Fortune Favours the Brave(heart !)

I’d set off mid morning from home, to brave the ‘terrible weather’ to come…although it didn’t look like it !

As I drove through Lancashire, Cumbria and over the borders into Scotland I was bathed in lovely sunshine , although lots of people did seem to have heeded the ‘don’t travel’ warnings..and so the roads were quite peaceful

I drove on, intending to just make sure I got further North than the line with Edinburgh, and by mid afternoon, had achieved that, with still lots of warnings of bad weather to come, but only sunshine for Jotown..

Soon I was heading towards Perth, and a predicament

-do I go along the coastal route further North ?, or chance the mighty Cairngorms?…what do you think ?

Correct –I was soon flashing along the A9 towards Aviemore in excellent conditions, although there was a lot of snow lying just off the carriageway,and occasional snow flurries, and soon (early evening) I was in Aviemore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviemore and debating whether to continue, and beat the weather, or stop for the night…I decided to continue, having contacted the owners of Cairn Shiel, and arranged to go in on the Friday.. and soon my decision was supported by Kate, who texted me to say the ‘Northern Lights’ were expected to be on the Moray Coast tonight !…excitement started building as I dropped down towards the coast and Inverness, with an excellent starry sky overhead .. as I drove along I was excited, working out where the best viewing spot may be, certainly along the coast, so I headed out of Inverness towards Elgin, and soon diverted along the coast road, at the back of what used to be RAF Kinloss, and now known as Kinloss Barracks http://forceskinloss.2day.ws/ and found a bird hide that I knew of looking out over the Moray Firth – I could heard lots of seabirds on the estuary, but couldn’t see any –although lots of stars overhead, and occasional ‘hints ‘ of the glow from the Northern Lights

I then heard from Kate that there were good views around Lossiemouth, so headed for Duffus castle http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/propertyresults/propertydetail.htm?PropID=PL_099 ..and was instantly rewarded, as I drove along the black country lane, I could see the profile of the Castle, with the spectacular lights behind it !

I was soon parked and taking pictures, here’s just some of them, that survived my shaking hands and ferocious winds blowing across the plain  and if you look closely you can see the stars in the background ! Time soon flashed by, although it was bitterly cold, I was running up and down the battlements trying to get the best pictures, although eventually I had to return to ‘Wally’, who actually was in a great positionThen it was time not to be too brave….and go to Kate’s in Elgin for a warm nights sleep …satisfied, a great start to my Scottish trip…Goodnight