Scotland - Aviemore trip..

I have just returned from a holiday in Scotland, we were there me and Steph to run at the Baxters Festival of running, but that aside that we got to see some awesome sights on our trip there in between all the marathon and 10K running.....



We based ourselves at the Aviemore Bunkhouse by the River Spey. It was a good central location to explore the Cairngorm Mountain range and skiing resort.



Would we recomend the bunk house? if honest no, why well it was freezing and there was no lounge to socialise in, it had a kitchen (small) and was probably the worst hostel ever stayed in.



They were freindly and very helpful but it was not the best place to stay for 6 days, that being said the pub next door was awesome and the Caledonian Ale was exceptional.... Hic....



We ventured up to the ski station and hiked up the Cairngorm above the top ski station, normally this would be a standard jaunt but the weather was with us as in sun and against us as in a snow storm, which gave us a true Scottish experience, and some nice photos.



We also got to sit and chill at Loch Morlich which has in essence a beach where you can sit and admire your days sunset, and the mountains you have just descended as the backdrop. It was also out of season and so we were alone on the mountain and alone on the beach which always adds to natures theatre show.



The pictures say it all so enjoy, as a ski station it is limited and on our day looked like a closed russian ski resort of sorts, it doesnt have the Va Va Voom of Europe or Tignes in the Alps but it does have its own natural rustic charm. We enjoyed it and even got to see some reindeer in their natural environment.



It was also nice to see it with snow and the contrast with the lower greener slopes was a sight to enjoy, until the oncoming snow storm arrived and slammed us in the face with winds that had travelled all the way form Alaska. ha ha ... it got nasty and we got off the hill ASAP.



We also travelled the full length of Loch Ness stopping at the Urquart castle the weather was not good but this just added to the mystery of the Loch and the surrounding areas, we drove through the towns of Fort Augustus and Inverlochy and Invergarry, some of the areas were stunning.





We made our way to Fort William where if we had got up slightly earlier than midday we may have attempted Ben Nevis - but to be fair we were still aching from the marathon and the weather was exceptionally shitte....good quality scottish drizzle.



So we ended that day with a classic munch at the (to me) infamous Ben Nevis Inn at the foot of the Ben....including hefty sweet in the form of Sticky toffe pudding.



We also found an awesome rally track in the woods, shown here I will be doing a small video of the trip which will include the rallying route, we were given the racey Fiat 500 1.4i as our hire car....and this little car is awesome in this terrain and I spanked it big style around this single lane woodland track that we had checked out earlier in the day, in the high season im sure there would have been lots of cars coming through but not for us, I nailed it and nearly lost a few times. the other arf - just screamed as they all do. women !!....







We had a great trip and saw the rustic side of Scotland without the heavy tourist numbers ruining the day and the views, id recommend to go at this time of year to anyone.....





Scotland the brave....!!!