Good morning from a sunny Inverness!!! Alarm was set for 7am but body clock alarm went off at 6.30am!! I’m still trying to find out how to adjust my body clock alarm!!!
Breakfast in our room this morning, scheduled for 8.30am but hungry Nisha was straight on the phone to inform them that they can deliver asap!!! A knock on the door at 7.45am, I was greeted by a cheerful waiter with a large tray. He informs me that the ordered grapefruit juice is not available but he’s replaced it with glasses of both apple and orange juice. Porridge for both of us, followed by fresh fruit and yoghurt for me while Nisha had cheese and toast with her usual cup of tea.
The rating for this breakfast is a generous 7 / 10.
Showered, bags packed and loaded, we set off…no final destination apart from ending up near Edinburgh. Our chosen route is called the Snow Road which much like yesterday took us through a few villages. Our car needed food so Tesco was our first stop for diesel. Belly filled, sat nav programmed for Tomintoul, we set off…
Along the way, a little village called Carrbridge displayed the following sign just above below its name ‘World Porridge Making Championships’…we laughed…you couldn’t make this up even if you tried!!! We’re coming back in October 🤣🤣🤣…Journey time was only approx 1.5 hours but again the driving was so much fun, and easier as mostly all roads were double track with the odd single track. On approaching the village, I stopped near a coffee shop. An intake of liquid was not needed, rather an output was required. Eagle eye me saw a sign for toilets, conveniently located next to a car park. Deed done, we had elevenses in the car. A quick bite of a cheese sarnie. Sat nav was programmed for our next village stop named Ballater. I swear all these villages were named after several drams of single malt!!! Journey time was approx 1 hour. The roads were again similar but with more blind summits and sharp bends. On straight stretches of road, over taking was simple. Roadkill were our constant companion and eventually we gave up trying to workout what animal we passed.
Ballater came and went, just a few basic shops with a filling station. Only reason we stopped was to program the sat nav with the name of our next village Braemer. This journey time was about 50 minutes with lovely views and lovely driving roads. One sad thing we did notice was that most bars and tea shops along the route were closed, probably due to lack of staff!!!
Arriving at Braemer, I pulled into a parking spot on the high street. with our jackets on, and a look up and down the small high street, I saw a shop with chocolate and handmade in its sign. Yep, that’s our first stop. Inside the shop I saw a huge map of Scotland with a few landmarks highlighted to show where specific whiskies came from. On display was a dark chocolate with added Talisker whisky. No way were we going to ignore that. Nisha’s stomach must have been rumbling as she asked for a taster of said chocolate….and yep, the shop assistant duly obliged. A lovely tasteful chocolate with a fabulous aftertaste. 6 pieces please…order placed along with a small pack of different strength plain dark chocolate ranging from 75% to 95%, sadly 100% wasn’t available. We also got a piece of dark chocolate with passion fruit and heather honey and a piece of dark chocolate with smoked hazelnut trifle (smoked on pine nuts). See, us London people is getting posh 🤣🤣🤣🤣. The shop assistant even tied a bow around our box!!!
Nisha packed the chocolates safely in the car and then off to the coffee shop we strode.
Nisha went to order two decaf oat milk lattes and a gluten free coconut bounty slice for us while I sat at our chosen table and waited. Now, not for the first time but what is it with middle England white people? Have they never seen a brown person before? They just stare…I just stare back!!! Energy levels replenished, we went back to the car and I programmed the sat nav to take us to Blairgowrie.
The roads were bendy, steep, and I mean very steep, descents which were nearly vertical!!! We even passed a couple of ski resorts…they were closed but looked like huge operations when the season starts.
When we left Braemer both of us noticed a guy holding up a sign saying Rally 1000 and he was talking to a driver in an old sports car from Europe. We thought nothing of it but as we went further along our journey, old classic cars zoomed past us, a Fiat, a MG, a Jaguar, a Mercedes, and a few we didn’t recognise…further on, what looked like a Mazda MX 5 club went past us, then a few classic Mercedes SL cars…I was in rally mode, I was about to do a handbrake turn and join in with rally 1000 crowd!!!
Kris, we need to do the Snow Road route in our SLK’s!!!
Blairgowrie came and went. Nothing much to see or do there. On to Edinburgh!!!
During the journey, Nisha and I discussed what and where we wanted to go…a nice hotel outside of Edinburgh as we’ve already been there…navigator Nisha was on the case…she got her phone out, made a call…’hello, I’m enquiring about bike hire…’. Hold on, we just had a discussion and bike hire was not mentioned 🤣🤣🤣. I’m always ready for a bike ride!!!
Nisha’s persistence paid off as she found a hydro (posh name for a spa) hotel and bike hire place in Peebles which is about an hour south of Edinburgh. That’s one of our many adventures for tomorrow.
The hotel has many activities, one being table tennis, some of you know it as ping pong. I saw a glimpse of the table during our walk about and knew we would be having a match as soon as we finished roaming.
The match started…the equipment had a lot to be desired but we’re hardened professionals and never blame the tools!!! Not many of you will know this fact but Nisha used to be a county youth champion!!! Yep, I got battered 21 / 16. Rematch is scheduled for tomorrow after breakfast!!!
I’ve started writing this blog while Nisha has gone for a swim. I wanted to go as well but I swam yesterday and don’t really want to aggravate my shoulder injury…I want to play golf!!!
I’m now showered, Nisha’s arrived from her swim, after her quick shower, we’re now in the ‘Not The Cocktail Bar’ where we’re having pre dinner drinks of two whisky sour’s made without egg white!! I do think these were authentic cocktails!!! For dinner, we’ve booked a table in the hotel’s Grill restaurant for 7.15pm.
Dinner menu for tonight…
For starters, I had the spiced butternut squash soup and Nisha opted for Cullen Skink. (I was tempted but the calorie count of double cream put me off 😜). No alcohol with dinner tonight!!!
Both of us opted for the Grilled Scottish Salmon Fillet with a side of mixed seasonal side salad and herb roasted root veg.
No dessert as there was no room…instead we both had a liqueur Scottish coffee, yes, it was decaf!!!
Overall rating of 8 / 10
We’re now back in our room. The view outside is fantastic and this evening, we were presented with a rainbow!!!
Tiredness has now come to the fore. It’s been a long day with about 5 hours of driving.
We bid you good night and will be back in the morning…breakfast is at 8am…