'S math sin!

Our day started at 7am as we rose bright and early to go fishing at the Rothiemurchus estate. We rented poles and bundled up as it was chilly and windy. We've never seen so many fish jumping out of the water. The ranger told us that Scottish fish were smart and knew how to steal the bait, which they did, in fact they stole my hook as well. Deek managed to land a big trout, about 3 lbs which we plan to eat for dinner. 

People at the ranger office loved his icelandic mohawk cap!  

After that we decided to drive up to the snow line in search of reindeer. There is a herd that roams on 7,000 acres of open national park space in the mountains. It is not well known but humankind actually rode reindeers before they rode horses. (An excellent book to read regarding this is 'The Reindeer People'). These animals are said to be quite docile. They periodically round them up at the Yuletide season and use them around the country to pull Santa's sleigh. Because of Santa's close connection with the reindeer herd we stumbled across an information center that Santa sometimes visits. It contained his chair, and a To Do list hanging nearby. I noticed that #8 was ' Have a wee dram', well it IS the highlands folks! I wonder which of the single malts Santa prefers?

We did find the reindeer. This fellow came over and allowed us to pet him.

The reindeer are really beautiful animals. Back at the information center, much to Deek's chagrin, I purchased a gorgeous reindeer fur. Of course it was too big to fit in my suitcase home so I boxed it up and mailed it to myself at the Aviemore post office.

Then it was time to find some snow. We drove up to the Cairngorm Mountain ski base station. It had just started to snow there, and Deek decided to take the funicular (what we know as a tram) to the very top where there was a full on blizzard.   According to Dietrich's account he hopped aboard the Millennium Falcon, and after traveling through hyperspace he arrived on the Hoth System where there were white out conditions.  To any non Star Wars fans who don't know where the hidden Rebel base was, Dietrich can explain later.

After a lunch of hot soup at the base station, we had to get back to town as Deek had booked us first class passage on the Royal Scotsman, a steam train that runs on coal. We had our own private compartment which was swathed in Blackwatch tartan, and included heated seats. Tea was properly served with three types of sandwiches and scones. 

The train takes you to GLENBOGLE, how cool is that?! If you are a fan of Monarch of the Glen then this will make sense - if not, skip to the next picture. I refer to Dietrich as "my Hector", and he says I am "like Molly". That's sweet.

After being in the cold and the snow earlier in the day, Deek really liked the warm, sunny compartment on the train, so much that....zzzzzz

 It is Beltaine after all, and although we missed celebrating it with a May Pole, how many people can say that they celebrated it in a 4,000+ year old stone circle in Europe? This is the stone circle in Aviemore, which is now surrounded by a suburb. It has protected status and so has been partially covered by soil in order to keep it intact. The major alignment is to the winter solstice sunrise. Deek had hoped that someone would join us for circle, and someone did, a local cat. (Which I think just smelled the trout on Deek)

And now it's back to the Scandinavian Village to rest up because tomorrow is a busy day!