Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

They're making you work for the holiday again this week. Near as I can figure it, the most likely answers seem to me to be

Q1. Ballater

Q2. Invermark castle.


The initial clues place us in a dangerous part of the world, the Cairngorm national park. The Eastender himself has been hiking in there and knows well the hazards that lie in wait for the unwary Munro bragger (Urisks, Kelpies, Midges and Bonxies will seem as nothing while stumbling through this place, wait until you bump into the fearsome Am Fear Liath Mor in the mist, you'd best be good at running or be able to puff yourself up to look bigger than him...). The VIP the author is talking about is most likely queen Victoria, as she did not want the GNSR (Great North of Scotland) railway to proceed past the riverside town of Ballater, fearing that an invasion of gawping tourists and stalkers of celebrities would descend upon her house at Balmoral, some six miles to the west. The blurb on the GNSR railway site claims that it ceased transporting passengers c1966 after Dr Beeching decided to make cuts in the railway system.

A castle on the given bearing, of eleven crow miles south-south east from Ballater, is most likely to be Invermark castle. As there are not many roads through that desolate and wind blasted wilderness, to reach it from Ballater, you have to go the long way round via A93, the B974, followed by the B966 and then drive up the Glen Esk road (which doesn't seem to have a number). There are more castles than you can shake a stick at in this neck of the woods but the second castle, fourteen miles north-north east of Ballater, is most likely to be Kildrummy castle, some of the references claim it is of 13th century origin and did have a 'Snow Tower' which is said to have collapsed circa 1805 (not surprising after all the damage the vicious tyrannical psychopath Edward the 1st did to it, although it has to be said, that some good ol' Jacobites did cause a bit of a mess by having a boozy party there during the late unpleasantness in 1689 ).

From Ballater, it seems that the puzzle author is travelling east along the A93 until he turns south onto the B974 before stopping at the viewpoint called the Cairn O' Mount, according to Ordnance Survey, this is 455 metres above sea level or around 1493 feet in old money. The viewpoint seems to be named after a cairn which is believed to have been built circa 2000bc. Continuing south from the viewpoint brings you to 'Fasque House',which was for some time the childhood home of William Ewart Gladstone, a former British prime minister. After leaving the mansion, the directions take us most likely onto the road which follows the North Esk river to Invermark. Some of the sources I checked claim that what remains today of Invermark castle was built in the 16th century (c1526) and was owned by the Lindsay family, though there have been some kind of fortifications there since at least the 13th century.

The water feature is most likely the 'Queen's Well' which is a spring around three miles north west of the castle and queen Victoria and prince Albert are said to have taken a drink from it while travelling in the region. It has got some stones built over it which form a crown shape but it is nowhere near as impressive or as historically significant and important as the Rowan tower cairn on Rowan hill, just west of the village of Tarfside. The lake a mile to the west is most likely loch Lee.

link to the competition

Where Was I?