Loch Ness and The Cairngorms with Scotland The Brave

Welcome back to the adventures of Scotland The Brave in Scotland. He’d flown with his Guardians from Perth Australia to London. They saw grand places like Stonehenge and Bath, Plymouth, Glastonbury, Lake Windermere , Gretna Green , Loch Lomond, Glencoe and the Isle of Skye.

Now Scotty’s trusty tour bus steered for Loch Ness and then the Cairngorms mountains. To be a wee bear named Scotland in the heart of Scotland is a grand experience. Scotty looked out at the scenery all at the way, soaking in the Scottishness of it all.

Castle Spotting: He especially looked out for Castles. You don’t get to see castles in Perth, Australia, except on documentary channels. The settlers of Swan River Colony brought none with them in 1829 in the sailing ships.

Oh, look, there’s a castle. The trusty tour bus driver stopped and everyone climbed out to take ‘selfies’. This particular castle is so famous and romantic that its on billions of ‘selfies’ on Instagram.

Scotty posed for a “Scottie”. He sat on fishing nets so as to look even more rustic and Instagram-ish. Can you guess where this castle is?

Where Nessie Wasn’t: Back on board, they wound alongside winding rivers in soggy valleys between ranges that are topped by rain even in July. They arrived at one of the most famous and loch-iest of all the Lochs you will hear about anywhere, Loch Ness, reputed home of Nessie.

Scottie settled down in hopes to see Nessie gliding by, but the local ducks told him she wasn’t there. “Hardly ever home, that lass’, said the ducks. ‘Always gadding about.’ She was probably off visiting relatives in another loch, they said, or even ‘doon south’ with distant cousins in Lake Windermere .

Tourist boats cruised down a canal called the Caledonian Canal to take people out to look for Nessie. Scotty believed the ducks though, so he and his guardians had a wander in the village instead.

The Cairngorms National Park: They drove back down the highway to Spean Bridge and turned east along another valley or Glen to Loch Laggan then on a wee way to their base camp, Laggan Hotel near Kingussie in the Cairngorms. There seemed to be little else around but farm houses and damp sheep.

Laggan Hotel looks terribly ‘romantic’ in the Sir Walter Scott way of using that word in his novels. There are even turrets outside and old weapons and armour inside. (Sir Walter Scott is probably a distant relative of Scotty. Note how they have nearly the same name. )

Scotty looked out on the magnificent view in hopes of spying Heiland Coos, Monarchs of the Glen, and sundry mythical beasties. He saw hares popping in and out of the many holes in the paddock below.

He saw sheep trudging up the distant mountain in the rain. He saw the little waterfalls and rivulets up there. He saw the sheep trudging down the hillsides in the rain. But no hairy coos at all.

Scotty likes maps and he tried to work out from them if he could see any particular Munros or Corbetts hereabouts. Creag Dhubh, perhaps? Carn Dearg? But wasn’t sure as he is only a beginner Munro- spotter.

Full of hope that he would see a hairy coo somewhere, Scotty set off again on his travels. Onward, along valleys over which loomed rocky crags and more waterfalls.

Onward, through the gusts of rain past brimming rivers and rich green land. Occasionally, blobs moved about- wet clean sheep.

Scotty, of course, made sure to check whether Nessie might be there in the rivers, gliding between the lochs, gadding about to visit cousins. No sign of Nessie though.

Their next destination was most exciting: a castle called Blair Athol. It was on the way, surprisingly enough, to Perth. Most confusing. How had Perth somehow moved to Scotland? In the next exciting episode Scotty will rush about Blair Athol, posing for ‘Scotties’ all over the place. Later he will not quite get to Perth, see a golf course (boring) and climb Edinburgh Castle. Stay tuned.

** Scotty was to see only one Hairy Coo, and that was in Isle of Man, where he also saw heather. There was one red squirrel where they stayed in Edinburgh, and not one Monarch of any Glen loomed through the rain. Although he did see road signs suggesting that they might. But he DID see castles.

BOOKS with Scotland in them (our Scotty, that is)

Scotty is the star of a very special book called When A Brave Bear Fights Cancer: A Get Well Soon Gift by Carola Schmidt. In the book, Scotty a little bear who gets a bad sickness called cancer. He’s worried and often scared because cancer is scary.  But the doctors and nurses and other patients help him. The book is to help kids feel much more brave when they are getting treatment. It’s available in paperback and Kindle. Look for the brave little bear wearing trews on the cover.

Scotty in books by Mawson

You can also see Scotty in all the books by Mawson. One is called It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In (in that one he delivers the post) and another is She Ran Away From Love (he delivers the post again.) In Dreamy Days and Random Naps you can see him being a king and also a superb guitarist. Don’t miss that one! You can find Mawson’s books on this Link here, and on his Writer-Bear Page on Amazon.This is what the books look like:

You have wandered into Mawson Bear’s web-den. Mawson is the Writer-Bear of It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In  and Dreamy Days and Random Naps and She Ran Away From Love. Mawson’s Guardian is co-creator of When A Brave Bear Fights Cancer, by Carola Schmidt