Speyside Special

In July we enjoyed a few days holiday in Grantown-on-Spey, which lies within the Cairngorms National Park and (as the name suggests) is on the banks of the River Spey. It is really a superb place for a short break having all you need within walking distance or just a short drive away.
We spent the morning of the first day in and around the Grantown-on Spey area itself; including a walk through the local Anagach woodland before returning along the banks of the River Spey. Here are some of the things we saw on our walk:


Moira in Anagach Woods

Clearing in the woods



Track through the woods



Magnificent Scots Pine



Illuminated Foxglove

In the clearing in the woods we saw a Roe Deer but it bounded away before I had a chance to get a photograph of it. Along the edge of the track that runs through the eastern end of the woods we saw plenty of butterflies including this lovely Common Blue:

This part of the woodland is allegedly where the Capercaille breed..........

Main Caper Area

.........but we didn't see any, only an empty Caledonian Pine Forest, where I am sure some Capers are hiding and sniggering at us!!:



No sign of any Capers

My mum would always give me a ticking-off for having "capers" anyway!!!
We had a choice of taking a circular route back through the forest or follow a path down to the River Spey and we chose the riverside walk:

Spey through the trees



Thistle & Lupins by the Spey

The River Spey



Speyside Eddie

Path by the river

Wild Rose



Lupins



Meadow Cranesbill

There was lots of wildflowers to see along the side of the river and also plenty of bird life on and around the river, including Goldeneye, Goosanders, Black-headed Gulls and this Common Sandpiper:

It was unusual to see one on the path rather than in its usual pose on a rock in the river, but it was still doing the familiar "bobbing" action that these and other riverside birds adopt.
A little further along the riverside track we spotted a Common Tern on a rock in the middle of the Spey (sorry it is all "common" stuff that we have spotted, but they are not common to our garden):

This Tern also treated us to a flying display as it scanned the river looking for fish; once it spied a suitable fish it dived down to catch it, aborting its dive at the last minute:

Towards the end of our walk we came to the Old Spey Bridge which is no longer used as the main crossing point for the A95; never-the-less it is still an attractive stone bridge with great views of the river:



Old Spey Bridge

Downstream of Old Spey Bridge

Upstream of Old Spey Bridge

Nice little property on south side of Old Spey Bridge

As well as good views down the river the bridge also afforded good views of a Grey Wagtail preening itself at the river's edge:

After this it was a short walk back to Grantown-on-Spey and some well deserved lunch.
After lunch we made the obligatory trip to Loch Garten to see the Ospreys at the RSPB Reserve. I am afraid that they don't let you too close to the Osprey nest so you will have to settle for a view of the young Osprey (about 8 or 9 weeks old) as seen through my telescope.........

Young Osprey at RSPB Loch Garten

.......and a rather shaky video of the two adult Ospreys taken on my camcorder:

I did get a slightly better video of a Great Spotted Woodpecker on one of the feeders outside the Osprey Hide:

The next day we took a trip up to Fort George near Ardersier in the hope of seeing Dolphins in the narrow straits across from Chanonry Point; a well known location for seeing these cetaceans in the Moray Firth. Unfortunately it was very windy and the firth was very choppy making it extremely difficult to see anything on the surface of the water; in short we saw nothing!
We decided to cut our losses and head back to Nairn for a bite of lunch. After lunch we headed back inland towards the Granton-on-Spey area, stopping at a little place called Dumphail, where we were able to join the Dava Way (a walkway between Grantown and Forres that runs along the route of the old railway line):

The Dava Way at Dumphail

Path to Dava Way at Dumphail

Ready to hike the Dava Way

From Dumphail Breathing Space (as it is known) we headed south along the Dava Way with the intention of walking to the Divie Viaduct, and hopefully some spectacular views. There was evidence of the railway origins of this path everywhere as we headed down the Dava Way:

Remnants of an old signalling post

Corridor of Birch along the old railway line

A rusty stream which fed an engine watering trough

As we neared the Divie Viaduct the embankments either side of the track got higher and higher and the standing water on the track got deeper and deeper. Eventually we decided that we were going to get our feet very wet so we reluctantly chose to turn around and head back the way we came, with the intention of driving south and re-joining at the Divie Viaduct.
Unfortunately there is no parking area and no place to join the walkway at the Divie Viaduct.
So that about summed up our day............No Dolphins and No Divie!!............never mind we had a slap-up meal in the Grant Arms that night, washed down with a few local ales.
For our last day we decided to take the long way home by crossing the Cairngorms using the famous Cock Bridge - Tomintoul (A393) road, then heading to Braemar and Glenshee and on to Perth. For those of you not familiar with the Cock Bridge - Tomintoul road it is usually the first road to close due to snow in Scotland and the last to open.
Thankfully there was no snow to contend with as we travelled across country to Tomintoul then headed uphill to Cock Bridge, we did however have some fantastic views:

Cairngorms from above Tomintoul

The road snakes towards Tomintoul

The road to Tomintoul

 

Cairngorms from Lecht Ski Centre

After the Lecht Ski Centre it was all downhill to Cock Bridge, after which we turned off the A393 and on to the B976 which took us to Crathie then on the Braemar:

The Cairngorms from the B976

 

Heading to Braemar

Looking forward to the road ahead

We stopped at Braemar for some well-earned lunch, a quick look around the shops and took the usual tourist photos:

River Dee Upstream

River Dee Downstream

Eddie on Dee Bridge, Braemar

Braemar Village

You may (or may not) have noticed in the photo of Braemar Village that there were one or two exotic cars in the village that day. It would appear that some driver's club had an outing in Deeside on that day and Braemar was one of the 'pit stops'.
Here are a few pics for those of you with an interest in cars:

A fast Green Thingy??

A gullwing Mercedes-Benz 300SL (driving with its door open!)



Mercedes still with its door open!!

A Ferrari Thingy

An Aston Martin DB something?

An E-type Jaguar

I'm sure some of you car buffs can fill in the gaps in my knowledge.
On the way out of Braemar I stopped to take a few snaps of Upper Deeside:

Upper Deeside

Looking back towards Braemar

Hot Tin Roof with no Cat

 So that effectively concludes our little trip to the Cairngorms National Park, my favourite was the walk along the side of the Spey, a place that is always special to me.

Take care,

TeddyEdward