Southward bound …

A traditional Scottish breakfast at the Cairngorn Hotel to start the day and we were on the road by about 9.30 – even though we did the packing this morning.

Our first stop was Blair Atholl for a stroll around Blair Castle. It is a magnificent place with 32 rooms on display to the public and that wouldn’t cover half of the actual castle. While now part of a private trust, the castle and surrounding buildings once belonged to the Duke of Atholl. The previous duke decided on the trust route (saves on inheritance tax etc) therefore the current duke (number 11 or 12) only inherited the title and his son, the Marquis of Athol, will be the next Duke of Atholl.



You enter the castle via a three-storey entry hall, red velvet, stained wood and floor to ceiling weapons – Guns, bayonets, swords and stuff of that ilk. It really is an amazing sight. The hallway is next, and it is lined in both directions with dear skulls complete with antlers, all caught in the 1800s. It is an awesome sight, if not a bit eerie.



The small drawing room, the tea room, the larger drawing room upstairs, the dining room, the red bedroom, the blue bedroom, each with their associated dressing rooms and bathrooms, and on it goes. The highlight was the dining room, with its ornate ceiling with intricate carvings. And of course it was a very high ceiling which only adds to the effect. The table itself was also well presented, each setting with 4 crystal glasses of very differing styles. The large black 42 litre whisky bottle on the floor impressed Leigh.

The secret find of the castle was the embroidered pictures on the wall of the hallway to the toilets. The most magnificent of which was a waterfall embroidered in silk – you couldn’t tell it was needlework until you got up close, it was that well done.

The Duke of Atholl has the only private army in the country (with about 100 soldiers) and today was the annual parade day. The current Duke (a South African) was at the castle to participate in the ceremony. However, we needed to make tracks and couldn’t stay to watch the presentation. We also missed the Highland Games which are to be held tomorrow.

We found our way back to the A9 to continue South. Most of the A9 from Perth to Aveimore is one lane, with intermittent dual carriageways (not nearly enuff of them at the best of times and at least 2 had roadworks this week). Our average speed between Aviemore and Blair Atholl this morning was about 45 mph (speed limit is 60-70) because of being unable to pass the caravan(s) ahead.

Now, the traffic heading North (some if not all probably trying to get to Blair Atholl for the 2.30 parade if not the Highland Games) was bumper to bumper for miles. They were faced with roadworks which had made the road one lane, and traffic lights were in use to allow traffic to flow South and then North in turn. We could smirk until traffic our way started to slow as we got closer to Perth.



However, we continued on, bypassing Perth, and found our way back to the Secret Bunker so Leigh could makes some purchases from their gift shop - they had closed bang on 5pm yesterday, minutes before he tried to go shopping after touring the facility - he wasn't a happy puppy. From there we headed to Edinburgh via the Fourth Road Bridge. Lucky for us the toll only has to be paid if you are travelling north :)

Through Edinburgh via the coast we managed to find the Royal Yacht Britannia along with all the tall ships which happened to be in town for the Festival of the Sea. Access to the Britannia is via a shopping centre (Ocean View or something), but at £8 per person and not a lot of time to take advantage of it we decided that the happy snaps would be enuff for us. Got a spoon tho’! Talk about making a killing on merchandise – everything in the shop is overpriced, even if the quality is good. We managed to get snaps from both the carpark and the restaurant balcony so we were happy.



Out of Edinburgh we headed for Reston where we would find Stoneshiel Hall, our manor accommodation for the nite. On the way we ventured into Dunbar on a hunt for food. We weren’t very successful (that which they advertised as food didn’t turn out to be terribly edible) but we did manage to find the beach and watched a dog chasing (but not retrieving) stones thrown into the water by his owner. He had a great time, tho’ neither Leigh or I could understand how he found it rewarding when he didn’t actually get to bring something back. But who are we to reason why!

Found the Hall without much trouble, a wonderful 300 year old building owned by Chris and Shiela Olley, and ruled by Bianca the white poodle. A very stylish house with a grand staircase to the second floor (especially when you climb it once to see all the pictures on the walls and then are shown the shortcut back stairs which my knees appreciated) and I loved the dining and drawing rooms, with pictures throughout – some of family ancestors, needlework pieces made by Shiela, some old paintings and other more recent ones.

Our bedroom was huge, and there was carpet in the bathroom – oh, to live like this all the time :)

I retired early while Leigh had a beer with Chris in the sitting room.