Views of Britain and Ireland
No 2 Central Cairngorms
from Morrone in Braemar in Spring 2000
Contributed by Julie Anne
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This photograph shows
the second, third, and fourth highest mountains in Scotland.
1. Ben Macdui is the
second highest mountain in Scotland at 1309m. In this photograph the summit
is obscured by cloud.
2. Braeriach is the
third highest at 1296m; again the summit is obscured by cloud.
3. Cairn Toul is the
fourth highest at 1293m. The local pronunciation of toul is 'towel'
.
4. Of interest is Bod
an Deamhain (1004m) pronounced ‘pot-in-john’. The literal translation from
the Gaelic is ‘penis of the devil’. When Queen Victoria, who stayed at
nearby Balmoral, asked her ghillie John Brown to explain the meaning he
quickly replied, ‘The Devil’s Point, Ma'm’. This is the name given on all
modern day maps.
Julie Anne
This beautiful picture was
taken, and annotated, by Julie Anne. She has wonderfully caught the bare,
rugged grandeur of these mountains, and the pearly grey radiance of the
skies of Scotland. Julie Anne is a keen mountain rambler, and well acquainted
with the remote hills and glens of my romantic country.
Most readers, I am sure,
will recall the marvellous BBC film made a couple of years ago about John
Brown, who did so much to lift the Queen's spirits after the death of her
beloved husband, Prince Albert. John Brown was played by Billy Connolly,
who may not be known to my American readers, but who in Scotland has almost
become the country's patron saint. I remember him when he started in Scotland
in the 1970s, as a gangly, and apparently demented, Celtic hippie. Now
he has reached a well-fed, middle aged maturity. He is a wonderful person,
and you would have great difficulty finding a Scot who doesn't love our
Billy.
The Cairngorms are remote
and beautiful mountains inland from Aberdeen, and close to Balmoral Castle.
Essentially they are a part of the Grampians chain.
Susan
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