Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2017 | Page 60

Travel
been to know that I had in fact purchased
his hat! entry to the local Whisky Distillery on
the doorstep of Balmoral.
So it was that recently, a mere 50 years
later, I booked a holiday in Craigendarroch
near Ballater. Rather than take the long
drive from the South Coast, we decided
to fly from London taking just over an
hour to Aberdeen, where we hired a pre-
booked vehicle for our week’s stay. Sadly we were unable to visit Balmoral
Castle which is only open to the public
when the Royal Family are not in
residence. We discovered many of the
family were present for the Highland
Games. However, the surrounding scenery
and local loch was breathtaking and
accentuated by a cloudless sky which was
the case for the entire week of our stay.
I cannot say that our arrival in Aberdeen
was very impressive, but what was
to follow can only be described as a
wonderful week experiencing the most
awesome scenery.
Just outside the Airport while collecting
our hire car, we noticed hundreds
of smartly dressed men and women
collecting vehicles at a rapid pace to
attend what we had been informed was
an annual Oil Conference. It meant that
there were long delays for car hire, so the
advantages of pre-booking a collection
and time had certainly paid off for us.
Our jo