Whisky landscape

The whisky famous River Spey at Newtonmore. This is well upstream from the clutch of world famous Speyside distilleries. The sole distillery upstream of here is Dalwhinnie, Scotland’s highest distillery but it is not on the Spey rather it is on the River Trium, a tributary of the Spey that joins the mother river just to the south of Newtonmore.

Dalwhinnie Distillery (above and below) is one of Diageo’s classic malts. This gentle spirit belies the wild landscape that surrounds the distillery.

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Looking down on Dalwhinnie from above Loch Ericht (see photo below)
The white building in the distance is the distillery

The Cairngorms viewed from Aviemore

Further downstream between Aviemore and Granton-on-Spey with the Cairngorm mountains in the background. The majority of the distilleries are closer to the sea…… dram deferred!

A couple of mountain views – Cairngorms

View of the Cairngorms from southern end of Aviemore

View eastwards from Glen Banchor (above Newtonmore)

towards the snow covered hills

 

Newtonmore – convalescence amid the mountains

View from Newtonmore's golf course 

looking towards snow capped Creag Dhubh

Sheep happy now they can munch the grass 

now the snow has finally gone 

There are compensations to convalescing in Newtonmore in the Cairngorm Mountains and today's magical weather is one of them. A day of almost continuous blue sky and some warmth in the sun even though the temperature probably never rose above 6˚C. Good to see the end of the snow and ice at low level, at least for a while, but still having the snow capped mountains. 

In comparison to London I'm much more aware of nature up here along with a real sense of the lengthening days – today light until nearly 6pm.. All the more welcoming since in mid-winter the hours of daylight are so limited – dark until nearly 9am with dusk around 3.30 pm.   

I am now around seven weeks into my recovery with about another five weeks before the brace comes off. Good progress with my left leg means that I can get out and enjoy walking along the quiet roads of Newtonmore. 

During today's walk I headed down to the Grill, at the southern end of the village, to have a look at Scotland's mobile cinema – The Screen Machine (twitter: @screen_machine). This large lorry opens out into a cinema with screen and seats.        

 

More Highland scenes

Yesterday @Dalwhinnie looking towards Loch Ericht

 By the Spey

Walked most of the Wildcat Trail around Newtonmore today.
 

 Light on the Spey

Light on the River Calder

 Towards Creag Dubh

 Calder Valley

 Towards the Cairngorms

(above and below)

More views from the A9 and at Kingussie

Train approaching Kingussie with the hills in the background

A few more photos taken while travelling on the A9 plus some taken during a short visit to Kingussie yesterday. 

 A9 heading towards the hills (above and below)

 

 

 Cairngorms

 

Kingussie: the railway, trunks and hills

+ an additional utility post

Kingussie: view towards a corrie

Exhibition of local art@the iona gallery Kingussie

Newtonmore: light on leaves and a pond

Monarch Country Apartments in the centre of Newtonmore

Formerly the Craig Mhor Hotel

The Monarch Country Apartments used to be the Craig Mhor Hotel. The hotel closed in 2001 and was then converted into apartments – some of them are rented as holiday accommodation. It was built in 1875 and was one of the first railway hotels in the Highlands. Newtonmore is on the Perth to Inverness line, which opened in 1863.