Days 4-5: Ballindalloch to Tomintoul to Grantown

We took the 15-mile spur, basically a detour away from the River Spey, roughly following (at a distance) the River Avon to Tomintoul. We stopped en route at the Glenlivet distillery which (certain folk were horrified to learn) is now owned by the Frogs, er, I mean a French company. Frank and I enjoyed the cozy armchairs by the fireplace, while the others went on an extended tour of the distillery. (The bottom line was they liked the 18-year scotch better than the 12-year scotch, but bought nothing.)



There were two 1800-foot hills to climb on the way, not quite "grahams", but steep enough to make the going a bit tough at times. The views were lovely, though.

We descended through fields of heather.

And passed through sheep pastures, to the great dismay and confusion of the sheep. (This earned me a boot cleaning from U.S. Customs on my return to the States.)

We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Clockhouse Restaurant in Tomintoul. The next day, at our usual start time, the five of us piled into the van with all the luggage. Everyone else was deposited at Ballindalloch to resume the regular course of the Speyside Way. Me, I stayed with the baggage, traveling in style to Grantown. The journey passed quickly, as the driver and I discussed topics ranging from bearable and nonbearable neighborhoods in New York City to the mollycoddling of children and what constitutes the ideal family size. We drove around Grantown at random for a while until we found the Brooklyn B&B. I then hung out in a local park most of the day, reading Mutiny on the Bounty. The entire Grantown Museum took approximately 20 minutes to peruse (a waste of 2 quid), but a nice lunch of chicken chat masala and chana saag made up for it. All this lollygagging around meant I logged zero miles, to my companions' thirteen. I had thought I was skipping an "easy day", but at dinner (to which Frank magnanimously treated the entire gang), we compared notes and it became clear that this was actually the most challenging terrain of the Walk.

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