Scotland Day 7: Highland Folk Museum and Cairn Gorm

The weather was good again today — windy but clear. We had a sprinkling of rain on the drive, but were rewarded by a fantastic rainbow. 

From Stirling, we drove to the Highland Folk Museum in Kingussie. It’s a mile-long open-air museum, and the most interesting part for us was the reproduction of an early 1700s rural Highland township. The township has six buildings to explore, all with sod walls and thatched roofs. 

A woman in period costume stood outside, carding and spinning wool, and was on hand to answer questions. She was cheery and informative, and let me touch the wool, which was very soft. She said the women used a drop spindle to hand-spin the yarn, because they couldn’t be sitting at a spinning wheel when there were other chores to do! I guess multitasking was a thing, even back then.

Our next stop was Cairn Gorm (An Càrn Gorm, in Gaelic, meaning Blue Mountain), a mountain in the Highlands overlooking the town of Aviemore. It is 1,245 metres (4,084 ft) high, making it the sixth-highest mountain in the UK. It’s a popular area for skiing and hiking, although prone to dangerously high winds. 

We rode the funicular railway up the north side of the mountain to the restaurant complex, some 1,000 metres up. We had tea and goodies, then went outside onto the viewing terrace, and were just about blown off our feet!! Fred couldn't hold his camera still enough to take a photo! The view was wonderful though. I can just imagine how it would be in spring, with the heather in bloom, on a sunny day when you could clearly see the lake below. 

I shot a little video on the way down; you can check it out  here.

After the mountain, we drove to Inverness and checked in at the Gatehouse B&B. We were craving some hot comfort food, after the chilly winds on the mountain. We decided on the Castle Tavern, which was built in the mid-1700s, and overlooks the River Ness and Inverness Castle.

We shared delicious haggis bon bons in a grain mustard sauce. I had carrot-yam soup, and Fred had Cullen Skink — a very tasty Scottish cream soup made of smoked haddock, potatoes, and onions. I didn’t take the camera with me, but you can google Cullen Skink!