Having spent some time at the beginning of the week consulting for the Cairngorms National Park Authority I thought the drive back south would provide an ideal opportunity to take some photographs. Little did I know that the night before there would be a massive amount of snowfall that kept coming as I began driving.

Within five minutes of driving I saw two cars lose control, one of them managing to spin itself 180 degrees while trying to navigate a roundabout. My journey changed from a three hour drive into an seven hour epic, with coffee stops of course.

I did stop at Carrbridge and Dulnail Bridge for a couple of shots and was very happy to have taken my snow boots with me on the trip. I have a previous post that tells some of the history of Carrbridge with more photo's here.

Never has the rain been so hard when I got to Carrbridge on Wednesday. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. While the rest of the UK baked in 30 degrees Scotland froze it's ass off in a balmy 16 degrees, with thunderstorms and rain (and hail in some locations). Still, you can't do anything about the weather without an industrial revolution and a hundred years of polluting so I had to suck it up! I will return to this location later in the year.

On the bright side, I discovered the magic of Haggis Lasagne at the Cairn Hotel while waiting on the rain to go off, it's a cosy place with the worst wifi in Scotland but the Haggis Lasagne was unbelievably good. I've put a link to their website, be warned, the website matches their wifi...

Carrbridge's most famous landmark is the packhorse bridge, from which the village is named. The bridge, built in 1717, is the oldest stone bridge in the Highlands. It was severely damaged in the "muckle spate" of 1829 (a great flood in August 1829), which left it in the condition seen today. It is now unstable and walking over it is not recommended. The packhorse bridge celebrated it's 300th anniversary in May this year. There is discussion as to whether it is the oldest stone bridge in Scotland or the oldest in the Highlands.

These are shots that I managed to get when the rain abated a little, click the thumbnail if you are on a desktop for the larger image.