Our first afternoon was spent getting set up at the caravan park before heading out for an evening stroll through Grantown, ending up at the Grant Arms for a couple of drinks.
The next morning our adventure started in earnest with a white-knuckle ride on the 34 bus to Aviemore. Forget all the roller-coasters and scary rides at Blackpool Pleasure Beach; if you are a real thrill-seeker get on a 34 bus (which was running 10 minutes late) as it winds its way through narrow lanes bordered by great trees and deep lochs, dodging on-coming traffic in order to get to Aviemore on time.
Luckily we were heading to Aviemore for a much more sedate activity; a ride on the Strathspey Steam Railway. We even had time to have a relaxing coffee before going to the platform to watch the steam engine arrive:
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| Steam Engine arriving at Aviemore Station |
The engine had to reverse and couple up to the carriages in order to form the train and I recorded this activity before we boarded the train:
I think the engine driver was 'well chuffed' with his very controlled reversing:
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| Excellent Reversing Technique |
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| Well Chuffed! |
Maybe that's where the saying originated from........... a steam engine driver pleased with the way he chuffed his engine in to place?
In case you are interested the engine was named after the engineer who oversaw its restoration:
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| Steam Engine 'E.V. Cooper Engineer' |
After a successful engine-coupling it was all-aboard and we were off:
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| Moira on the Steam Train in Aviemore |
And so we embarked on our steam-driven journey from Aviemore to Broomhill Station (or Glenbogle Station, if you are a fan of the TV show Monarch of the Glen) via Boat of Garten. Here are some of the views from our journey:
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| Old Diesels in Aviemore Yard |
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| Clouds over The Cairngorms |
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| Carriages at Boat of Garten (in need of restoration) |
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| Boat of Garten Station (note old railway crane) |
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| Speyside View |
Weather was a bit showery but we were warm and dry and the clouds made the views more atmospheric!
When we returned to Aviemore we grabbed a bite of lunch and had a general root around the town before getting the bus back to Grantown (which was a bit less frantic than our morning bus ride). That night and most of the early hours of the next morning it rained really heavily. In the motorhome the rain always sounds worse than it is but it was really, really bad and rivers of water were running down the roads of the caravan park. We were lucky to be a couple of feet off the ground and also lucky the water running down the road flowed past our awning without getting in to it. We didn't get much sleep that night for the rain, thunder and lightning, but we survived.
The next morning we decided to stay local and after breakfast we took a walk down to Anagach Woods, which stretch along the South side of Grantown and are bordered by the River Spey. With all the rain the previous night the river was quite swollen:
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| Swollen River Spey |
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| River Spey in Spate |
Unusual to see it so deep and fast-flowing at this time of year, this short video should give you a better idea of the force of the water flowing past:
Anyway the worst of the storm was over and we only had some light drizzle to contend with so we carried on with our walk through the woods:
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| Path Through Anagach Woods |
At this point we came across a group of small birds flitting about in the branches of a nearby tree. It was very hard to get a good view of them............ however by their size and movement I had a inkling that they were Goldcrest............. the UK's smallest breeding bird. They made a brief appearance in a gap between the branches and I managed to catch them on video:
A lovely little bird, and you can clearly see why they are called Goldcrest.
They are not incredibly rare but are hard to see as they are so small and spend most of their time high up in the branches; their cousin the Firecrest is a much rarer bird in the UK.
We pushed on through the woodland:
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| Moira in Anagach Woods |
Our perseverance was rewarded with a good view of Roe Deer as it chomped its way through the leaves of Blaeberries growing in the woods:
It was certainly keeping a wary eye on us, but nor too bothered that we were there, as long as we kept our distance.
We were on the homeward stretch now, just a bit more long-and-winding path to negotiate:
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| Eddie on the Long and Winding Path |
There was some more rain overnight, but not as bad as the previous evening, and we awoke to a cloudy but dry morning. We decided to stay local and explore the disused railway line at the back of the caravan park, which now forms part of a walking route called the Dava Way.
The Dava Way runs from Grantown-on-Spey to Forres and is about 22 miles long.................. though we only walked a couple of miles of the route.
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| Old Railway Bridge at start of Dava Way |
After climbing the steps at the old railway bridge we were able to look back towards the caravan park and Grantown-on-Spey (we were even able to pick out our own motorhome):
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| Grantown-on-Spey Caravan Park |
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| Vannie at Grantown |
We continued north along the old railway line, which cuts through woodlands and solid granite rocks before opening up to more level ground.
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| Dava Way passing through Woodland |
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| Cutting through Granite on The Dava Way |
In the cutting everything was still quite damp after all the rain we had in previous days:
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| Small Waterfall in Dava Way Cutting |
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| Moss growing on vertical slab of Granite |
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| Thistle growing in Dava Way Cutting |
Despite the damp conditions there was still plenty of insects and butterflies flying around, including this pretty little Scotch Argus which stopped long enough to be filmed:
When we got through to the other side of the cutting the pathway 'opened up' and there was more light........... and more wildlife to enjoy:
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| The Dava Way |
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| Moira on the Dava Way |
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| View from the Dava Way |
Here are a few pics of some lovely wildflowers we saw along this stretch of the track:
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| Harebell and Cat's-ear |
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| Sheep's-bit Scabious |
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| Rosebay Willowherb |
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| Harebell |
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| Eyebright |
With all these wildflowers there was also plenty of nectar-seeking insects, bees and butterflies to be seen, including this Drone Fly (which can easily mistaken for a Honey-Bee):
There were also plenty of wild Raspberry plants bearing tasty fruit along the side of the track .............mmmm!!
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| Wild Raspberries |
After a while we turned around and headed back along the track towards the Caravan Park:
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| Heading back along the Dava Way |
As we passed back along the cutting through the granite rock we noticed a bit of movement in the grass at the side of the track. I turned out to be Mr Toad who was out for a little walk/hop:
Back at the motorhome we reflected on the fact that we had a good time and saw some great wildlife......... despite the wet weather. It only goes to show that if you get out there, no matter whether it is rain or shine, you will nearly always see something of interest.
On that philosophical note I will leave you.......
Take Care,
Teddyedward
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