[Photos] UK 31 - Aviemore, Loch Morlich

[moonvoice]

While I had plans to do a few different things in Aviemore, including visiting the Reindeer park and the zoo there (which has wolverines and polar bears), ultimately I was too sick to do much more than constantly lie in bed, barring one excursion to Loch Morlich in Glenmore, which was incredibly worth it.

The Airbnb we stayed in here was lovely. In addition, I asked the host if we could check in considerably earlier (I almost didn't ask, because I didn't want to impose) and since it's normal to be charged a fee for this, I framed it as 'I know this is last minute, but we would be happy to pay an additional fee to check in early.' She straight away messaged back telling us the place was ready, and that there would be no fee, and then to let us know if we needed anything else at all.

The place we stayed was the first place that was heated via biofuel, and its environmental footprint was extremely conscientious in all ways. Not only that, but it was a beautiful place to basically be bedridden in, and it felt so homely and lovely, with really nice decorative touches. It was across the road from a small Tesco, and we chatted the the guy working behind the counter and struck up conversation, and eventually ended up talking about Avengers: Endgame which was opening that night. He said he was - after playing football - driving up to Inverness (50 minutes away) to watch its opening session.

We made the decision to drive up to Inverness the next day and watch it. I had mixed feelings about this, we knew we were going to see the movie with Silvia but I'd planned for it to be in Aberdeen 2 days later. In the end though, all I could manage was sitting and watching a movie, so exhausted that it hurt to draw breath, my legs aching simply because I was conscious.

Yeah okay, no wonder I'm still recovering from this holiday.


At 300 metres above sea level, it is the highest beach in Britain.
















A friend!



Friend! (We left the fellow alone after this photo - but given people were walking their dogs along the trail (and not always with leads) I was a bit worried).

Comments

[elinox]

Beautiful!

Do you know what types of trees those are in your first few pics? (Particularly in pic #3 & #4?)

[moonvoice]

I don't! They do look a bit like our maritime pines, but it's the wrong climate for them, so aside from hazarding that they're pines probably qdjacent to the family that includes maritime pines, I have no idea unfortunately. I can identify a lot of local native Australian plants, but I am terrible with exotics, heh.

[cmcmck]

I love the bark detail pic.

This is not an area of Scotland I know at all.

[moonvoice]

I loved getting up close. And I think you'd love that area! And it's really not that far from Inverness, and Glenmore and Loch Morlich are only about ten minutes out of Aviemore. There's a lot of good forest paths too.

[silverjackal]

I'm sorry to hear that you were not well enough to do all you had planned, but the loch was simply spectacular. I love the photos! Also you need not be concerned about Senor (or Senora) Toad in regard to dogs. That's a Common Toad, and they secrete enough bufotoxin to make them extremely unpalatable. No dog mouths one more than once as the experience is a highly unpleasant and memorable one.

[moonvoice]

That is very reassuring to hear, thank you! I was really happy to see the toad honestly, I was like 'look! look!' and then Silvia was like 'the poor thing!' and I'm like 'honestly I think it's fine' lmao because it was slowly just moving along to a different area, stopped when we approached, I took a quick photo and then we left it well alone to do its own thing.

(I saw a very handsome German Shepherd actually while we were walking that made me think of you!)

[silverjackal]

You were entirely correct that the toad was fine. They're blase for a reason (and are only vulnerable to things like pollution, habitat loss, and being crushed on the road).

I saw a very handsome German Shepherd actually while we were walking that made me think of you! I am touched, and also pleased about the handsome GSD. :)