Alyth to Braemer

July 3, 2025

Today we head north into Cairngorms National Park, our destination tonight being Braemar, an historic Scottish town where the Jacobite rising of 1715 began. The Jacobites were seeking to restore the Stuarts to the British throne. The Earl of Mar raised the Jacobite standard, signaling the start of the rebellion against King George I. The Jacobites were eventually defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

We had a 56 km ride and 820 m of climbing ahead of us, which is a lot for us and a bit of a test for Eric and Melinda and their bikes. (Dave: And we began the ride with Jill assuring us this would be our hardest day of riding. As you'll eventually read, that wasn't exactly accurate.)

Breakfast was amusing; the hotel seemed to be out of all the things we ordered, and I felt bad for the waitress who kept coming back to tell us they were out of kedgeree and then porridge. Being out of porridge in Scotland seemed odd but they did offer up a gluten-free version (which Dave politely declined). As an aside: Alternative food options are very much in style in Scotland: vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, various milk choices, nothing is too much trouble. It feels like dining in Oregon!

We got on the road at 10:45 am and headed northeast and then east. We rode the Old Military Road to the top of the Cairnwell Pass at Glenshee Ski Centre, a ski resort in Scotland. The Old Military Road was built in 1750, its purpose was to facilitate military movement by the English across the Highlands to quell any more Jacobite uprisings after the Battle of Culloden. Ultimatedrives.net describes the road as “literally in the middle of nowhere” with “bare landscapes, endless views over mountains, sheep and lambs grazing in the fields. ” That is all accurate and it was a signature ride.

The Scottish Highlands were filled with blooming heather.

Melinda and Jill finishing a steep ascent.

Eric and Melinda watched their battery lives like hawks on the climb. Eric reported he was down to one bar on his battery at the foot of the climb (which started after a pretty consistent low grade ascent). He breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the top and stopped for lunch at Tea at the Shee, where he was able to find an outlet and recharge. Meanwhile, Melinda had a slow motion fall on the climb. She was in a low power mode (trying to conserve energy), couldn’t get switched to a lower gear, and just fell over. She was okay though as her fall was into the grass on the side of the road and her positive attitude helped.

I was surprised to learn that Scotland has ten ski areas including this one, Glenshee.

There's a pretty expansive backside territory to explore at this ski area.

This cafe at the Ski Centre, Tea at the Shee, is open in the summer for hiking and bike riding (mostly mountain biking). There we met Tracy, a young women working in the cafe. She had recently been to Dave’s home state of Colorado, and upon learning that, had a long and spirited conversation about her travels. We learned she was from Northern Ireland, and we had ridden through her neck of the woods on the day Dave and I rode between Newry and Portadown. When we detoured slightly to look at a WW2 pillbox in Scarva, we were down the way from her hometown.

Tracy loved exploring Southern Colorado/Northern New Mexico and we traded several stories.

It’s a small world.

The descent from Glenshee to Braemer was almost too good to be true; a smooth, easy descent, wonderful road conditions, shockingly beautiful scenery and no traffic. About 7 km from Braemar we peeled off the Old Military Road onto a small county lane and then a gravel road, leading us to the Braemer Highlands Centre. This centre is comprised of a number of sport fields for Highland sports (caber toss or hammer throw, anyone?) and a small museum which explained the history of the Highland Games. They were started in Braemer in 1832 to revive the culture of the Highlands, after being suppressed by the English. Gradually Highland games grew to other regions in Scotland and around the world as Scots emigrated to other countries. All summer there are “gatherings.” In the US, key Highland game events are in North Carolina and New Hampshire. The Braemar Gathering in September remains the grand daddy of them all and attendance by the royals is common. We enjoyed the half hour we spent there and learned something to boot. Why we travel.

The field where the Highland games are played.

We still had a little time to kill after seeing the museum before we could check in, so we headed into Braemer and stopped at the Fife Arms Hotel for a pint before checking into our accommodation, the Braemer Youth Hostel.

You might be wondering have we exhausted their travel budget? Did too many nights at the 5* Maria Christina in San Sebastián screw the pooch? You all might remember from prior journal entries that I have strict instructions from Dave to avoid accommodations where the bathroom is down the hall, you know, like at a youth hostel.

The fact is that there are few options in the adorable village of Braemer. There is a 5* star hotel, the Fife Arms, the Braemer Youth Hostel, and a few cute b and b’s in between. Unfortunately the b and b’s, normally a good middle option, would only take bookings for two nights. Unfortunately too, the Fife Arms charged $800 a night, and that was just too stiff for us, especially because we are spending two nights in a fancy hotel in Craigellachie on the weekend. So, we opted for the youth hostel, which to be fair, is actually pretty nice for a hostel. We have our own rooms, but our room was a garret with twin beds on the top floor and much of the room was under the eves so we had to be careful not to bump our heads. The toilet was all the way down at the other end of the hall as was the shower. The public spaces were nice and I spent an hour trip planning on my tablet in the lounge with a cup of tea before dinner. We also had bike shed parking with outlets for charging. The hostel was an old lodge in a wooded area on the outskirts of Braemer. Short story: If you are on a budget this is a great facility. It’s just we are a little past that time of our travel life.

Our room was a bit cramped, but clean and functional.

We had a wonderful meal that evening in the pub, called the Flying Stag, at the Fife Arms. There was a fancy restaurant but we opted for the more casual pub and the meal was original and the staff friendly. At the next table was a woman and her son (we thought) and we had a passing conversation a couple of times during the evening. First, when she was selecting wine (Dave can always have a chat about that) and, later about what they did for the day., which was a Scottish version of a polar bear plunge. She said she was born in New York, lived in South Africa and now lived in Ojai, California. We never got a pic or her name. Later as we left we turned to each other and said: “we think that woman was a movie star.” Both Eric and I remembered her from a Tom Hanks flick which we eventually recalled as “That Thing you Do” and Eric remembered her from a Lord of the Rings movie. None of the four of us are celebrity spotters but we were curious enough that when we went back to our hostel and turned to Google to figure out who she was. Turns out we were right. She was Liv Tyler, son of Steven Tyler, the Aerosmith rocker. The final determining factor was this woman said she lived in Ojai, and sure enough, according to google, Liv Tyler lives in Ojai with her three children. We were very relieved we didn't do the “Gee, we do a cycling journal. Can we take your pic and include you in our journal?” Everybody loves to be included, but if I was a movie star, not so much….

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 2,286 km (1,420 miles)

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Mark LongLiv Tyler is also a big advocate for women’s health, especially breast cancer prevention. Cool that you “met” her.
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