Just got back from holiday in the Cairngorms, it was fabulous.
We set off on the stormy day last week, you know the one where 20 or so lorries got blown over on the A1..........wise choice! We waited until it died down a bit and set off at about 11. What with the severe weather warning and every news broadcast telling you to stay inside unless it was urgent (again wise move), the roads were pretty clear all of the way. Then as soon as we got to Perth the snow came, and it was dark, and it was more than a little snow, it was a blizzard, and there were no signs of light or life, except for the amazingly reassure train of traffic that we found ourselves in. There were a few gusts of wind that brought so much snow up that you couldn't actually see the headlights of our car, let alone anything else around us. Having said that, snow was the reason for the holiday so it was a nice way to start it once we got there.
The cottage was lovely, except that the wallpaper started peeling off in our room on the first night and gradually got worse as the week went on. We were staying in Nethy Bridge, which is lovely and quite, but quite a way from anywhere, but in it's own way that too was nice. We went with Joll, Graeme and Julie (in no particular order so don't kick off), it was great to just get in kick back and watch DVD's; listen to music; play Flux which is a good game but I just don't understand it; and have a laugh.
So also the main most important reason and the reason it was essential to travel in the ridiculous weather conditions was that Andrew was going to adopt me a reindeer for a year and the centre closed on the Sunday for a month. So on the Sunday morning we got up and went over but because of the heavy snow they were not doing trips up the mountain to look for them. I nearly cried, but then the nice man told me that he had some that had come down to the paddock that we would be able to look at. So we paid a miserly £2 and went to look at those ones. There were 4 of them I can only recall 2 of there names Creran, who was almost white at the moment, and looked all regal and majestic, but was not so very interested in us, and three darker ones. There was a Zoolander of the reindeer world, but as I had told everybody that I wouldn't just pick the pretty one I couldn't pick that one. Unfortunately, though my morals on that ground were halted when it came to making the final choice. There were two other reindeer to pick form and to my untrained eye, both looked very similar except that their antlers were in different states of disrepair. One stayed well away from us human folk and the other a bit more curious, and after a little psychological trickery let me stroke him, which did I choose, the cute and friendly one that everyone will love and adopt, or the poor not so sociable, perhaps slightly afraid of humans one? Yup I chose the one that let me stroke it and subsequently stabbed me with his antler. So now I have an adopted reindeer called Globe. And later in the week when Andrew and I went up to Cairngorm I saw a reindeer herd running wild, and rightly or wrongly I am sure that the ones I saw were Globe’s herd…. No doubt. There are many other highlights to the holiday, but I have said too much already.
