Harrison's Birthday Weekend in Aviemore

Last year on Harrison's birthday we all travelled south to London. This year, in contrast, we decided to travel north into the Highlands to Aviemore (near Inverness). We had a great weekend camping (tenting) for 2 nights. On Sunday, we hiked 10kms including our family's first "geo-cache". Geo-caching is a very popular hobby where using a global-positioning-satellite (GPS) you find various things people have hidden (usually in remote locations). Check out the link at the right for more information.

On Monday we walked through town to a stone circle / ring cairn. While not on the same scale as what we saw at Stonehenge in England or at Cairnpapple in Scotland (see previous postings), these unassuming stones are estimated to have been placed there about 4000 years ago (amazing isn't it!). It was odd because they are literally right beside various houses and a health centre and there is absolutely no-one there watching them and no regulating agency.

Later on Monday we took the Strathspey Steam Railway from Aviemore to Broomhill ... a scenic journey through the highlands. We all love trains and in particular riding on old steam trains ... the engine was stoked with coal and in our picture you can see the pipe that fills the engine reservoir with water. On the return journey, we stopped at a small village called Boat of Garten where we took a small woodland stroll to the top of a "Fairy Mound/Fairy Hill". There are hundreds of Fairy Hills in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales and according to Celtic mythology they can be portals into the Otherworld / the land of the "aos sí". Some sources of Irish mythology describe them as the remaining survivors of the Tuatha Dé Danann who retreated into the Otherworld after they were defeated by the Milesians.