18th February 2016

The forecast again was very good for today due to building high pressure over Scotland. Therefore I made the effort again to get out of bed early and try and make the most of it.

This time I took the familiar route up to the nearest decent sized hill in Aviemore that gives excellent views of the surrounding area. The best thing is that there is a car park at the bottom of the hill so you can park the car and literally just walk straight up the hill. The air was quite chilly and frosty but the sun was out and was melting everything away fairly quickly. I had multiple layers on, and had to take most of them off before I got to the top as the uphill walk as fairly strenuous.

These photos were off the initial walk into the nature reserve, and below is the GPRS data of the walk. By the time I reached the top I had every layer back on which was good so I could savour the view for as long as possible. I was able to have a coffee and enjoy the view.

Frost on top of snow

View from top of hill

Breakfast

Left: Footprints in the snow, and Right: Small loch in nature reserve

After I got back we went for some lunch quickly at a very good local cafe.

Then we headed straight off to the Wildlife Park which is a few miles down the road. We chose a really good day as most of this was outside too.

Red deer in main reserve

Clockwise from top left: View from hill in nature reserve, arctic fox, red panda and elk

We were also fortunate enough to be able to book onto a guided tour of the park. The tour guide was really informative and I was lucky enough to be able to sit in the front seat and take some good photos.

Top left, top right and bottom left: Bison blocking the road

Bottom right: Juvenile Bukhara deer

After the park we stopped by for a quick coffee at another regular stop off on our holidays at Loch Insh, and returned to the lodge for a quiet night watching movies.

Boathouse restaurant

Loch Insh