of at least two ski fields, with chair lifts on both sides of the road. Quite different to the dead end roads up to the NZ ski fields.

Balmoral Castle itself was a stunning place to explore. It is very much a home for the royal family, so the public are only permitted inside into the ballroom where the Gillies Ball is held each year. It looked just like it does in the photos. We were allowed to explore most of the grounds, from the kitchen gardens to the river walk, around Queen Victoria’s summer cottage, through to the pet cemetery. There was lots to see and explore and the fact that it was raining on and off just seemed to add atmosphere. We were given an audio guide to use as we moved around the grounds – it was informative but I feel it would have benefited with hearing from some of the royal family. When we visited Holyroodhouse Palace last week the audio guide had segments where we heard from the royals discussing their memories of the palace. It was interesting to see it through their eyes.

 

After Balmoral Castle, we travelled along the “Highland Tourist Route” through to Inverness. Some of the in-the-middle-of-nowhere roads were closed, so we were sent on diversions which probably added about an hour to the trip. Luckily we weren’t in a rush, so we didn’t mind seeing parts of the countryside that we would otherwise have missed. The Highlands are full of stunning scenery – rugged hills, snow, tiny villages, stone ruins and hardy wildlife. We saw lots of pheasants, hares, sheep with lambs, and Highland Coos. According to our car, our outside temperature today ranged from 3.5 degrees to 6 degrees. Brrrr.

We are spending the next few nights in Inverness, allowing us more time to explore the Highlands. Better rug up!