We saw some incredible things today. We started at Ballindalloch Castle, still lived in and beautiful! Unfortunately for me, I’m here in November and the Castle is closed, but when we come back in April, it will be open! I can’t wait to go! The pictures on the website are marvelous!

A little further on, we came to the River Avon…and no, we weren’t lost…there are seven Rivers Avon in the UK alone! We just happened to be at the one in Strathspey…a beautiful little bridge that I guess most people don’t know to see – I tried to surf it up and didn’t see any pictures of it…and now that you’ve seen my picture, let’s keep it our little enchanted secret! And now you get a glimpse of the great tour guide we have!

We passed through Cromdale and as we happened on the “Haughs of Cromdale”, I felt another tune coming on!  We kept on our way to Carr Bridge, though. And I had to have a photo of the Carr Bridge, not only because I learned the tune very early in my harp life, but also because its not only beautiful, it has a great story that goes with its being built. But you’ll have to come with if you want to hear it!

The Carr Bridge…in the early morning, stunning!

From Carr Bridge we went on to the Cairngorms. The entire range are breathtaking and we actually go to the top! Not only is this the largest (read biggest) collection of high peaks in the UK, but even better – it’s just incredibly beautiful! And do you know why calling the mountain range the Cairngorms is sort of funny? David’ll tell you. And you’ll see the incredible view from the Cairngorm Funicular Railway – another astonishing (but fun) engineering feat!

View from near the top

And of course no visit to the Spey Valley would be complete without a visit to a distillery – to watch the water of life being born! Even if you’re not a big fan of uisge beatha (the water of life!), you’ll enjoy learning about how Scotch whiskeys are made, their history and the path a grain has to go through to become something more celebrated than breakfast cereal!