Thursday July 3, 2014
Ralf took his bike to the local bike shop at 9:30 am. They were able to fit the bike in for repair and replaced the spokes by 2:00 pm. We had decided to stay another night at the YHA, and get an early start tomorrow. Our wamshowers host has very generously offered to host us tomorrow night.
As we walked into Town we noticed an old train pulling into the station – would you believe it was the Royal Scotsman. It is now a tourist train that arrived in Aviemore from Inverness. Apparently the cost for a ticket is about 1,000 pounds per person, which includes the meals and champagne. Beautiful dining car, silver service all the way. The romantic age of train travel recreated.
![\"Royal](\"http://winter-rides.ca/SweetCheeks/wp-content/uploads/Royal-Scotsman.jpg\")
After the Scotsman pulled out a second steam train pulled in. This one was much cheaper to travel on and did a short trip up the rail and back.
![\"The](\"http://winter-rides.ca/SweetCheeks/wp-content/uploads/Steam-Train.jpg\")
We got a lot organized today. We popped into the outdoor stores and bought the seam grip we need and some tech wash for the jackets. We booked the train from Wick to Inverness and have found out about hiring a van to take us from Inverness to Troon our departure port to Ireland. We also checked on campsites in Troon and Larne. I feel happier knowing that things are semi-arranged for our trip to Ireland.
There are a lot of rabbits in Aviemore and we saw a red squirrel, but these two kissing rabbits were cute.
![\"Kissing](\"http://winter-rides.ca/SweetCheeks/wp-content/uploads/Kissing-rabbits.jpg\")
Apparently it snowed in June on the Cairngorms – it is summer !!
![\"Cairngorms](\"http://winter-rides.ca/SweetCheeks/wp-content/uploads/Snow-on-the-hills-Aviemore.jpg\")
I also washed our jackets in the Tech Wash. However, for some reason it over-frothed and the washing machine was full of suds. I opened the door of the washing machine and all the suds spilled out – fortunately I had a bucket underneath the door, but it took me 15 minutes to clean the suds from the washing machine. What a mess. Ralf had done something similar when we stayed with Joy and he used regular washing up liquid in her dish-washing machine and ended up washing the floor.
It is always nice staying in a hostel where they have a kitchen that we can use, we made a lovely dinner and are going to have an early night.