Early start this morning but with the early night last night, we both woke up quite refreshed.
Headed towards the home of golf,St Andrews , to take a few photos of the 11th Century cathedral ruins and of the castle. The castle is situated directly on the cliffs and is slowly falling into the sea.
The cathedral, although a ruin, was also spectacular. It is said that St Reglin had a dream and was told in the dream to take the bones of St Andrew to the West. During the voyage, the ship was wrecked in a storm and both St Raglin and the bones washed up on the shores ofScotland
FromSt Andrews , we headed to the highlands towards Braemar. The countryside seems to go from lowland to highland in an instant.
The highlands are beautiful. The heather is flowering at the moment so entire hillsides and entire valleys are covered in a glorious shade of purple. There are some large pine plantations, some of which are absolutely huge and cover many large hills.
Made our way to Braemar for lunch and a rest and headed off again, through the highlands. There are a number of ski fields in the highlands, and with the gradients of the slopes, there would be some wicked runs.
Arrived in Aviemore to discover there is a Harley Davidson Owners Group convention on. With all the bikes, what should have only taken 2 minutes in the bus actually took 10 - Lee was trying extremely hard not to hit any bikes.
Elisha headed off to an animal show whilst I headed off towards the convention to enjoy some music on the portable stage that had been erected. The convention was actually named "Thunder in the Glens". It is held every year and was originally only an Edinburgh Chapter event - now people fromNorway and the US
Spoke to a number of people and got some shots of a few of the bikes and managed to find one of the organisers who gave me a pass to get into any event for the weekend. I was even able to get into some places some bikers were not able to go!
Back to the hotel for dinner, then, with my pass and camera, I was off again to the convention. Headed back to the stage for a few ales and more photos then decided to try out the pass. The Aviemore Convention centre was heaving, so headed there. Saw a beautiful bike being auctioned for charity in the foyer. I didn't put in a bid cause I didn't think Lee would let me put it in luggage!
A number of bands were playing but the best by far was Clanadonia. They are a group consisting of a single piper and 5 drummers. Now these guys were loud! There was no lightly tapping of these big drums, it was more like belting!
When they played, every single person in the room moved forward to get photos and dance. And who said bikers were hard, rough bastards? With feet tapping, bodies swaying and heads bopping, we all listened to this amazing music from guys dressed as rough highlanders. With hair all a mess, big scraggy beards and shirtless, the leader of the group was a sight to see. They marched outside to play a few more songs before a 10 minute fireworks show.
I have to say I was surprised how civil the night was. Although everyone was drinking, and drinking quite a bit, there was almost no-one drunk. It was such a great atmosphere. And my midnight, everyone was either back in their hotel rooms or in tents for a cold night up in the mountains.
Headed towards the home of golf,
The cathedral, although a ruin, was also spectacular. It is said that St Reglin had a dream and was told in the dream to take the bones of St Andrew to the West. During the voyage, the ship was wrecked in a storm and both St Raglin and the bones washed up on the shores of
From
The highlands are beautiful. The heather is flowering at the moment so entire hillsides and entire valleys are covered in a glorious shade of purple. There are some large pine plantations, some of which are absolutely huge and cover many large hills.
Made our way to Braemar for lunch and a rest and headed off again, through the highlands. There are a number of ski fields in the highlands, and with the gradients of the slopes, there would be some wicked runs.
Arrived in Aviemore to discover there is a Harley Davidson Owners Group convention on. With all the bikes, what should have only taken 2 minutes in the bus actually took 10 - Lee was trying extremely hard not to hit any bikes.
Elisha headed off to an animal show whilst I headed off towards the convention to enjoy some music on the portable stage that had been erected. The convention was actually named "Thunder in the Glens". It is held every year and was originally only an Edinburgh Chapter event - now people from
Spoke to a number of people and got some shots of a few of the bikes and managed to find one of the organisers who gave me a pass to get into any event for the weekend. I was even able to get into some places some bikers were not able to go!
Back to the hotel for dinner, then, with my pass and camera, I was off again to the convention. Headed back to the stage for a few ales and more photos then decided to try out the pass. The Aviemore Convention centre was heaving, so headed there. Saw a beautiful bike being auctioned for charity in the foyer. I didn't put in a bid cause I didn't think Lee would let me put it in luggage!
A number of bands were playing but the best by far was Clanadonia. They are a group consisting of a single piper and 5 drummers. Now these guys were loud! There was no lightly tapping of these big drums, it was more like belting!
When they played, every single person in the room moved forward to get photos and dance. And who said bikers were hard, rough bastards? With feet tapping, bodies swaying and heads bopping, we all listened to this amazing music from guys dressed as rough highlanders. With hair all a mess, big scraggy beards and shirtless, the leader of the group was a sight to see. They marched outside to play a few more songs before a 10 minute fireworks show.
I have to say I was surprised how civil the night was. Although everyone was drinking, and drinking quite a bit, there was almost no-one drunk. It was such a great atmosphere. And my midnight, everyone was either back in their hotel rooms or in tents for a cold night up in the mountains.
0 comments:
Post a Comment