OK, I'll admit that traveling in the Scottish countryside with Marty behind the wheel can cause me a bit of anxiety. It took me awhile to adjust to sitting in the opposite side of the car, and then there's the merging on the highways and the roundabouts and narrow country roads.
Marty has never had an issue with this.... just me.
I found myself grasping the seat or shutting my eyes quite frequently. But things got better, and I finally found myself much less stressed when we were driving around.
Then, Marty decided that it would be "cool" to drive a manual transmission. He claims that he chose this option because it would guarantee him a smaller car, and he seems to have no issues with the shift being on the left hand side as he drives. In fact....he drives it like a pro.
Or should I say like a wannabe pro race car driver?
He used to get annoyed when locals would come right up against the back of the car, then suddenly pass him on the road. He would say "No matter how fast I go, it's never fast enough for these people!" I would calmly tell him not to take it personally, and let the person pass. He would relent, but wasn't happy about it.
Well, yesterday, HE was one of those people, and I was sure to remind him of it.
Let me just say that my knuckles are still white from the experience!
The drive north was certainly quite interesting. I saw my very first SQUIRREL CROSSING sign. I'm not quite sure what you do if you see a squirrel on the road, and Mr. Zippee was driving kind of fast if one decided to dart onto the road, but, luckily, we were spared that adventure.
Once you enter the Cairngorms, there isn't much but rolling hills with grazing sheep. The roadside warnings here featured the head of an elk and a rotund sheep. Marty says that the elk is really a sign for deer. They must have some large racked deer in the Cairngorms! Luckily, we didn't see those either while driving in.
One sign stated, "Beware of animals on the road." I suppose that covers it all.
Our most exciting road moment occurred when we nearly reached Braemar. There was a large double decker bus heading towards us on the narrow road and I had always warned Marty that in situations like this, he needed to slow down and move to the side. I had personal experience with this when Stacey and I took the bus to Falkland (which may explain my bus anxiety).
Marty spotted the bus just about the same time that I saw a very large sheep that had managed to meander to the side of the road. I yelled "Sheep", hoping that Mr. Zippee would slow down. Marty did manage to swerve away from the bus, but we were fortunate that the sheep changed her mind and decided to hop along back towards the fence. It was a close call, that's for sure.
We were almost at our destination by this point, thank goodness, and we pulled into our B&B and parked the car for the night.
The Cranford Guest House is quite lovely, and Sarah, the owner is quite the hostess. She offered us a cup of tea upon arrival along with home made brownies which were quite scrumptious.
Once we settled in, and Marty finished his conference call (which lasted an hour and a half), we headed out to dinner, and then explored the town.
This is the view from our bedroom.
We walked over the "Clunie" Water into town.
Personally, I find the plaid carpeting to be entertaining.
After dinner, we decided to hike the Queen Victoria trail, since the sun doesn't set until about 10:00 p.m.
We walked along the trail past the grazing sheep, across the road, and up into the mountains, where we found an entirely different type of wildlife.
Slugs.
Lots of them. And, Marty couldn't resist taking a photo of one of the many.
The only other excitement along the trail was spotting a red deer who seemed to be curious as to why Marty was photographing the slugs.
He was the only one that we saw on our walk,and to be quite frank, that was perfectly fine with me!
Today we're off to explore some castles. No surprise there, right?
First on the list: Balmoral, vacation home of the Queen.
Until next time......
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