As mentioned briefly in the ‘food’ post, our rather energetic weekend concluded with a 10 mile hike in the forests near Ballater on Royal Deeside.
It’s a spectacularly beautiful area, long popular with tourists and the royals, and it’s easy to see why. That said, on the whole walk we probably only met half a dozen other people on the trail itself, so it’s a long way from crowded. We started off at the Cambus O’May car park, and were soon through the forests an emerging on to the moorland, now turning pink & purple with a carpet of Heather:
It was a lovely walk, gently rising through stands of Pine and Birch, crossing small burns over bridges and stepping stones, and snatching glimpses of the Cairngorm mountains in the far distance. As ever the boys were navigating, and took to racing each other to the signposts.
We made our way down the hill and through more Birch alongside the lochs to the Burn O’Vat itself. The geographers amongst you would have loved the glacial landscape features casually scattered around the place, of which the Vat is the most spectacular. Carved out of the rock at the end of the last ice age, it is classed as a ‘Moulin’, and is effectively a massive bowl ground into granite bedrock by the force of torrents of meltwater:
The torrent is now a gentle stream, but the only way to enter the Vat is to climb up it, over a small waterfall and squeeze between the buttresses of rock, which the boys loved as you can imagine. It’s a truly amazing amphitheatre, and worth the wet boots - you can understand why it was a favoured hideout of outlaws in the past… and the present:
From there we walked back to the Cambus O’May to complete our trek with two very tired but happy little boys. ‘I’m glad to be back on the mountains’ said Patrick. ‘This is the best day ever’ agreed Tom.
Peace at last……
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This really is a lovely part of Scotland, and when I see how other people are enjoying my native land I do sometimes feel a bit guilty about the fact that we decamped south of the Border last year. We’re now living in a very quiet and beautiful corner of the Lake District. Absence does make the heart grow fonder though, and as a result of being away, we value the time we do spend back in Scotland far more.
That first picture is so beautiful, I’m on my way. The others made me leap up to check our wall map - though you’re well north (and east, obviously, unless I were to go the long way around) the last two pictures remind me of certain areas in northern Michigan and Minnesota.
Beautiful. Looks like a wonderful day.
Wow, you got some great shots!