Life of Pottering

Monday, 10 July 2017

Beautiful Britain - Braemar to The Linn O'Dee

Our second big day out on our recent trip up to Royal Deeside found us retracing our steps from .
Braemar to The Linn O'Dee

We had loved both Braemar and The Linn O'Dee when we last visited during our stay back in 2015 and we really wanted to re-visit and show mum and dad around, as we knew they would love them both too.

We had a quick stop off at Braemar Castle for a few photos, including the first selfie of the day.

We then drove on through Braemar village and on to The Linn O'Dee. The weather was not so good and we arrived in a heavy drizzle, but that wasn't going to stop us from exploring this beautiful spot.

We wandered down to the bridge from the car park to see and hear the raging torrent of The Dee as it channeled its way through the narrow gorge beneath the bridge. It was an awesome sight.

For us, its when you cross the road and see The Dee, before it hits the gorge, that is the best sight. From seeing the river come through the narrow gorge its difficult to begin to imagine how broad the river actually is, but as you cross the road this really becomes clear.

It was no less of an amazing sight when seeing it for the second time. The river is so calm and wide, it's hard to imagine it's the same beast that is raging through the gorge. We love the calmness and beauty of this side. You can really get up close and personal with the river and we spent plenty of time just standing, watching and taking it all in.

Apologies for the photo overload but it was just sooooooo beautiful ...

All too soon it was time to be on our way. We followed The Dee, as it meandered its way back to Braemar, with a stop off for an in car picnic and a few photos of the valley.

Back in Braemar we had a good wander around, before making a hot chocolate pitstop for refreshments.

Whilst Braemar is only a small village, it is really pretty and there are plenty of interesting bits to stop and have a look at, including the railway station that has never seen a train, the remains of Kindrochit Castle and the RAF memorial, made from one of the engines from the wreckage of a Wellington R1646 found locally, which stands in memory of all airmen losing their lives in The Cairngorms.

We had one final stop off on the way back to Garnshiel Lodge. We've spotted this bridge from the road lots of times and today was the day that we decided to stop and have a closer look.

We were able to pull in a little further along the road and you can actually walk to the bridge. It turns out it is the 'Old Brig O'Dee' or 'The Invercauld Bridge' and the views of the river in either direction are spectacular. It's definitely worth a stop if you are passing.

So that was it, the end of our second big day out, pretty much spent the whole of it alongside The Dee, just beautiful 💜💜💜

Monday, 3 July 2017

Beautiful Britain - Ballater & The Burn O'Vat

Our first day out on our recent Scotland holiday with mum and dad found us back in Ballater, which is the closest village to the Garnshiel Lodge Estate, where we were staying.

It wasn't the brightest of days but it was lovely to be back and we were looking forward to showing mum and dad around.

Since we'd last visited someone had set up a new Geocache. It was what is kown as a 'multi' and involved us identifying the locations of a number of photographs around the village. It really gave us a good wander around and took us to parts of the village that we hadn't explored before.

We had been looking forward to showing mum and dad the old station, we knew they would have loved it. We had found out before visiting about the fire that pretty much destroyed the whole of the station a few years back and it was so sad seeing it all boarded up, though it was good to see that rebuilding work was under way.

Here is a picture I took on our last visit, compared to how it looks at the moment ...

After a bit of a pitstop for hot chocolate we decided to head out for the Burn O'Vat, another spot that we'd really enjoyed on our previous visit.

We weren't disappointed, and neither were mum and dad. After a nice walk through the woods and a bit of a scramble over the rocks, we were soon through the gap in the rocks.

We were greeted with the rushing sound of the waterfall, which was in fuller flow than we had last visited.

It was as awe inspiring as the first time we'd seen it and is definitely somewhere that you can't visit too many times.

It was then time to head back for home, but not without a stop at a roadside AA box for a sneak peak inside and a closer look at some of the horse's hoof fungus, which were just everywhere.

Our last stop of the day was at the Cambus O'May bridge and, again, we were sad to see the damage that had been impacted by the floods back in 2015.

Here is the bridge as it looked on our previous visit, earlier in 2015 ...

... and here is what it looks like now ...

A quick Google search found this image of the level of the flood and it is hard to imagine the beautiful and peaceful Dee as we saw it today to this raging monster in full flood.
Related image

Whilst we were sad to see the evidence of the area suffering from a number of devastating incidents since we'd last visited, we were so glad to be back. The area is so beautiful with so much to see and explore. I'm sure this isn't the last time that we will visit Ballater.

Monday, 26 June 2017

Beautiful Britain - The Kelpies, Falkirk

On our way up to Ballater on Royal Deeside, for our recent week's break with mum and dad, we decided to break up our journey with an overnight stop. We plumped for a stay at The Black Bear Premier Inn in Uddingston, just south of Glasgow.

The location was perfect, just off the M74 and well placed for a visit we wanted to sneak it to The Kelpies, which are situated at The Helix just outside of Falkirk.

Visiting The Kelpies was something I recently added to my list of 50 things to do before I'm 60, after seeing a picture of them on a friend's Facebook post a while ago.

Whilst we weren't lucky enough to be blessed with blue sky and sunshine, the weather could have been a lot worse and we did manage to have a good wander around and take some half decent photos.

As we couldn't stay very long, still having quite a way to go, we parked in the car park closest to the sculptures, which costs £3 for the day. There is free parking a bit further away and, if we'd had longer, we would have parked here as it looked a really nice walk along the canal.

From first sight The Kelpies are seriously impressive. We love any kind outdoor sculpture anyway and these are just breathtaking.

We approached along the canal path and soon got to appreciate just how vast they actually are. They are huge.

Sadly our photo opportunities were blighted just a little by the cherry picker, which is there currently undertaking a maintenance check and clean up, but this didn't really detract from the experience.

We walked all the way round and photographed from almost every possible angle, with a few selfies thrown in for good measure ...

... and a picture of Martin giving one a good rub on the nose 😘

There was just time for a quick pit stop in the cafe before we had to be on our way.

There was a map in the visitor centre showing all of the other local attractions around Falkirk and it is definitely somewhere that we will try and get back to. We'd particularly like to see The Falkirk Wheel.

I'm so glad to have got to have completed another of my 50 things to do before I'm 60. The Kelpies are definitely worth a visit if you're up that way.

Monday, 19 June 2017

Beautiful Britain - Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Corndavon Cottage

Hi there everyone

We are just back from a fab week's break in the very lovely Royal Deeside, making a revisit to Garnshiel Cottages, with us staying back in Corndavon and mum and dad ensconced in Morven.

We had a crazy busy week, got out and about loads and saw some amazing sights, so I have plenty to tell you about over the next few weeks.

Apologies to those of you who will have seen most of these pictures on Facebook over the course of last week, but I thought I'd start with a bit of a snapshot, so here it is from start to finish ... a week of selfies and smart phone pictures.

We had a stop off at The Kelpies on the way up ...