Auld Lang Syne

I try not to miss out on Hogmanay in the Highlands. The weather forecast is usually anyone’s guess but I always manage to fit in a few of my favourite places. And though it’s more than 30 years since I lived anywhere but London, it still feels like I’m going home.

This year we arrive on 31 December on the direct train from London, arriving into Aviemore at 19:27. We find there’s been a bit of a mix up with the new ‘zero tolerance’ drink-driving laws, and my siblings are already over the limit. Our family house is in the middle of nowhere, which is how we end up celebrating the bells in a bird hide on the edge of our loch. Appropriately enough, it’s a hoot. We move on to first-foot the neighbours and stagger home at 4am.

Dawn chorus

The new-year holiday improves day-by-day as we visit old haunts, high and low. Loch Vaa is our next nearest loch, a secret place enclosed by trees. It’s often frozen in winter, and we’ll tramp through the snow with our ice skates to do a few circuits and enjoy the childish delight of being able to skate in and out of the boathouse. There’s no ice this time, so our circuit is on foot.

Loch Vaa by the boathouse

Craigellachie is a hill that is a constant presence in Aviemore, looming right over the village and rewarding a quick but steep climb with superb views over the valley. It’s blowing a hoolie when we climb it on New Year’s Day.

On top of Craigellachie

Wind angel on Craigellachie

Meall a’ Bhuachaille is a mountain I grew up knowing very well. We kids built shelters in the forest at its fringes. We knew all the footpaths, firebreaks and lookout towers. It’s another one of those quick, steep climbs, and there’s light snow underfoot the day my sister and I take it on. Sometimes the view makes you feel like God looking down from the heavens, deeply happy with how beautifully it has all worked out.

On top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille

Worth every step

Even the views on a flattish stroll the three miles from Aviemore back to the house can prove spectacular in the right light, across the lush green of the golf course to the snow-covered Cairngorms. The Highlands never disappoint.

Course of nature