Lots of Cars and Carrs

Ness Islands walk
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After a pleasant stroll along the Ness Islands, we caught the bus to Aviemore. The Ness Islands are a fascinating arrangement of islands connected by bridges in the Ness River. They demonstrate the roaring power of the river as well as the peacefulness also found there.

The host at the B&B in Inverness recommended that we go to the Cairngorm Mountain where there is a funicular to the top, so after a quick visit to the TIC, we were off.

Just opposite the Old Bridge of Carr is the real car bridge in Carrbridge, yes, that's one the cars use.

View to the top of Cairngorm Mountain from about half way up - where the funicular leaves from.
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Aviemore is an alright place, its quite commercial, as everyone goes skiing there in winter. Clearly the worst thing here, maybe of the entire trip, was nearly having to make a claim on my travel insurance. Fortunately I can dive over walls well. I only like to do it when an out of control van is heading straight at me, though - I don't make habits like that.

Then the bus came so we jumped on it. The drive up to the mountain is nice, you go past a really nice lake, and there are lots of pine trees, which actually line the road - the first place I'd seen where here were they do that.

Old Bridge of Carr - Night time
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The bus takes you about half way up the mountain, then the funicular takes you the rest of the way. It's pretty cool. It takes 8 minutes to get to the top in summer, but only 4 in winter, because people use it for a different purpose then.

The view from the top was quite varying (that hazy stuff was there again but not too bad). It was windy and chilly, which meant that there were lots of clouds there, coming and going - they kind of just float past right next to you. One minute it was clear and we could see a fair way, the next you can only see the pole in front of you - totally sweet! It would have been a great view on a clear day, and with snow. The cafe's "infamous" hot chocolate, suggested on the commentary on board the funicular, is worthy of the title, also.

Clouds passing at the top of Cairngorm Mountain
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I would have liked to stay here a bit longer than time permitted, but buses don't change their timetable to suit you. It was good to come here, as we had nothing planned for the next day or so, and also nice to do things on the spur of the moment.

When we got back to Aviemore we were very nicely picked up by our next accommodation host. Carrbridge is about 10 minutes drive north of Aviemore. The only reason why you'd probably want to go there is to see the Old Bridge of Carr.

We really treated ourselves tonight; going to the Cairn Hotel for a meal. I had forgotten how much I had missed hot melted cheese - even if it is mixed with broccoli and carrots - this hotel knows how to melt cheese, trust me. We ate here while we waited for the bridge lights to come on, because that was our whole intention of visiting Carrbridge. Unfortunately we really took our time and the sky was nearly black when we were finished the meal, but the lights were on.

Just opposite the Old Bridge of Carr is the real car bridge in Carrbridge, yes, that's one the cars use, and that's near the hotel we ate at. So we only had to cross it and we were there. Small town, this Carrbridge.

Anyway the bridge is pretty spectacular during the day, but at night,its even better.  So my advice is that you go there. Thats why I went, and I'm pleased I did.