A Trip Through The Cairngorms – Aviemore & Blair Atholl, Scotland

For our anniversary trip this year, my DH and I took a ‘grand tour of Scotland’ with a whirlwind of Amsterdam thrown in for good measure.

We started in Edinburgh, made our way to Inverness, down through the Cairngorms National Park (with stops in Aviemore and Blair Atholl), on to Glasgow (with a castle stay right outside of Fintry), and finally down to Newcastle to catch a night ferry to Amsterdam.

The trip was great, and we got to see a lot of really cool things, despite Spring being late and most days being cold, wet and windy. We ate a lot of craziness (still craving the Irn Bru, Haggis & Black Pudding we grew accustomed to), walked till our legs felt like they were going to fall off, and took pictures till our hearts were content.

Today’s post is part 3 of a multi part series. Stay tuned for points south. Edinburgh / Inverness & Loch Ness 

Aviemore & Blair Atholl

Aviemore

After our adventures in Inverness, we made our way to the largest National Park in the UK – Cairngorms National Park. Cairngorms is huge (around six percent of the land mass of Scotland, holds five of the UK’s highest mountains, and plays host to many threatened wildlife species. What struck me as different from parks in the States is the people – 17,000 people live in this park, with seven major towns serving as population centers.

Our first day was spent in Aviemore. We had intended on taking the funicular railway up to the ski center to get some great snowy vistas, but got shut out due to high winds up the mountain (some reports had the winds at 100 mph). So, we went hiking in the Craigellachie National Nature Reserve instead.

Blair Atholl

Then it was on to Blair Atholl to wander Atholl Castle and the surrounding countryside.