Cairngorm stopover

 Before heading back to the house and more decorating, we gave ourselves a couple of days off in the Cairngorms staying at the High Range Motel  ( which is very nice).

Yesterday we went up Cairngorm to try and find Ptarmigan. The funicular to the top has been closed for repair since 2018 but was supposed to be finished. Lots of helicopter activity so no Ptarmigan, but Jill had a nice walk in the chilly air. Very little snow .

We had breakfast  at the firm favourite Pine Marten cafe at Loch Morlich and then headed to Loch Garten in the search for Crested Tit. There were also hundreds of Coal Tits.

Early evening we headed to Speyside hides as Jill wanted to see badger. We saw 5 and as we avout to finish a lovely female pine marten came in so we finished much later than planned.

Today we returned to Loch Garten. It was coooollllddd. -6 according to the car.

  Jill found a Red Squirrel and there were plenty more Crested Tits and other wildlife.

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This afternoon we took a drive up the beautiful Findhorn Valley.

Dash to Cardiff

 After our lovely visit to Roanna it was a dash to Cardiff to see Sam. Not too bad on the traffic front so we made good time, even with a quick stop for a leg stretch.

It was great to see Sam and Ben but Jill was mortified she forgot to take a picture. Here is a picture of their sweet pet ratties that Sam took

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It was really great to catch up and we had a lovely Japanese  take away. Will make it a longer trip next time.

We stayed the night in the travelodge and then headed North. It was a long drive and made us realise a good reason for living in Shetland - we hate busy roads and roundabouts with traffic lights!

 As it got dark we realised we were right near the kelpies so it would have been rude not too........

It was fun playing with the settings to get different results.

Found a nice goldeneye too.