The first and 2nd day
We arrived at Aberdeen on schedule. Firstly, we went to Hertz to rent a
car which we had booked in Japan. After that, we drove to the town of Aberdeen.
I think that we arrived there around 8 o'clock at night. It was the summer,
so it was still light, but the all the shops and the tourist information
center had already closed. We counldn't find the hotel we had booked. We
thought that the hotel should be close to the railway station, but we couldn't
find the station. Therefore, we got out of the car and asked some people
for destinations. It was a very long day. We traveled from Narita to London,
and finally arrived at Aberdeen!
2nd day
Aberdeen(left)-(A93)-Banchory(middle)-(A93)-Ballater(right)-(A93)-(Balmoral Castle)-(A93)-Bramar Castle
* The number in brackets shows the route No. we used.
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The next day, the first thing which we did was to go to a post office and
send some cards to Japan.
At around 10:30, we drove to Banchory which was introduced as a elegant town in "GIO GLOBE TROTTER"*. However, when we arrived there, I didn't think Banchory was a elegant town at all. We walked around the town a little and left for the next town. We passed Aboyne without noticing anything special. We wondered if we could find a place where we could have lunch.
Ballater seemed to a busy town, so we stopped there although we hadn't
planed to visit. We ate some sandwiches and soup for a lunch.
From Ballater, we drove to Balmoral Castle, but this castle opens only
between the middle of April to July. Our travel was in August, so unfortunately,
we couldn't enter. I was really looking forward to seeing the castle, because
I heard that it was such a beautiful casle and the royal family stays there.
Therefore, we passed some castles on the way to Balmoral without seeing
them. We were very disappointed.
Pulling ourselves together, we drove to Braemar Castle.
* "GIO GLOBE TROTTER" is a series of Japanese books which talks about travelling in each country all over the wolrd. There is a lot of valuable information which is written by many of it's readers.
The river which flows in front of Balmoral Castle. On the right hand side,
there is the gate to the castle.
When we arrived at the castle, the sun went behind the clouds a little.
I thought that the sun always went behind the clouds soon after we got
out of the car, but I didn't say anything about it.
However, Atsuko, my cousin, said, "Don't you think that the sky always
becomes overcast when we get out of the car?"
Yes, that's right!!
Braemar Castle-(A93, B950)-Kirkmichael-(A924)-Pitlochry
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Braemar Castle(left and middle) is a pretty and lovely castle. It looks like a small old house rather than a castle. Some rooms have been added. The structure was very interesting. I felt a bit of a fairy tale-like atmosphere. Then, we got in the car to go to the next spots.
There are no trees in the moors(shown below) which we went to from the castle. After travelling, I heard that a long time ago, in the Industrial Revolution, the Scots cut down the all trees and burned them to get fuel. When I saw the scenery, I thought that there were no trees because of the nature, sterile soil. Therefore, I was quite surprise at the explanation which had caused the situation to occur artificially.
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We arrived at Pitlochry, the final destination of the day, at a few minutes
to 5 o'clock.
Firstly, we went to the tourist information centre and asked to introduce
a B&B according to our requests. After that, we walked around the town.
I thought that apart from Aberdeen, Pitlochry was the busiest town among
the towns which we had visited on the day.
We found a lovely hotel, "Fisher Hotel"(the middle & right in the lowerline). The garden was well-cared for and had a lovely atmosphere. The accommodation
charges seemed not to be so expensive, so if I have a chance to visit there
again, I want to stay at Fisher Hotel. Thus, one more ambition was added.
"All right, let's go to Queen's View after walking around the town
of Pitlochry tomorrow."
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to the 3rd day
(2002.1.9, 2003.3.19)
Trip to Scotland in the summer of 2000 Introduction
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