If you’ve been reading along for the last 6 months or so you’ll be very well aware of our trip to Scotland and the NC500. Now that we are back, and after sharing my daily thoughts on our day to day activities, I am editing my original itineraries (if needed) and sharing the logistics of this trip with you in a special Scotland series of blogs. In addition to those I will be doing a highlight series too. Which means I will be picking out one particular point or experience of each of the days spent in Scotland that really stood out for me on this trip.
This is my highlight from Day 1.
I wish, with all of my travellers heart and soul I could say that the Cairngorms with their cacophony of colours and textures had won me over on this day. Winding rivers dominate the landscape and I am so fond of how Scottish rivers bubble through the valleys despite being on a rather flat piece of land. As you drive through the snow roads you have such a feeling of remoteness and being alone that it somehow introduces you for the first time to the Highlands and what the NC500 route will entail. Like I said, I wish this was the highlight, but it just wasn’t.
Just two days before the Queen’s funeral in London, we arrived at Balmoral. Unsure of whether our plan to hike to Prince Albert’s Cairn would proceed it was always our intention to try. It was very obvious on our arrival at the car park that the hikes surrounding the Balmoral Estate were all closed and yet my usual disappointed feeling was lost in the fray of grief and arriving cars.
The area was silent except for the wind rushing through the trees and the ferocious River Dee below a beautiful green arched bridge. You felt the grief in the air, shall we say. Unbeknownst to us whether we would even get into the car park, we didn’t buy flowers, and made our way up from Edinburgh. Much of this day was unsure due to recent events.
When the death of our Queen was announced, and with our trip so close, tensions were high in not knowing just how to grieve. When the funeral was announced we found out that we would not be at home. Of course, with modern technology you can record such events, but something just wasn’t sitting right with me. WIth such a momentous time in history it felt strange to go about our trip and not do something. It was also one of those moments in time which felt so serendipitous. Having never been north of Edinburgh before and now facing a visit to the Balmoral Estate just 9 days after our monarch’s death was utterly bizarre. It was as if it was meant to be.
And there they were. The black gates with the gold lettering. The world’s press had been on these pavements just a few days before. She had been here just a few days before. Now there were just a handful of people with hundreds of bouquets resting quietly in place before the stone walls. The space was silent. It was as if everyone’s grief had come to rest here. And for the first time since her death my mind cleared. It was as if I had found the outlet I needed.
I took the time to look at the thick carpet of flowers. Red roses. Purple irises. White lilies. Sunny sunflowers. Something to show love and adoration. Symbols of thanks, grief and sorrow. Cards and notes. Drawings and photos. The outpouring of love and sadness was thick in the air. It was palpable.
One might find it strange that in a travel blog you have found yourself reading about death and grief. And yet the more time I spent at those gates, by those flowers, in silence, the more sense it made. This was my time to grieve on a personal level. Having not made it into London was hard and my physical ability and mental capacity at the time had a huge impact on my choice on whether to go. But there I was, at the scene of the biggest loss in this country’s most recent history and it was as if the itinerary I wrote all those months ago had put me exactly where I needed to be. Travel does that. It puts you right where you need to be.
Mr W wandered around the space while I took the time to reach a mental space that I felt happy with. I said goodbye to our Queen Eilzabeth with a much clearer mind and conscience. Later on in the trip we managed to pause our day’s plans and watch the funeral online. We joined the rest of the world as she made her final journey and it was unbelievably beautiful.
However, I will never forget the time I stood before her Scottish home and said my own personal goodbyes. Just us.
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