Scotland Spring 2012 #2

Extreme Golf

As we approached the golf course, Duff House Royal in Banffshire, Scotland, we kept an eye on the thermometer in the car.  All the way from Aviemore in the Highlands we had watched the outside temperature range from a high of 9° C to a low of 6° C (about 42° F) where it stood as we got out of the car in the club parking lot.  The wind was blowing in from the North Sea at between 15 and 20 miles per hour fairly steadily--it was a cold, damp wind that put the effective temperature on our skin between 32° F and 35° F.  I put on rain pants, long-john top, golf shirt, and a fleece jumper which meant I was barely warm, but at least I could still swing my clubs with some semblance of normalcy.  Anne had on several extra layers plus cold weather golf gloves and still complained bitterly about the cold.  Luckily it didn’t rain while we were on the course, although it was raining a few miles to the south, west, and east--north there was only the sea.  We both agreed that if it started to rain we were walking off the course.  The course is lovely, a classic 1910 design by Scottish golf architects James Braid and Alister Mackenzie (Augusta National, Cyprus Point, etc.). 

By the time we finished three hours later (we had to move quickly to stay warm) and went into the clubhouse for a warming dram of single malt Scotch, we were both bright red from windburn and chill.  This was probably the coldest golf I have ever played--even colder than playing frozen Arrowhead GC one January at 28°, but with no wind.  Anne did a great job playing survival golf at Duff House Royal, but I still won the match one up.  

The Aviemore Journal

As I sit at the dining table in our Scandinavian Village timeshare unit I can type this post on my MacAir and watch the alpineglow spread across the tops of the snow covered Cairngorm range.  We’ve been here for a week--a week of cold sun, rain and snow, and chilly wind.  It’s been a good week of golf, hiking, touring, driving, and eating.  Now it is time to share some of the images from our Aviemore (Highlands) week.  

On our first day in Aviemore we got enough breaks in the weather to ride the Cairngorm Funicular Tram to the top of Cairngorm Mountain (elevation 4078 feet, the 6th highest in the UK), tromp around in the snow for a few minutes, and then warm up with coffee and sweet in the Ptarmigan Restaurant.

Instead of lunch after the tram we stopped to play golf in spitting snow flurries and sun at Boat of Garten GC, one of the best heathland (heather and birch) courses in the world.  

Even with light flurries at times it seemed warm enough to take off my jumper (sweater), but only for a few minutes.  The next day started with a quick 9-holes at Ballindalloch Castle GC, a course we’d played once before.  After golf we again skipped lunch, this time in favor of a visit to the Scotland Osprey Centre at Loch Garten.  

We get spoiled having osprey on our home golf course, Arrowhead, but the Scots are justly proud of the reintroduction of the species with now about 200 birds nesting.  The thrill for us was viewing a wild male Capercaille, the largest of the grouse family (about the size of turkey), through spotting scopes at the Centre. There are only 1200 Capercailies known to exist.  Although I attempted to take a photo through the scope, the part of the head and beak I shot is not good enough to share.  Tuesday’s golf was at one of our favorite courses, Moray Old GC, one of the top 100 courses in the world. 

Clouds and wind greeted us at Lossiemouth where the course and an RAF base are located, but there was no rain.  

The golf was great and the Tornado jets landing just over our heads was a treat--a VERY noisy treat.  On the way back to our timeshare we drove a few miles of single-track road and then climbed up to the Ardclach Bell Tower, which had been used both for church services and as a prison.  

We stayed around Aviemore on Thursday and did mundane things like lattes and writing, shopping for gifts, getting a beard trim.  I did manage some time for some local forest photos 

and Anne and I visited Loch-an-Eilein with its castle in the middle of the loch.  

After hiking in the cold around the loch, dinner at The Rowan Tree Restaurant was especially welcome.  This was one of the best meals we’ve had in Scotland and we ate with Ewan McGregor, the Scottish actor who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars I, II, and III.  

Of course, he was at another table.  Drats!   I’ve already detailed the Extreme Golf we enjoyed on Thursday at Duff House Royal GC.  The rains came in late that day and they stayed most of the day Friday.  Our first job was to call to cancel the golf we had booked at Forres, but even the golf manager said canceling was a good idea--too wet, windy, and cold.  That left us plan-less.  A found Day--almost like a snow day when we were teaching.  We filled the day by going back to the Cairngorms, or at least to the snow line where I photographed an ancient Scots pine and lovely mountain burn.  

We discovered a wonderful mountain cafe, Glenmore Mountain Cafe. 

A folksy place with decent soup, sandwich, and apple strudel.  Most importantly, though, was the viewing area for the endangered Scottish Red Squirrel, endangered because the American Gray Squirrel is killing them off. 

It was a marvelous lunch with three squirrels feeding and frolicking and numerous birds trying to get in on the action.  What a week!  Not the kind we had planned, but the kind of week we’ll never forget.