5:45 AM on a Saturday morning- I rolled out of bed to get ready for the 7:45 bus that I had to catch to go to my desired destination. I had planned out a whole day trip to go and see three castles. However, as traveling goes, your day may not always go as planned. As I opened the curtain in my bedroom, I was surprised to see the ground covered with snow. This was quite unexpected. I would not let this snow ruin my day. At 6:45, I met up with my friend from Wisconsin and we started our journey to town. There was about 2 inches of snow, enough snow to make your tennis shoes wet and cause a slippery journey.
Arriving at the bus station, we found our platform, but the bus was not there yet. We noticed that a bus two platforms away had the same bus number that we needed, so we decided to go on the bus and ask the driver if we could get to our desired location with this bus. He said that because of the snow, the road had been closed to where we wanted to go. He said he would drive as far as he could. We purchased day tickets and figured we would just see what would happen. After looking at the map, we realized that two of the castles that we wanted to see were beyond the closed road. This whole journey seemed pointless now. The bus had no heating and my feet were freezing. The windows on the bus were so dirty, that I could not even watch the scenery during the ride. I was getting discouraged and thought that the whole day was ruined.
After about 2.5 hours on the bus, the bus driver stopped in Ballater- a small town in Cairngorms National Park. He called someone and asked if he could drive further but he apparently could not. The roads seemed to be perfectly fine. I believe that he just did not want to drive out there and wanted a longer break. He was a very grumpy man and had no intention on even going to Braemar (where we and several others on the bus wanted to go). Exiting the bus, four other students studying at the University of Aberdeen, a nice gentlemen, and my friend and I were left in Ballater with nothing to do.
The older gentlemen began talking to us and asked if we wanted to go on a walk around the Cairngorms called the Seven Bridges Walk. We had no plans so this man took the six of us on a wonderful journey around the park. His name is Jim and he was one of the nicest people I have ever met. What person would take four hours out of their day to take 6 strangers on a walk? Jim had plenty of interesting stories to tell. He used to be a police officer for the Royal Family in Scotland. On the walk, he would point out historical sites and give us facts about the park. Most interesting to me was a small cabin tucked away in the woods which is the Queen's fishing cabin. Jim explained that this park is only snow covered about three days out of the year. We were very fortunate to experience this. The beauty of this park was stunning.
Leaving the two inches of snow in Aberdeen behind, we entered Ballater which had between 5-8 inches of snow (depending where we were in the park). Perhaps tennis shoes were not the best to wear on this long walk, but I had no other choice. Before leaving for the walk, I actually took an extra pair of gloves and put them on my toes to keep them warm. The paths were almost entirely unoccupied so we had to clear the trails with our footprints. This meant stepping into deep snow. My shoes were snow covered, but as long as I kept moving, my feet and toes did not hurt.
Hiking in the Cairngorms is something that I have always wanted to do but I did not expect to do it right now and in half a foot of snow. The snow covered trees were gorgeous to see in person. I felt as though I was in Narnia. The river Dee was half frozen and the mountain tops were all snow covered. The whole walk was a peaceful, quiet, and rewarding journey. We were able to see some Highland cattle, sheep, and horses along the trails. Being immersed in this nature was something that I have never experienced before.
I am so grateful for this unplanned journey and for the kindness of Jim for taking us around the Cairngorms. After about 3.5 hours of walking, we were back in Ballater. My friend and I went to a cafe to warm up and then caught the 2:00 bus back to Aberdeen. Jim was also on the bus and we sat next to him. This bus actually had heating and was a double-decker bus so we sat on the top floor at the very front so that we could get a panoramic view. Jim would point out different trails, architectural sites, and points of interest during the bus ride. Thanks to Jim, my list of things to do and see in Scotland has grown extensively.
During this journey, I learned to not get discouraged when everything does not go as planned. Sometimes the best experiences in life come out of a spontaneous adventure.
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