It is in the gentle foothills of north-east Scotland that the rivers and streams are at their softest, clearest, purest and sweetest tasting. Most of us think that water is tasteless; in fact, all water has some kind of taste. And for perfection, far better than water in bottles in supermarkets, one cannot beat sampling a naked stream in the heathery eastern Highlands. These streams are the foundations for many of Scotland's most famous distilleries:- Glenlivet, the Macallan, Royal Lochnagar, and many others. Most distillieries have a visitor centre and a trail is organised around some of the most famous Speyside ones. A nominated driver is useful!

Because of the geography of Scotland, the steep hills and short rivers are in the west, and the long rivers flow east to the North Sea. These rivers, especially the Findhorn, Spey, and Dee, are blessed with fine scenery and are famous for their expensive salmon beats. The exclusivity of these beats is ironic when one considers that a few hundred years ago forestry workers refused to work unless they were guaranteed not to be fed salmon every day! A waymarked long distance path follows the Spey for 75 miles from the sandbars and nature reserve at its mouth to Tomintoul, the highest village in the Highlands. However, the river is perhaps most attractive in its middle section between Loch Insh and Grantown, where the riverside forests rise slowly to the Cairngorms. The Dee, to the south, is also very attractive in its pine forests and hill views between Loch Kinord and Braemar; the royal family have a holiday seat here at Balmoral, a place first popularised by Queen Victoria and popular ever since. Like the Spey, the Dee looks up to the Cairngorms: Scotland's historic wilderness.

The Cairngorms are the highest hills in Scotland, bar the single upthrust of Ben Nevis on the west coast. They take the form of one massive granite plateau, 4000ft high, 30 miles wide, and 20 miles long, showing the granite form of the hills in numerous cliff faces and cut into by steep sided glens. Historically they have always been a wilderness, unlike the west Highlands which, though empty now, were well populated before the Clearances. The Cairngorms have always been too bleak for settlement, and at these latitudes, that extra 1000ft of altitude makes an amazing difference - the heathery slopes of 3000ft give way to subarctic tundra on the summit of the Cairngorms. The climate is also measurably more severe - winds of 150mph are well documented in winter storms. The distance of some points on the plateau from a sheltered glen can be far, making the Cairngorms the most challenging hills in Britain for the mountaineer, and not ones to be taken lightly in winter. Being a plateau, they lack some of the more exciting outlines of the western Highlands, but their size, and sheer variety of wildlife, woodland, rivers, and tundra, make the Cairngorms the most interesting natural area in Britain for repeated visits, when their more subtle charms become apparent. One finds here rare arctic birds like the dotterel, the ptarmigan whose coat turns white in winter, mountain hares, eagles and osprey, pine martens, red squirrels, deer and reindeer, the black grouse and capercaillie. The forest tracks are popular with mountain bikers, and round the fringes of the Cairngorms, there is windsurfing and canoeing on the lochs, and even a skilift on Cairngorm itself. There is fishing in the rivers and grouse and deer shooting in the foothills. It is a popular sporting, walking, and wildlife spotting area, and, after Loch Lomond, is the area most in need in Scotland for a coordinated recreation protection plan.

Cairngorm is not just rich in wildlife:- it is rich in legends. The stories people would tell gathered around bothy fires would be all the more believeable with the dark, wild hills just outside the door. Here are a couple.