Herewith a picture of a cottage in the Highlands. Not the one we're staying in, but one that probably doesn't have WiFi.Actually, I have stayed in this cottage. It is called Bailead Beag (chose your own spelling), and I spent a week there during my first ever holiday.
The little building on the right was the pump house for getting water from the burn. It was the summer of 1976...
My parents, bless them, were rather thrown by this. But, hey, no water just added to the rustication (the cottage had no electricity either), and the good folk of Newtonmore brought us water in milk churns every day for a week.
The mountain behind is Creag Dubh (2,500'), and I climbed it with my Dad. I was really quite small, and I remain proud of that achivement to this day.
This time we are staying in Boat of Garten, a little way down the strath. I am sitting in front of a log fire, drinking Trade Winds, a fine ale from the Cairngorm Brewery. With each sip I am transported back to the bar of the Cairngorm Gliding Club, at Feshiebridge (where we usually stay), and where I have ill-spent many, many happy hours of my life.
I have children now, and I do more sensible things like walking in the mountains and photographing the wildlife... How many ptarmigan can you see?
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