We said goodbye to Edinburgh and drove to Aviemore. The Historic Scotland mobile app is really great and lets you find interesting stops along the way. On our way, we stopped by Huntingtower Castle, located near Perth. It’s two well-preserved connected tower houses built very close together (originally about 3 meters apart). These towers date from the 15th and 16th centuries. The eastern tower boasts one of Scotland’s oldest surviving painted ceilings, dating back to around 1540. You can get on the rooftop and see a beautiful panorama of the Scottish countryside. This is easily worth a quick stop if you are driving north.
Our destination was Ravenscraig Guest House in Aviemore. Aviemore is a small town with little going on other than being a jumping-off point for the Cairngorms National Park, so we took our time to arrive. After Huntingtower Castle, we stopped by the Dalwhinnie Distillery, but got there after the tours had closed, so we could only get to the tasting room. The Scottish take drinking and driving seriously and will not sell the driver a tasting. Every distillery we stopped in would ask us who was driving.
Ravenscraig Guest House is a very charming B&B that I recommend. Nothing is going on in the town of Aviemore. I read that the Scots eat early and the restaurants fill up fast, as in Aviemore. We took a stroll through the city to pick up snacks for the road trip and upcoming hike, and then stopped by a few places for a bite. Everything was sold out, and they had finished seating for the evening, and it was only 7 pm! We finally found space at a newer place called Delaney’s Restaurant, and we had a lovely meal that led us to turn in relatively early.