North Aberdeenshire Coast - much more picturesque than we imagined

On the north coast we visited the quite unique villages of Crovie and Gardenstown. The was a high and low walk from Crovie (pronounced Crivie) to Gardenstown so we walked the loop.

Seaglass on the beach

This is where we parked up overnight

Suits you Girlie! Was a cold morning.

The Garden Arms Hotel was visited by Bram Stoker in 1896, just before he finished writing Dracula!

Bedroom with a lovely seaview!

Duff House, on the edge of Banff, was a very interesting visit, not just for the house itself but it also houses a lot of paintings and furniture from The National Galleries of Scotland.

Taken down from the roof and replaced with replicas, this statue is one of three and made from lead filled inside with small stones. The collection also included a Gainsborough and an El Greco.

Dee's favourite (a pot pourri bowl)

The sea view from Whitehills, a lovely little village 

We stayed at a small campsite on a farm and stumbled across this unusual bridge nearby, named Craigmin. It's like a bridge built on top of a bridge. We had to walk down the bank on one side to get a glimpse through the undergrowth.

It is an 18th century bridge within the estate of Letterfourie House, which we walked up to along what would have been the drive for horses and carriages. So the bridge was built across the steep gorge for the drive.

Unfortunately it is on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland and in August 2018 was classified as being at 'high' risk and in 'poor' condition.

This is what it used to look like (below, photo from internet), shame it doesn't look like that now, although we kind of liked it being all overgrown.

Castles everywhere!

Aberdeenshire is famous for having so many castles, so we visited three more. Corgarff castle is quite remote and on the day we visited quite bleak! With a wind chill down to just above zero and some horizontal rain, we didn't hang about outside for too long - don't be fooled by the shorts!

Dee does love to dress up!

Two to a bed in the Barracks

Not far away was Kildrummy Castle and the sun had come out at last - still freezing though! Purdy loved the soft grass.

The following day we visited Huntly Castle on the edge of what was quite a grand town.

The castle is a ruin but what's left is in surprisingly good condition and much better than we expected.

Spot Dee in a window!

Good job the sun was out

That looks like a ghost in the window! Oh, it's Phil!

There was a lot of very old graffiti near the
castle prison - this knight stood out

Ballater, the perfect setting for walks from the door

Ballater is a lovely small town on the river Dee, at the end of what was the Royal Deeside Railway - Dee's everywhere! It was planned to continue to Braemar but Queen Victoria's desire for privacy at Balmoral stopped this extra section!

Inside a replica of Queen Victoria's carriage

We stayed on a site on the edge of town with several great walks from the door. We did each one, separately, with shorter walks for Purdy in between.

The Seven Bridges Walk but we only found Five!

The weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse, with rain and cold northerly winds. We are now heading to the north eastern coast via some more castles, which are always good for not so good weather.