Today we thought we would say hi to HM at Balmoral but her secretary forgot to tell her we were coming and she had gone off ten pin bowling in Aberdeen with Phil. Not really but apparently they were all in residence so we could not look around the castle so went to Crathie Kirk where the Royals attend church and Princess Anne was married there.
Balmoral is something over 55,000 acres and is owned privately by the Queen and not the state, Victoria purchased it with Albert after spending some time together at a local hunting lodge, she reputedly paid £38,000 for it and it has passed from monarch to monarch since then. There was hiccup when Edward VIII abdicated and his brother, the new King was forced to make a financial arrangement to take it off hands and return it to the monarchy.
There are several circular walks around Loch, we choose the 3 mile one which was very pleasant as the weather stayed fine, we finished the day with a distillery visit and a drink at the Boat Inn
Crathie Kirk
HM
Royal Lochnagar Distillary
Royal Purchase……..
3 mile Balmoral Walk
Lucky heather lady?
Drinks at the Boat Inn
Scottish Regiments
Local humour from the drain men of Balmoral
Loch Morlich picnic
