On the move again

We said our goodbyes to Blairgowrie and our B & B ‘Rosebank’, they have made us very welcome and been really helpful, the room was lovely and the only negative was the tiny en-suite shower room!

We decided to take the scenic route which was lovely although the presence of literally hundreds of cyclists didn’t add to the charm! How they can cycle the distance over the hills amazes me. I don’t know if they have the chance to take in the scenery.

Our route took us up an extremely narrow lane and to our horror the cyclists were going that way too! We changed our mind and found a different way and I was rather pleased as the new way took us via Balmoral. We decided to stop for coffee so we had our coffee watching the church not knowing that the Queen was attending, what a lovely setting.

We went for a walk before continuing our journey over the bridge to admire the river Dee and were told the Queen would be driving by in the next few minutes, with Prince Edward and the Duke. You will have to take my word for it that the royal party were in the front car.

She drove on by, waved but didn’t pause to invite us to lunch so we moved on again! We stopped now and then to admire the views and on one of these stops we saw a new butterfly, a Small heath, a first for us.

We came to this unusual stone followed by a small group of these seats! I think the route of the mater was, in my words,  take time to smell the coffee! We had passed a sign to a castle and seeing it from the stones it isnt the most impressive one I have seen but it is set in a lovely place.

We had joked that the cyclists were going our way and would probably be at our hotel in Nethybridge and as we turned in there a huge group of them were! Only on a water stop though they had more miles to go yet! As we settled into our hotel the heavens opened and we couldn’t help but feel sorry for them then!

Really pleased with the hotel, lovely room and smashing staff. I have tried this year to eat sensibly so I don’t put on weight but here we have a three course meal included for the next five days, I wonder if my resolve will hold 😉 We have met some lovely people here already and I can foresee more fun chats over the days to come.

There is a pretty little garden across the road and as we discovered in an after dinner walk, another lovely river near by. Looks like a good place to spend a few days. We hope to go to Loch Garten tomorrow with hope of a tick or two, fingers crossed!Oooo I was just going to post this but the a pretty mist is coming down and creating nice images so I will pause and see if I can capture a picture. Doesn’t show it well but hpefully gives a hint!Bye till tomorrow!