We decided to walk across to the Westhill Shopping Centre, which is just across the street from the HI. Way off in the far side of the shopping centre, I noticed what looked like a restaurant, and sure enough, it was! So we had an excellent dinner at the Yan Oriental Restaurant, followed by some yummy treats for pudding at the M&S Foodhall.
Tuesday, July 23rd.: Guess where we went for breakfast this morning? If you said "Meal Deal from Tesco", top marks! We have decided that the sausage, bacon, and egg sandwich is the perfect breakfast! We also filled the petrol tank at Tesco, so well sated (including the Corsa), we made our way west along the A93, destination Royal Deeside. I should add here that Deeside is Mrs. A's favourite part of Scotland.
First stop was Banchory, where we stopped to visit the Falls of Feugh, then drove back in to town to visit Banchory's four charity shops. We had stayed in the Falls of Feugh car park for a few minutes to finish our breakfast. While we sat there, a large SUV drove up, and a couple got out and made their way to the Falls. They were back in the car, and gone (rapidly) while we were still eating. I said to Mrs. A, "They're ticking the boxes". The Falls of Feugh are just too beautiful to just look at for a moment and leave. We spent a good 15 to 20 minutes enjoying the spectacular falls.
Back on the road again, we drove through Aboyne and Cambus o' May, and arrived in Ballater. We had a wander about for a bit, and bought a couple of books in the excellent Deeside Books. Then it was back on the road again, and on to Balmoral Castle. When we arrived at the castle car park, it was "Pay and Display" once again. I said, "Not on your nelly" - five pounds to park, and you still have to pay to get in to the castle grounds? So back on the A93 we went, destination Braemar.
We spent a couple of hours walking around Braemar. We hadn't been through in about 20 years, but it didn't appear to have changed a lot. The Invercauld Arms Hotel was closed since our last visit, but apparently plans are in the offing to restore it to its former glory. We spent some time puttering around the ruins of 14th century Kindrochit Castle. In the nearby car park, there was a jaunty little Lotus sports car. I took some photos of it, with the intention of telling our friends that that was our hired car. (They didn't believe us, as they knew how much luggage we had!)
After a late Meal Deal lunch at the Co-op, we left Braemar and headed back toward Aberdeen. Braemar Castle was closed when we drove by, but we stopped for the better part of an hour, wandered about the grounds, and took photos of the castle. We hadn't visited the castle since 1973, so it was interesting to see how much the exterior had changed in the intervening 51 years. On our way back along the A93, we decided to give Balmoral another shot, hoping to see the grounds, but they were just shutting the gates as we arrived. No, we didn't pay to park!
Once we arrived back in Aberdeen, we went back to Mike's Famous Fish & Chips (still the best!) for our last evening meal on our holiday. Then it was back to the HI to pack all of our books, CDs, DVDs, chocolate, and oatcakes, for our return to Bergen, and then on to Copenhagen and Baltimore.
Wednesday, July 24th.: Departure day. We bid farewell to the Holiday Inn, then headed off to the Scottish restaurant for breakfast. As we didn't have to return the car until 4:00 p.m., I decided to spend the day along the Aberdeenshire coast. We headed to the Bullers of Buchan, where we spent a good hour wandering along the clifftops. Then a visit to Cruden Bay, a two finger salute to the Trump golf course, a visit to Balmedie Sands, and finally back to Aberdeen, where we had a final ice cream at the Inversnecky Cafe. This time, I got my ice cream in a cup, so that I didn't have to wear it.
Final installment to follow...