Not so scary Wildcat!

We've had a most enjoyable first day of our holiday.  We had an early breakfast then headed north to do the Aviemore Parkrun which was through beautiful countryside north of the town, 2.5k out with lots of undulations and a steady rise, around Tommy's halfway cone and back.  We were both pleased with our results, especially as we have helped at our local parkrun lots of times, but haven't run since February 2020.

Afterwards we enjoyed scrummy cake and cuppas at Route 7 Cafe before picking up some treats to attract red squirrel back to the decking and then it was back to the cottage for showers and lunch.

This afternoon we decided to walk a loop linked to the local Wildcat Trail.  It was surprisingly pretty with long views down the Calder Gorge and across to the mountains.  We walked through a variety of native trees with rich red rowan berries providing colour on the edge of the turn in to Autumn.  According to the guide book, rabbits and livestock have been excluded in areas of the trail and this has meant the wildflowers have returned.  We (well Tony!) spotted harebells, tormentil, yarrow, scabious, heather to name just a few.  There were viewpoints to enjoy overlooking the village and down the valley to the Cairngorms.  Just at the point where we turned to make our descent, we met with two interesting young women who were just about to finish the Speyside Way, one from Taiwan and the other from Romania,  both now living in the UK.  We passed the time with them for a while talking Scotland and walking.

Back down in the village we called to look at Loch Imlich.  The Wildcat Trail has been devised by the community and to complement it, locals have placed painted wildcats around the village and the trail.  We spotted several of them but I liked this one in my blip because it's a cat in the middle of the lochan (!) and also the ducks are totally unfazed by it!

Meanwhile the red squirrels are doing an excellent job of avoiding me and my camera!  I've twice seen a red rump disappearing along a branch from the treats I've put out! 

More views from the trail here.