Locomotoring

The Romans called Scotland ‘Caledonia’ and Caledonian pine trees are the name for the native Scottish pine. Incidentally, I had first come across the word Caledonia in the Astrix and Obelix comic series. Caledonian pines do not look like Douglas firs. To experience the ancient Caledonian forests today, one has to visit the Cairngorms National Park. Here in Cairngorms, the forest is dominated by regenerated Scottish pine with a native understory of wild berries, juniper, heather and rowan.

The morning after the grand multi-course dinner at the Old Manse of Blair (link), we headed up to Inverness along route A9. Our starting point near Blair Atoll starts to skirt Cairngorms. Aviemore, the heart of Cairngorms, nearly halfway to Inverness, is where we would stop to explore the Cairngorms. The “Big Tree” country Hermitage woods hike (link) with its American Douglas firs and Japanese larches is a beautiful forest but isn’t a native Scottish forest.

Before Aviemore, we stopped at a small town called Kingussie for lunch and to explore the Ruthven Barrack ruins, an important historical site in Jacobite uprising (link). Kingussie itself is not forested. From the on top of the hill where the barrack is situated, one can see the forests. At the top of hill, it was also 80F in shade.

By the time we had reached Aviemore, we had decided to walk a short trail called “An Lochan Uaine (pronounced oo-an-yi, The Green Loch) circular”. The trailhead is at the Glenmore Visitor Center. I was dreading a traffic grid lock but that wasn’t the case. The crowd was reasonable given that the visitor center is right by the popular Reindeer Center. The hiking path essentially takes one to the loch and then loops back. Aside from a short stretch that needed scrambling up a steep hill, the path was accessible all the way. Views included rows upon rows of Caledonian pines, a tranquil meadow, the “mystical” green lake, views of Loch Morlich and at least one gnarly old tree. Here in the forest of Cairngorms, it was remarkably cool. By the time we would get to Inverness, we would also be greeted by thunder and rain.