Day 11-Cairngorms National Park and Balmoral Castle

Today we covered the extremes, going through Scotland's largest and extremely desolate national park and visiting Balmoral Castle, Queen Elizabeths's summer home.

In between these extremes we did pass through a few charming little villages and managed a quick stop at the Glenlivet Distillery.

This bull was huge, the camera angle doesn't show it, but I think my expression does.

This Triumph TR6 belonged to one of the guests at the Tweed Mill B&B.  It was actually a rental.  Had a known such cars were available I would have been very tempted to rent one.  It would take me right back to the summer of '69 when I drove many of these same roads in my Triumph Spitfire.  

The terrace at our B&B

The moors in the national park

 

That's a lot of whisky bottles

More of the moors

Balmoral Castle, built by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the mid 1800's

Needless to say the grounds around Balmoral were immaculately groomed.  If you look closely the shot below you may notice they are using a John Deere lawnmower.  Since the Queen arrives at Balmoral in August and leaves in mid October, most of the flowering plants and trees are targeted for her enjoyment, and why not, she is the Queen.

The public is only allowed to tour the ballroom inside Balmoral,which was disappointing, but by chatting with the guides inside the ballroom you can learn as much as you wish about the castle and the Royal families activities there.

Our B&B in Alyth, Perthshire