June 1: South to Edinburgh

Here we are on the shores of Loch Morich. The day starts with the discovery of a tick on Millie's back. It must have made its home when we were biking in the forest on dusk. We extract the beast and leave our idyllic camping spot by the lake heading for Cairngorm mountain to take a peak at the ski field and view of the surrounds. From here we are compelled to return to beautiful Lake Eilein where Millie takes off for her second 'round the lake' bike ride in 24 hours. Still lovely, the Loch has a different feel to when we were here a few days ago and the heavens opened leaving skies moody and everything else vibrant and fresh. We have a giggle that Francine finds her doll sitting on the picnic table. She lost the doll the previous week when we were last here.
Our next stop is the Highland Folk Centre just outside Newtonmore. It covers a huge area and includes a working settlement from the 1700s, along with a house set up as in the 1800s, a turn of the century school, and a crofters farm from the turn of last century. The place is free and the guides are incredible. Dressed in the style of the day they talk about what life would have been like. There are peat fires burning in the houses. 
Millie grinds wheat and we get to see what it would be like to live in a house heated by peat fires. Seats are low to the ground to avoid the constant smoke. Beds are small and people sleep six to a bed sitting upright. The girls are captivated to see a school from early last century and are disappointed when we elect to move on before they have seen everything. The centre has free entry. It's fabulous but we drive on to Tony's choice for the day. The whiskey distillery at Dalwhinnie is not far down the raod . We arrive a bit late for a tour but discover the kids can't tour anyway as they say the carbon monoxide levels in the air are too high for kids. A bit of a shame.

There are still a couple more stops on our agenda in a very full day. One of the amazing things Clare saw on her last trip was salmon jumping up rapids on their way to spawn. We had heard about a fish ladder in Pitlochry so we head for there. It's a bit disappointing to discover that this is actually a manmade device. There are a series of 34 pools of increasing water levels that run alongside a manmade dam. While amazing, it's not quite the same watching a lone salmon swim through a pipe on its way up the river. We walk back to the van through warm rain and stop to cook our dinner before one last stop on our way to Edinburgh.

Millie has been completely enthused to hear stories of the ancestors who lived in Scotland then made the decision to immigrate to New Zealand. She asked for more and more stories. It was really cool to stop at the address of one of those folk. James Congreve lived in Perth, Scotland. He left there and moved to New Zealand in the late 1800s. James Congreve's family owned the inn on High St Perth. Millie was fascinated by the story of how he came to Dunedin then worked in the Skippers Canyon for a period. We talked about how James had a baby Olive, who had a baby Fuchsia, who had a baby Andrew, who had a baby Clare who had a baby Millie. She demanded to know more and more about the stories of the folk who made thier way to New Zealand... Many from the land of Scotland. It was a great day to piece things together for her. So worthwhile. Two summers ago we had taken a trip into the Skippers to see where James Congreve was living and working with his family. It was pretty neat to be able to connect with the story of this man.

It's a short stop here then we make directly for the park and ride outside Mussleburgh, Edinburgh. It's been a very full day. We park up ten days since we were here last. This time we are aware that our predecessors were living right here too. Janet Peat was in my mothers line and was born right here.