Up before the crack of dawn. Isma's dad accompanied us to the airport at 4:45 am to drive the car back to their house. Bleary eyed and with bags on our backs and in hand, we waited in the long Easy Jet check-in line until both Ricardo and Isma's cousin Marcos joined us. First we flew to London, then caught a plane to Inverness, in the Highlands. The first flight was packed, and we all had to sit separately. Much more luck on the second. After landing in Inverness, it was a couple hours' drive on a windy highway bordered by green fields to Newtonmore. Green fields covered with rain.
Sunday:
Our guide
Wishing I had my snowboots. After a breakfast of toast, tea, and milk, the four of us set out to see the reindeer in the Cairngorms, a national park. In the Scottish language, "cairn" means "stony hill" and "gorm" means "blue / green." We rented some wellies (rainboots) to make the short muddy walk up the mountain to where the reindeer were grazing. I loved the trek: the black earth, the bright green grass that reminded me of snake grass, the purple heather, and the low hanging tree branches bejeweled with rain drops. The reindeer were enclosed in a fenced area that covered several mountains and valleys...enclosed but free. The guide brought the reindeer to us in a way that evoked images of the Pied Piper of Hamilton. We fed them grain by hand and they greedily ate, occasionally brushing up against us with their antlers. It surprised us all how small the reindeer were after imagining them bigger with Santa's sleigh. With antlers, they came up to my shoulder perhaps.
Loch An Eilein
After eating lunch at the cottage, we explored the area a bit more, stopping to walk around Loch An Eilein to see some castle ruins when the rain stoppped for a bit, and stopping by Ruthven Barracks on our way home. We tried to have tea at a much recommended nursery/tea and cake shop, but they closed at 5, like everything else. And we thought teatime started at 5. Apparently one must have tea at home.
Ruthven Barracks
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