Erik was flying back to Cambridge today, and we had to get him to the train station in Aberdeen to catch a train to Edinburgh no later than 1 pm, so we started early with breakfast at the Old Firestation and then got on the road. It was something of a long drive and we got him into town just in time, but since we were a bit stymied on how best to get to the station since the front was under construction, we ended up just dropping him off inside the parking structure. We had intended to explore the city but instead we avoided the chaos and headed back into the countryside.
On the way back to Tomintoul we decided to stop at as many castles as we saw, and the first we encountered was Drum Castle. It was unfortunately closed for the winter but even the exterior proved to be stunning and we walked around the grounds enjoying the ancient stonework (some as old as the 12th century).
From there we moved on to Crathes Castle, and at this point decided to save some money and buy a membership to the National Trust of Scotland. We walked onto the grounds and immediately noticed how much more modern it seemed in comparison to Drum, and there was a self-guided tour offered with placards throughout the interior that gave information on each of the rooms. From the top you could look out onto the gardens, which featured lush plantlife and trees molded into abstract shapes.
Once we finished at Crathes we realized it was getting close to closing time for all the major historical stops and it would be best to just head straight back to the cottage, but this proved to be a challenge. We were doing a fair job of navigating our way back given the limited maps we had, but on the way we found that a main road to the cottage was closed, and the detour signs (in fact, nearly all signs we have encountered so far) were few and far between such that we were never quite sure we were on the right road.
As a result we wound up driving back on the same road twice and at one point I stumbled upon about 5 sheep that had wandered onto the road. I followed them for probably a half mile before they figured out how to get back off the road so I can now add sheep herding to my resume I suppose…anyway, after a long detour and delay, we made our way back to Tomintoul, by which point we were practically starving. We elected to stop at the pub for dinner and pints, and after a full meal amidst the locals (who were getting ready for a dart tournament or so I heard), we returned to the cottage for an evening of planning, writing and photo importing/labeling.
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