Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a disappointment even for a dedicated royalist. For the three months when the
doors are nudged open, the general riffraff are permitted to view only the ballroom,
an exhibition room and the grounds. With so little of the castle on view, it's worth
making the most of the grounds and larger estate by following some of the country
walks, heading off on a Land Rover safari or allowing the free audio tour to guide
you around.
Opposite the castle's gates on the main road, the otherwise dull granite church of
Crathie
, built in 1895 with the proceeds of a bazaar held at Balmoral, is the royals'
local church.
10
INFORMATION
BALMORAL CASTLE AND AROUND
Tourist o
ce
In the car park by the church on the main
road (April-Oct daily 10am-5pm; Nov-March Mon-Fri
10am-noon;
T
01339 742414)
Braemar and around
West of Balmoral, the road rises to 1100ft above sea level in the upper part of
Deeside at the village of
BRAEMAR
, situated where three passes meet and
overlooked by an unremarkable
castle
.
It's an invigorating, outdoor kind of
place, well patronized by committed hikers, but probably best known for its
Highland Games, the annual
Braemar Gathering
(see box below), on the first
Saturday of September.
Linn of Dee
A pleasant diversion from Braemar is to head six miles west to the end of the road and
the
Linn of Dee
, where the river plummets savagely through a narrow rock gorge. From
here there are countless walks into the surrounding countryside or up into the heart of
the Cairngorms (see p.425), including the awesome Lairig Ghru pass which cuts all the
way through to Strathspey.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
BRAEMAR AND AROUND
By bus
Buses to and from Ballater (9 daily; 35min) stop
on Auchendryne Square, while long-distance coaches
drop package tourists in the car park opposite the
Fife Arms Hotel
.
DEESIDE AND DONSIDE HIGHLAND GAMES
Royal Deeside is the home of the modern
Highland Games
, which claims descent from
gatherings organized by eleventh-century Scottish king Malcolm Canmore to help him recruit
the strongest and fittest clansmen for his army. The most famous of the local games is
undoubtedly the
Braemar Gathering
, held on the first Saturday in September, which can see
crowds of 15,000. Since Queen Victoria's day, successive generations of royals have attended
the event, which has become something of an overcrowded, overblown affair. You're not
guaranteed to get in if you just turn up; the website (
W
braemargathering.org) has details of
how to book tickets in advance.
Vying for celebrity status in recent years has been the
Lonach
Gathering
in nearby
Strathdon on Donside, held the weekend before Braemar, where local laird Billy Connolly
dispenses drams of whisky to marching village men and has been known to invite some
Hollywood chums along - Steve Martin has appeared dressed in kilt and jacket, while Robin
Williams has competed in the punishing hill race.
For a true flavour of the spirit of Highland gatherings, however, try to get to one of the
events that take place in other local towns and villages at weekends throughout
July
and
August
, where locals outnumber tourists and the competitions are guaranteed to be
hard-fought and entertaining. Local tourist o
ces and the tourist board website
(
W
aberdeen-grampian.com) should be able to tell you what's happening where.
