Cairngorms drive - Snow roads

We did this drive one day last summer and didn't find any of the roads at all difficult. The beginning near Pitlochry and the ending close to Grantown were the scenic parts. The rest was pretty but not nearly as exciting as Glencoe, Skye, or the Torridon regions. We enjoyed the next day exploring ruined castles along the coast just north of Grantown.

Below is an edited version of our "snow roads" day.

"Today is our “explore the Cairngorms” day. The “snow roads” route is mountainous around Glenshee, mostly level through Braemar – Balmoral – Ballater, then gets mountainous around the Lecht area. It is pretty but certainly not spectacular likeTorridon – Skye – Glencoe. After enjoying a walk in the Linn of Dee, we bought some picnic supplies, then headed off to Tomnaverie Stone Circle. The stones are only a few feet high but the circle is still complete and the circle is nicely located in a remote area. An excellent site for our picnic. After lunch we headed to Kildrummy Castle which was NOT enclosed by a chain-link fence. This was the home of Robert the Bruce, a brutal Scottish hero. We spent an hour exploring this substantial ruin, before heading to Grantown.
We had dinner at the Wee Puffin - Bart’s chicken was good, my beef and ale pie was a weird presentation but tasted OK."

What is a snow road?

In this instance it's just a name given to a road which has always been there but is now marketed as a road to drive as an alternative to the NC500 loop.

https://cairngorms.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Snow-Roads-Leaflet.pdf

Because of the height of this road above sea level it very often gets blocked by heavy snow falls in winter and the Lecht Ski Area is situated along it.

That's interesting- another marketing name. I knew what these roads were, and know they are always some of the first roads blocked by snow, and have snow gates for when that happens, but I didn't know it was a marketing name. That's at least 5 named driving routes in Scotland now.

Back in the day on his radio show Sir Terry Wogan would chat about Mrs MacKay the postmistress in Tomintoul who would keep the A939 road clear in winter.

This came about when he criticised Moray council for not doing a better job where snow clearing was concerned because the road was regularly closed in the winter months. Apparently he was contacted by a local who said it was not the council but the aforementioned Mrs Mackay who battled the snow using nothing more than a shovel. Some years she began shovelling in June!

Apparently visitor number to the area were boosted by Sir Terry's light-hearted comments. Those were the days............

Sir Terry Wogan

still missing the Togmeister.....