I first came to the Cairngorms in the early 1980s (camping on Loch Morlich, a dog-eared family photo album confirms), and the largest of the UK’s national parks keeps me going back out of curiosity. I’ve hiked its hills, swum its lochs, drunk its Speyside single malts, and, a decade ago, I was married overlooking the River Dee on the fringes of the Balmoral Estate outside Braemar.
Its ancient woodland is, without doubt, an unsung Scottish landmark. Though the King’s Highland home is one of the most visited and photographed buildings in Scotland, its characterful swathes of Scots pine, Douglas fir and Sitka spruce are often overlooked, yet overwhelming.
Certainly, it’s an embarrassment of protected habitats, with 50,000 acres to explore and full of secret places. Such as Queen Victoria’s “bridge to nowhere” crossing the Garbh Allt Falls. And better still, the estate’s secret “pyramids”: memorial cairns erected to commemorate weighty events in Victoria’s life. Found atop Craig an Lurachain hill, this last granite totem looks like the Great Pyramid of Giza transported to Royal Deeside.
How to do it
Balmoral Castle is open to the public from late March to early August. Tickets to the castle grounds and gardens cost £18.50, but the wider estate, including the hiking paths to the memorial cairns, can be explored free.
Mike MacEacheran
Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire