In the heart of the cairngorms

One more day, our stay is reaching its end, one more walk, to be enjoyed while we are here. One more place to visit, leaving so many more places not yet visited behind. It is one of the reasons that keeps us coming back to Scotland, I guess. Today we visit Mar Lodge estate, a national trust nature reserve in the heart of the Cairngorms.

Mar Lodge estate

Today we went to the Mar lodge estate, just south of Breamar. This was long a hunting and shooting kind of place. Now it is a nature reserve. According to the national trust on their website it is even “Britain’s largest nature reserve and a wildlife wonderland in the heart of the Cairngorms”. The wildlife there is no longer solely for shooting because Mar Lodge estate and the National trust are into restoring ecosystems. So at this moment in time, there is much preservation and conservation going on, as well as recreation. There is much to be enjoyed and, as you can see from the pictures below, the landscape does remain well suited for shooting.

Linn of Dee

We follow the river Dee for a while. On one side of the bridge the river is quite wide until it rushes through a narrow channel into the rocky pools below. This is the Linn of Dee. The gorge and the walk along the river were once a favourite picnic spot of queen Victoria. When we were there, we heard people say that the water was at the lowest that they had ever seen. For all that, the water rushes under the bridge. Must be quite a sight when it has rained. Or when the snow has started to melt in spring and the river is in full spate.

The walk took us right to the edge of river.

Found a place to sit and ponder with the river rambling on at our feet.

Then, with the heather turning we turned into the woodlands. Leaving the promise of purple behind for an uplifting green woodland scene.

And  some camera experimenting.

Midges!

We returned to the carpark where we had our one and only encounter with the Scottish Midges. The pictures above, I might add, were taken before we were slapping our faces and dodging the midges.

Linn of Dee and Mar Lodge estate

Mar Lodge Estate nature reserve and the Linn of dee in the heart of the Cairngorms, are well worth visiting. This one afternoon was really not enough to explore all the wonders of Mar Lodge Estate. You can come and stay, if you have some money to spare, that is.