After another delicious 'full Scottish breakfast' (lasts all day!) and visiting with our terrific hosts, Helen and I are late off for our last full day in Monarch country. We stopped at the local craft store and were sad to see that David Fellows, artist, was no longer there, and even more tragic, none of his paintings were on the wall. Sadly, we went to our car and started out. We wanted to visit the Ruthven Barracks ruins outside the small town of Kingussie (prounced kin'ussie) just a few miles away.
These were built by the English to quell Highland unrest after the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. In 1746 it was captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie's army, but blown up when they learned of the Jacobite defeat at Culloden.
Our hosts had said that the road we were on would lead to our next stop, Loch An Eilein on the Rothiemurchus Estate; we went a few miles north, but it looked like a dead end to us, so we reversed and found the main road north. Thankfully the Rothiemurchus Estate was well signed, and we found the car park by the loch.
As we walked down the path to the loch, we ran into a young couple by the waters. Turns out they had gone swimming earlier in the morning. Perhaps it wasn't 'cold' outdoors, but Helen and I had on light jackets. Seems the young lady had wanted the adventure and her lovely boyfriend had wanted to make her happy. Young love, sweet. So we exchanged pictures and finally Helen and I are together in a photo.
We walked along the shore through the wooded path and quickly came upon the castle ruins on the small island. Later Helen asked an attendant how such a small castle on the island could be of use. Ah, the guy said, a good place to hide the women and children during an uprising, or perhaps a good place for cattle thieves to hide their stolen herd.
I could have spent several hours here, walking along the shores, thinking of the lives of the Scottish who had made this their home for so many years, enjoying the peace, the bird's songs, but no, Helen said we must keep to a schedule so off to find Glenbogle Station.
An aside for my non 'Monarch of the Glen' friends, 'Glenbogle rail station' was a part of the Scottish tv series and many of us "boglies" love to find the little station. It's proper name is Broomhill, but the signage for the series remains today (and the series ended many years ago). Broomhill is one of the stops for the steam engine that now mostly contains tourists, and is a popular Christmas outting. As we came to the station I was lucky enough to catch a photo of the train coming in.
A lovely couple serve as volunteers in the small station and we were lucky to find them there. The gentleman sold us a "Glenbogle" train ticket! and his wife brought out some sweets she had made. Helen was glad to see that she had 'tablet' unknown to me, sorta a sugar and cream candy. Helen got her recipe and we each bought a 'tablet.'
After visiting with them a bit, we started back to our 'home.' Only a few stops made today, but each enjoyable. We decide to dine on some cheese and crackers that Helen bought in Newtonmore and try to get to bed early. No more fun at the pub!
Helen's several nights of no sleep turned out lucky for us, as she learned of a small "Outlander" tour that we could join for our two days in Inverness. As much as I was glad we had a car for these two days I looked forwarded to having someone else do the driving!
Both "Monarch of the Glen" and the "Outlander" series (now seven books, historical fiction of Scotland) bring tourists from all over the world.
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