A DEE LIGHT FULL TIME AT BANCHORY LODGE

 DAY1 Friday 27th January 2023

Our first trip away for 2023 and we were off to with Sandra and Chris. We left Inverness and headed over the Lecht to get to Deeside. Ten days ago we probably wouldn't have been able to get down the road due to heavy snow, but it had more or less all melted away. The journey was actually pretty good and the roads were remarkably quiet.

There was hardly any snow left at the Lecht ski centre but it was all a bit moody. 

There was an eerie glow to the sky a bit further on down the road just as you start to descend towards Corgarff Castle. That's still over 2000 feet above sea level.

It really was quite splendid, but also very cold, so we didn't get out of the car to take it all in.

Instead, we waited until we got to our designated lunch stop of Finzean Farm shop and restaurant. We were soon joined by Sandra and Chris and we all had a very nice luncheon. We also picked up some Scotch Eggs and snacks to use on a picnic tomorrow.

We had decided to go for a walk after lunch, to stretch our legs after the journey and to make room for drinks and dinner later in the day. I had found a walk in the forest and by the river Feugh, which was less than 5 minutes from Finzean, so it was ideal.

It wasn't just about the walk, though. The main interest lay in the sawmills opposite the parking space where we started the walk.

These are the only mills of their kind still working in Scotland. They date from the early 19th Century. One is a sawmill and the other is a turning mill. The turning mill had been built by an Alexander Duncan in the 1830's. He also became the operator of the sawmill in 1871 and his descendants still operate the complex to this day. The turning mill uses water from the outflow of the sawmill. The sawmill provided timber for the floor of the Scottish Parliament.

It is an altogether astonishing working complex and it has been preserved by the local Forest of Birse community group.

Inside the sawmill, you can see that even the rollers on the saw bench have been made of wood. It really is like stepping back in time.

The whole complex of timber and corrugated iron buildings is listed and protected. Whilst they were remodelled in the 1930's nothing much has changed, although there are now diesel back ups to the water power but the same water power has been, and still is, used to generate electricity to power some of the plant.

Only one of the sluices is now operational and the other is a bit overgrown

This is the water wheel at the sawmill.

This building, with the very significant list to the side, was originally the garage for the local charabanc. That was a horse drawn, and later, motorised, coach.

 There is a tin roofed kiln at the site, which, oddly, I did not photograph. This was used to dry wood for the turning mill. It was originally wood fired, but now it is steam powered. I have no idea why or how steam can be used to dry wood, but that's what it says on the website of the National Record of the Historic Environment!

Oddly, I did take a photo of these two flamingos in a house garden that we passed on our way onto the woods once we got going on the walk.

Sandra and Chris find it impossible to walk past a dog out for a walk and took some time to chat to Lucky and his owner.

By now we were into the forest, which was a nice mixture of birch and pine.

Once through the woods, we went downhill to join the tarred road and then found our way down to the Water of Feugh. This is actually the largest tributary of the River Dee. Both of these watercourses meet at our hotel.

We walked upstream along the edge of the river along the flood plain.

It was cold by the river, but there was a bit of hope of at least sunshine tomorrow.

Still no sign of the bridge we needed to get across the river, but we did find a rope slung across the water, but nobody felt like trying to get across there.

Soon, however, we found the bridge. It was a bit old and rickety looking, so we sent Chris across first, to check it was safe for the rest of us!

I also sent the ladies across, to be doubly sure before I stepped on it.

The handrail looked like it should have been a nature reserve.

Once everyone else was off the bridge, I risked it.

I even stopped to take a photo down the river.

We saw the weir, which diverts water into the lade to feed the sawmills further down the river. The weir is constructed of a wooden frame filled with stones. It has been partially repaired after significant flooding in 2015/2016, which caused some damage. It also meant that the sluice gate had to be removed to stop water flooding down the lade and flooding out the sawmills and destroying the waterwheels.

Just before we got back to the cars, we spotted this buzzard sitting on the pole.

Then it was off to our hotel - The Banchory Lodge. We had a view of the river and of the car park. There was a couple of dodgy looking people unpacking their car when we looked out of the window.

The view from the other window was altogether more exciting and interesting. This was looking up the river Dee to its confluence with the Water of Feugh.

As the sky began to darken, the windows reflected the lights in the room.

We also had a four poster bed, which turned out to be a great deal more comfortable than it looked.

The sky turned a nice shade of pink.

The moon was out as well. This is a waxing crescent moon, so not too long after the new moon had started. Of course, we all knew that, as it was no time at all since the world had celebrated the Chinese New Year, which is always at the start of the first

 lunar cycle at the beginning of each year.

The thing most people forget is that there is no such thing as moonlight. The only source of light in our solar system is the sun. If it wasn't for sunlight being reflected from the moon's surface, it would be completely black.

We met up in the bar for a quiet pint and a gin, before Sandra and Chris came to our room for a glass of champagne, or whisky, and a game of cribbage. It was nearing the end of our cribbage competition, which had been going on for a few years, the winners being the first pair to reach 50 games. Unfortunately, Chris and Sharon had recently become very lucky and had started to erode our huge lead. Luckily dinner intervened!

Not wanting to lean over the table and take photos of everybody's meals, I have only recorded my own. I started with a very tasty game terrine with wild mushrooms and a chestnut emulsion. The terrine was very good, but the mushrooms were disconcertingly cold.

It being a Friday evening, I was a bit casual and had the Wagyu beef burger, treacle and ale bacon, chips ( they were described as fries on the menu, but that is, of course an abhorrent Americanism) and a celeriac and apple slaw. I would have to say the burger was very good indeed and the chips were better than fries!

Sandra also had the burger and professed it to be one of the best she had eaten. She and Sharon had shared salted beets with goat's cheese, hazelnuts and balsamic glaze for a starter. Sharon had grilled Halloumi, cauliflower fried rice, Mediterranean vegetables, tomato sauce and pickled shallots for her main. Chris had pan fried scallops and crispy pork belly to start, followed by the Wagyu burger.

All in all a good meal with a nice bottle of Mencia, which I was astonished to be told was almost never ordered by anyone. Clearly, sophistication had come to town tonight!

We then went to Sandra and Chris's room for post dinner drinks and some more cribbage, before it was time to go to bed after a very fine day.

Day2 Saturday 28th January 2023

We awoke to a beautiful morning and soon met up for more food. Breakfast was pretty good, fruit, yoghurt, compote, black pudding, smoked haddock, eggs, you name it. We all ate well, before leaving for a walk around the grounds of Crathes Castle.

Crathes is a very fine, if not the finest preserved, example of a 16th Century Scottish Tower House. It was built by the Burnett family, who had previously lived in what was described as a dank and dull crannog in a small loch near Banchory. However, a combination of marrying well, annexing church lands and gifts from Robert the Bruce allowed the family to amass the means to build the castle after having put together very substantial estates in the area.

Here is the view of the castle as we started our walk.

The first feature we noted was this simple ice house, which is one of two still left in the castle grounds.

Sharon and Sandra have a very close look at something, but it wasn't the ice house. I was just impressed at how low they could go. I certainly could not have done that with my knees!

Once into the walk proper, we came across this quite substantial bank, flanked by stone dykes on either side. It turns out that this is not some interesting feature to do with the castle access or perhaps a defensive wall. It is, in fact, covering for a four foot water main, part of the Aberdeen Water Works. It is covered over because the ground dips here and the bank protects the main from exposure.

There is a series of chain saw sculptures of various animals along the walk. I could not find out who the artist was, or if they were commissioned for any particular purpose.

The first we saw was this sinuous otter.

The further out from the castle we went, the quieter it became.

There were views from the trees over the surrounding farmland.

There were benches for old people to sit on.

As well as the young at heart!

The path partly follows the Coy Burn. What it has to be coy about, I don't know, but it would appear that the burn has seen salmon spawn there in the past and works are underway to encourage their return.

Talking of salmon, Uncle Fish had a little tumble here. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to capture this moment of embarrassment. Luckily nothing more than pride was hurt. Sandra gave him a wee wipe down and we continued on our way.

Sandra seemed quite happy about it all, while Chris kept his eyes firmly on the ground, looking for the next obstacle to his progress.

The burn and the boggy ground round about were quite different from the rest of the walk, but interesting and quite tranquil nonetheless.

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We walked along the side of the Mill Pond, which was formed when the Coy Burn was impounded by this dam.

The path on the side of the pond was unsuitable for use just now, but you got a better view of the very still and reflective waters on the other side.

Another of the chainsaw sculptures - this time, of a heron.

The path took us along this striking avenue of trees.

Just the place for a wee selfie.

The sun was shining through the forest.......

 .......illuminating this fern.

On through the avenue we went.

Chris studiously ignores Sandra pointing out something of great interest, to her at least.

It wasn't this bird that we couldn't identify with any certainty, but it might have been a pigeon, with the light making it hard to discern clearly.

The next feature of interest was a small burial ground. This was the graveyard of the Burnett family, which used to own the castle. They had retained this at the time the castle and grounds were passed to the National Trust for Scotland in 1951.

The Burnett family had been buried at Banchory, but this graveyard was built by the family in 1898, with water and walling put in place at a cost of £228.10.1!

The gate is locked, but we were able to see the names on some of the stones.

This one is in remembrance of Thomas Gilbert Alexander Burnett. He was 20 when he died in 1934 and he was the heir to the Baronetcy. The newspaper report of his death is not specific on cause, but notes that a double barrelled sports gun was found at his side. He had recently failed his exams at Oxford.

He was, apparently, well loved by estate workers, who thought him a splendid young man likely to carry on the best traditions of the family.

His father had established some of these traditions, through his distinguished military service and close connections with royalty.

Roger William Odo Burnett was Thomas's younger brother. He was killed in action during the Second World War, I think, during the Allied advance through the Reichswald Forest in February 1945. He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, which is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in Germany.

Thus, the two sons of the family died young and were survived by their sister, Elizabeth Rohays Mary Burnett who lived until 1993. She was, in turn, the mother of the famous flat race horse trainer Sir Henry Cecil.

Further on from the peaceful little graveyard, we found another sculpture, this time of Tufty.

This looks a bit like a metal spiral type of sculpture, but it is, in fact, the bare branches of some contorted tree, the name of which is not known to me.

We were by now back to the castle and the sun was still shining.

The ladies used the facilities, whilst Chris and I admired the horse mill, built around 1860.

It being lunchtime, we sat down for a little picnic just to the side of the castle and next to this lovely flowering Daphne bholua - the Nepalese paper plant. This can flower for most of the year, although in Nepal it loses its leaves at higher altitudes.

As you might guess from the name, it is used to make paper in Nepal!

Here, it was heavily used by honey bees, presumably because there are so few flowering plants at this time of year. Plants that do this, can gain a competitive edge over rivals as they attract large numbers of pollinators early in the year, when there is so little choice.  This helps both the plants and the insects.

These are known as cannon spouts or cannon gargoyles. There purpose is usually to direct water away from gutters, drains or simply the walls of buildings. They can also just be decorative. They are a relatively common feature of castles and fortified houses of this type and age.

Crathes is famous for the topiary yew hedges in the gardens and they are thought to date from 1702, which wasn't yesterday.

Sharon took a photo of us at our nice little picnic spot. Unfortunately, Chris had his mouth wide open and, not wanting people to see half of his Scotch Egg, I haven't made it any larger than might offend people's sensibilities.

I noticed this label on a bare tree on the way to the car park. Firstly the Bee bee tree is very attractive to bees and other pollinators, especially a bit later in the summer, when other sources of pollen might be on the wane. These trees come from Korea and in some parts of the world they can be very invasive.

The Tree Register keeps a record of the tallest and largest trees in the country by county. Anyone who likes trees will, as I do, have a copy of Alan Mitchell's definitive guide to the trees of Great Britain. He is sadly dead, but he founded this organisation, which still operates. Unfortunately, they want you to sign up and pay to get details of champion trees and I wasn't about to do that. I would suggest that this one here is the best of its kind in Aberdeenshire.

From Crathes Castle we went to Crathes Mill to have a quick look at the little shops there. It is quite a pleasant little courtyard of shops in old mill and farm buildings.

We did manage to buy a few things, but not, I'm afraid, one of these old whisky barrels that had been cleverly converted into a drinks cabinet.

Time to get back to Banchory, where we went to a local garden centre for tea and cakes, because you never know where the next meal might come from.

Then, it was back to the hotel after a full and interesting day.

We had the usual drinks and cribbage before dinner.

Then we all shared some bread, oil and vinegar to start.

I had duck breast, confit duck leg, mash and heritage carrots and a red wine sauce. It was lovely. Chris had fish and chips, which he ate with gusto. Sharon had Hake with peas and bacon, broccoli and potatoes. Sandra had a giant chicken!

I also had a very nice sticky toffee pudding.

We retired upstairs to finish off the cribbage. the score actually got to 49 games each, but the cream rose to the top and Sandra and I won the deciding game to be crowned everlasting world champions, or something like that.

Day3 Sunday 29th January 2023

Our last day and our last breakfast, which was very good, again.

As we were taking different routes home, we decided that a walk along the riverbank from the hotel would be a nice finish to the trip. This was especially so, given the forecast of appalling weather later in the day. It made sense for us to take advantage of the day while we could.

We were walking along the banks of the River Dee - Uisge Dhe in Gaelic. The river of God. Perhaps it was so called because the source of the river is on the Braeriach plateau in the Cairngorms. It is the highest source of any major river in Britain being about 4000 feet above sea level. It is 87 miles long, making it the 5th longest river in Scotland. It is one of the most famous salmon rivers in the world. It is also just outside the hotel door.

Among the few species of wildlife that we saw on our trip was this pair of Goosander. These birds are relative newcomers to our rivers, having only been breeding in Scotland since 1871. They nest in riverbank trees and eat fish, lots of fish, meaning that poor old Uncle Fish was not overjoyed to see them

Here is Uncle Fish (as our grandchildren like to call him) taking photos of the salmon lies, thinking how he might throw a line over these waters one day.

At one point we passed this little building. There is no record of what it might be that I can find.

We were about to go our separate ways, and these snowdrops just held out some promise of spring to come and perhaps a few more trips away later in the year.

So we said our farewells before heading off on our journeys home after a great weekend.

We were going through Ballater and decide to stop for a look around. Unfortunately, most of Ballater was shut, as you might expect on a Sunday in the middle of winter.

The only thing open was the old railway station which houses Queen Victoria's railway carriage. 

Ballater Station opened in 1866. It was the terminus of a branch line running from Aberdeen. It became famous through the use of the station by successive royals from Victoria until it closed in 1966 - 100 years later. It had its own Royal Waiting Room, built especially for Victoria. The station was restored and opened to the public in 2001.  Except, that is, for the royal cludgie. That was moved to the Deeside Inn when the station closed.

The complex burnt down in 2015, except for the train carriage. The building has now been rebuilt and open to the public again.

By now it was pretty cold and beginning to rain, so it was back to the car and off home. There were a few people skiing on the patches of snow left there. It would appear that there might be more snow coming in a number of days time.

There was no snow at home when we arrived back, It was, however, pouring with rain, so we were glad to be inside, back in our own four walls. 

No doubt, we will be away for another trip sometime soon.