The summation of the day is we do love you Mama, but sometimes we are just hungrier!
I'm going to start this last blog at the end of Day 16 as we head sedately south on the Highland Caledonian Sleeper. It's been a very tiring day and with Paloma already asleep and Forrest not far away, I've escaped to the lounge car to write the final instalment of this trip's blog (although I may do one more in a few days time on all the different campsites that we visited in the motorhome). It also means there is no Amber to proof read tonight, so here goes! Our train that we caught from Aviemore is currently eight carriages long, having started in Inverness, but will combine with portions from Fort William and Aberdeen in Edinburgh during the early hours to be a 16 carriage train by the time it arrives in London Euston, scheduled for just before 8am tomorrow morning. Sitting waiting for the train on Aviemore station at gone 9pm, it doesn't quite seem feasible that I'll be at my desk working in a little over 12 hours time.
So that is the situation now, time to wind the clock back to this morning. With the need to check out of the hotel before our planned trip on the Strathspey Railway we were up early to finish packing the bags. It was difficult on the motorhome to pack neatly, so we were quite pleased by how we managed to condense things down a little bit last night, but we still had five very full bags that we left with the hotel reception. It was then the well travelled ten minute walk downhill to the train station, via a quick stop at Tesco to get a few things to make up a picnic lunch for our walk later. We also filled our water bottles from one of the many Scottish Water refill stations that we've seen in the Highlands. Not only are these great to have around all the major towns and tourist attractions, the quality of the water is also much better than what Thames Water provide down south!
Our plan today was to catch the Strathspey Railway steam train and travel the full length of the line to Broomhill. Then on the way back, get off at the middle station of Boat of Garten and walk some of the Speyside Way back to Aviemore, a distance of approximately 6 miles. The day was already off to a bit of a dodgy start when my idea to get Paloma to wake up Forrest didn't go down too well, so as we sat on the bench at Boat of Garten station watching the train accelerate away towards Aviemore, we could already tell that the walk was going to be far from easy!
Having visited the very well stocked village store to get ice creams, we set off on our walk. It started off on a residential street that became more prestigious the further we walked with a number of interesting looking houses thrown in for good measure. The road became a dirt track and eventually a combined footpath/cycle path for most of the way to Aviemore. Perhaps we had been spoilt with some of the incredible scenery from early in the trip, and whilst from time to time we'd catch a glimpse of the Cairngorm mountains or the River Spey, most of the walk was either through forest or open land covered in Scottish heather.
As we approached the halfway point we decided that it would soon be time to find somewhere for our picnic. Paloma is always hungry, but Forrest was also continuing to be difficult, either walking a long way behind or annoying his sister (she was also reciprocating whenever she could), so we thought a stop for food could help. The problem was, we just couldn't find anywhere to stop! There wasn't a bench or log to be seen, all we had was purple heather as far as we could see. Shortly after passing a couple walking the other way who had managed to find a small gap in the heather for their lunch, and having confirmed with them that there were no benches ahead, Amber noticed a raised area with some natural ground seats just off to the side so we settled down there for our lunch.
It was then onwards towards Aviemore, sometimes at a good pace, more often at a snails pace, with a short break to rest and see the steam train pass, until we reached a split in the path and we decided to go what on the map looked the better route via the river instead of the town. Then, for the third time on this holiday, we ended up on a golf course and needed to work out exactly where we were. The kids were again hungry so we cracked out the fruit, including some fresh fruit fingers that we'd picked up from Tesco earlier. When Amber asked Paloma whether they would leave any mango for her, in a very deadpan way she replied "we do love you Mama, but sometimes we are just hungrier" as she picked up the final pieces of fruit!
Fortunately the course was quiet and once we'd got our bearings the walk was not too bad beside the course and the river, and then we were on the final stretch back towards the town and eventually, almost 7 hours after leaving on the train, we walked past the now desolate Aviemore station with the steam services all finished for the day. We had a little bit of time before our dinner reservation so stopped off at the Old Bridge Inn beside the river for some liquid refreshment. It looked like a lovely pub and one we would have liked to eat at had we have been in Aviemore for a little longer.
It was then onwards to La Taverna Ristorante, the onsite Italian located next door to our hotel. The reviews were good, as was the location for collecting our bags, so it was an obvious place for dinner tonight. The savory food didn't disappoint with very nice bread to start and then macaroni cheese for Paloma, a pizza for Forrest and lasagne for both Amber and myself. The desserts were not as great and Forrest didn't like the look of his specially created "chocolate" sundae that didn't contain any chocolate and just the caramel sauce that he specifically didn't want, so he lucked out with eating all my chocolate fudge cake whilst I was left with his.
All that was left was to pick up our bags, walk to the station (much easier downhill than on Friday) and wait for the train. Not counting Friday night when we left, or tomorrow morning, we've been away for 16 days and to be honest we feel like it's been a little too long. We've seen some amazing places, had a lovely time catching up again with Jana, Petr and family, and made some great memories, but now we're just looking forward to being home. It's only now that I start to remember that our ensuite has been half removed, our bed is currently in pieces on the landing and the 101 other jobs that we need to do around the house!
Until next time we hope you've enjoyed following us on our journey, from Amber and myself, over and out.
Blogged by Matt.
