Scotland in Autumn

September 27, 2007 on 10:29 am | In Uncategorized |

I arrived back from New Zealand this week to find Scotland in the first throes of autumn. It was strange to leave New Zealand in spring and arrive in Scotland in autumn. I was snowboarding last week and am now planning a wee surf session at the weekend here. I am lucky enought to have arrived just in time to see the trees in their summer garb before they begin to change into their autumn colours and then loose their leaves. I really love this time of year in Scotland. It is often the best time of year to go mountian biking as well. The perfect plan for my up coming weekend is a day surfing on Saturday on the Moray coast then a day mountain biking on Sunday around Aviemore. I am planning a mountain biking trip up Glen Einich as this is my favourite place to see the Spey Valley from. This is a great afternoon or morning trip and takes around 2 hours to get up to the loach and a little less to come back down. It is easily made into a day trip by taking either the track to Loch Morlich or the track to Invereshie on the way back down. I like to take the Loch Morlich track and then, on reaching Loch Morlich, take the track past Badagouish and over to meet the back road that runs from Coylum Bridge to Boat of Garten. Another option, which makes the day into a long one, is to take the track that runs through to Nethy Bridge from Glenmore Lodge. I always remember to check the weather forecast before I go and have a plan B for half way if the weather looks like it is going to tun nasty. It is easy to get caught out and at this time of year the weather around Aviemore can be very harsh. The last thing I want is to get caught in a sleet storm 4 hours from home!

Lesley McKenna
http://www.chunkyknit.com
Professional snowboarder, film maker and ambassador for Visitscotland. All sorts of outdoor sports from skiing to mountain biking and now mixes her time on the Snowboard World Cup Tour with time in Scotland doing these sports.