climb every mountain

Today's soundtrack:
The King is Dead by The Decemberists
Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine
Temporary Resident by Imaginary Cities

Staying at the Ivory Tower right now are some more friends from Spain, one of which has never been to Scotland before.  So on Monday, we jumped on an early train from Dundee and made our way up to Aviemore.  The town itself is inside Cairngorm National Park and is filled with skiing and hiking clothing stores.  In a way, it's a less touristy, less mountains right in town, less uptight version of Banff, Canada.

After some directions from the Tourist Information by the station, we dropped our kit off at the Cairngorm Guest House (which I highly recommend, by the by), jumped on the next bus heading into the park and set off to climb Cairn Gorm.

Cairn Gorm is the peak on the left of centre

To climb Cairn Gorm, you essentially walk the cat track that goes up Coire Cas before turning off onto the stone staircase that takes you up to the top of Cairn Gorm.  It's not the prettiest of paths, but it is a far cry from the goat paths I've walked in the past.  And it's rather steep in parts, which made the descent a little painful for our knees, but my word, the view is worth it.

On a very clear day, you can see clear over to Ben Nevis, which keen readers will remember that Miguel climbed last year.  Even with the clouds, we could see over towards Inverness (I was amazed to discovered we were this far north).

After a good rest, we got up the next morning, stuffed as much breakfast in us as humanly possible, and set off for Loch an Eilein in Rothiemurchus Forest and a less hilly hike.  It's a 15km roundtrip from Aviemore, which made for another long day (all part of our not-so-secret plan to tucker out our houseguests).  After walking alongside the River Druie and passing through Inverdruie, we reached Lochan Mor, also known as the Lily Loch (for obvious reasons).

Before reaching Loch an Eilein (pronouned Loch 'nyellin), which means Lake of the Island.

In the middle of the lake is the island, which has the ruins of a 15th-century castle.  The sun crept out just long enough to allow for some pretty lovely photos.

Look at all those shades of green!

As we were finishing the loop around Loch an Eilein, the rain started in earnest.  By the time we reached Inverdruie, our visitors had learned a new Scottish word: droukit.  Well and truly soaked.  But the sun came out quick enough and by the time we'd got the train in Aviemore, we had more or less dried off.  And after a long day of hiking and travelling, we picked up fish suppers in Anstruther and collapsed at in a heap at home.

This was my second trip up to the Highlands this summer, but unlike the west side of Scotland, Speyside reminds me more of Western Canada.  Maybe it was the pine-covered path around Loch an Eilein, or maybe it was the absence of industrial development, or possibly the pelting rain, but something about Cairngorm National Park made me feel incredibly at home.  Either I've found a bit of Canada in Scotland, or I'm finally starting to feel a bit more like Scotland is now home.