On Wednesday morning, September 18th, our 98 mile journey would take us through a large section of the Cairngorms north and then east to Dunnottar Castle.

We had the buffet style breakfast the Inn provided and then packed up and checked out for our travel day.

The night before I searched on my computer for likely stops along the road. The Lair Tea and Gift shop in Glenshee popped up and sounded like a great place to stop. We kept our eyes peeled along the road and pulled in.

We were the first customers of the day.

The staff were getting ready for a motorcycle group that were arriving closer to lunch time.

We placed our orders and enjoyed our treats. We all were thankful that this little haven popped up the night before and that we could enjoy our time here.

It was fun to check out the gifts for sale. Tempting but we stuck to our snacks and drinks.

This shop appeared along the road and we didn’t think fast enough to turn off the road for a visit. There are not a lot of turn around spots.

A little further along the road we did use a turnout to stretch our legs and enjoy the scenery standing still instead of in motion.

These Highland landscapes were very different from what we had experienced already in Scotland. As you can see we had yet another amazing blue sky and sunshiny day, squint, squint. This road would not have been fun in the rain or with snow.

Our next stop along the A93 would be at Braemar which is close to Balmoral where the ‘Royals’ might be seen. That will be another post.

Balmoral is not open to the public in September, typically, so there was no chance for us catching a glimpse. Maybe we’ll return during another season and make some different stops in the Highlands…