Where's our money!

Time on hands this morning as Braemar Castle opened at 10 am and we were up and dressed by 8.30.am. Those dam sheep in the field opposite insisted on calling to one another at a ridiculous time in the morning! So Ian never one to be idle took the water pump apart. He discovered a load of gumph in the filter, horrible black stuff that may have been the reason for the pump taking in air. Made me wonder what's lurking in the water tank.This was worrying because we don't bother with bottled water, instead, drinking it straight from the tap. But as neither of us has come down with anything nasty it must be okay!

That black gumph was blocking the valve.

Braemar Castle was worth the £14 paid. The rooms could be walked through without a guide and we took our time going around.

 When we were at Balmoral the one thing we didn't go to see was the Crathie Kirk. So back we went to find John Browns grave.  Apparently, according to the website, his grave was situated nearby. John Brown, a servant, became a good friend of Queen Victoria after Albert died.

This was the origonal Kirk at Balmoral. Victoria had the new one built 6 years before she died.

More loyal servants of Queen Victoria

 The Kirk could be viewed with a small fee of £1 Inside we were met by a very knowledgeable lady who gave us a few facts. The Queen attends the church every Sunday while she is at Balmoral, the pews she sits on has to be kept covered when she is not there because of dust and sometimes small pieces of granite which falls from the roof above and then taking us outside pointed out the entrance the Queen uses to get inside the Kirk. She also pointed to a small house way in the distance saying that the Queen uses this house if Balmoral is still open to the public.

The Queens entrance

On the road again and towards Kerrimur. Nearing the Ski resort of Glenshee the visibility became almost non-existent. It was either low cloud cover or we were very high up!

There was a sign for Glamis Castle The Queen mums childhood house and this is one place where the Red Squirrels could be seen. By the time we arrived the rain was coming down hard so a mad dash to the castle entrance was a necessity, Right by the door was an ATM machine. With only a £20 note to our name, Ian decided to get out some cash. What a bad move! The machine excepted the card, the transaction went through, machine released the card back to Ian and then nothing. On the screen, an out of order notice came up. "What about my money?" Said he. Not a penny came our way. A phone number was displayed in case of problems so Ian was straight on the phone to them. What a waste of space they were. They wouldn't accept that it was the machines fault stating that Ian had to contact our bank and sort it out with them. Long story short and after much hanging on listening to that incessant music playing on the other end of the phone, it was eventually sorted out. A refund will be coming our way as soon as the complaint is processed.

Having spent so much time sorting out the problem we only had time to go around the castle. No photos allowed but I could take photos of the Queen mum's dollhouse which was an almost exact replica of some of the rooms viewed.

So tomorrow we go back. The staff of the Castle has allowed us to come in on the same tickets because we had the problem with their ATM machine. Hopefully, it will also have stopped raining by then!

And wildlife,