There is no royal family that does not have its own fairy-tale castle, and the English family is no exception. The United Kingdom is brimming with historic residences and manors associated with kings and queens who have made history in this fascinating country. Balmoral Castle is one of those places that no lover of the British royal family can ignore: it is located in beautiful Scotland and is so relevant that the Royal Bank of Scotland chose to print the £100 bill with Balmoral Castle itself imprinted on it.
Although it cannot be visited, except for a few sumptuous rooms, it is possible to admire its exterior and make a mountain bike excursion to Balmoral: pedaling it is possible to reach remote places where, with a bit of luck, you might even meet King Charles III, just as happened to Andrew McAvoy and his cyclist friends.
Balmoral Castle
In the summer of 2023 on the YouTube channel called MeTrail Rider, a curious video appeared, posted by Andrew McAvoy, that captures the entirely fortuitous encounter between a group of mountain-bikers and Charles III, the King of England himself: a brief conversation between the cyclists and the sovereign strolling in total solitude in the middle of nowhere in the most distinctive landscape of the Scottish Highlands. King tells the group of patrons about some episodes from his childhood spent in Balmoral, pointing out how good it does the soul to walk on those endless moors, despite the often rainy weather and annoying midges (insistent insects that inhabit Scotland’s wettest areas especially in summer).
Just the coronation of King Charles III brought on the Windsor family additional popularity and attention, leading many English people and others to discover all those places associated with the monarchy, especially gardens and castles. Consider, for example, the Sanringham Royal Parkland along the Norfolk Coast Area, Highgrove Gardens in the heart of Gloucestershire, the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path, Northumberland’s Coast & Castles Trial (along which legendary castles such as Bamburgh and Lindisfarne are encountered), and, of course, Balmoral Castle.
Although the building was restored in the second half of the 1800s by William Smith of Aberdeen, Balmoral Castle’s origins go back to the 1300s. It was later purchased by the Scottish King Robert II and then became a hunting reserve until 1848 when it became the possession of Queen Victoria, becoming the holiday residence of the English monarchy. Balmoral Castle was especially beloved by Elizabeth II, who loved spending intimate moments with her beloved Prince Philip and her children, including Charles, who spent his honeymoon here with Princess Diana. At Balmoral, Elizabeth II herself passed away in September 2022 at age 96, thus opening the reign of Charles III.
Few rooms can be visited, showing in full the most typical Scottish style of the beautiful Mirror Room, the Dining Room and the Birds’ Drawing Room. Inside there is also a display of carriages, old bicycles, old telephones, photographs and reproduction of the animals that inhabit the estate. Certainly visitors will quietly admire Balmoral Castle’s fairy-tale exterior, with its turrets and sumptuous gardens.
Mountain biking excursion to Balmoral
The Balmoral estate covers an impressive 50,000 hectares in Aberdeenshire, in the heart of the beautiful Cairngorms National Park.This nature area encapsulates the typical Highland landscape of forests, lochs, munros (peaks exceeding 900 m. in height) and wide and deep valleys that so much bring to mind William Wallace, the hero who fought for Scottish independence from England in the 13th century, in wild and unspoiled lands. A mountain bike ride in Balmoral allows you to discover some of the most picturesque corners of England’s largest park, pedaling on dirt terrain among wildlife and perhaps lingering well into the evening, enjoying starry skies colored often by the stunning Northern Lights.
Hikers can set off on their mountain bikes from the village of Ballater and ride 14 kilometers to the not-to-be-missed Loch Muick, a remote-looking lake located in the shadow of Lochnagar, in an area inhabited by deer, grouse and the eagles that soar its skies. All is still around Loch Muick, with a deafening silence cloaking everything from the small beach to the small boathouse to the Glas-Allt Shiel lodge. It is an elegant lodge commissioned by Queen Victoria after the death of her beloved husband Albert: the illustrious sovereign took refuge there filled with grief and sorrow, so much so that the building is nicknamed the “Widow’s Hut.” The little house is said to be haunted by ghosts, and in light of the barred shutters and the silent surrounding landscape: there is actually a small visitor center at the back of this lodge, complete with an exhibit on the local flora and fauna.
Leaving Loch Muick, you pedal over a wooden bridge to the highest point of the hike with views of the Cairngorms Mountains, then continue through the forest to Garb Allt, 50 m high waterfalls. where Queen Victoria liked to take a walk along the stream that, from the Lochnagar, flows into the lake. Crossing the Dee River, you arrive in Braemar, the destination of this mountain-bike excursion.
Instead, an alternative route takes place along Albert’s Pyramid Walk, discovering the cairns found on the Balmoral estate: these are stone burial mounds inspired by the oldest ones found in Scotland, also dating back 4,000 years, which so inspired novels such as Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. The tour passes through the Royal Lochnager Distillery, where whiskey is produced using the Scarnock Springs and a tasting of this typical Scottish drink is also possible. Past a red-colored mail house, the mountain-bike hike begins, leading to the cairns erected in honor of the children of Queen Victoria and Prince Consort Albert. Nestled in the forest, amid mossy rocks, purple expanses of heather and verdant grass, here are pyramidal mounds dedicated to Beatrice, Alice, Arthur, Leopold (complete with spectacular views of Balmoral Castle below), Louise, Helen, Victoria, Albert Edward and Alfred. There is, of course, no shortage of cairns dedicated to Prince Albert, similar to a small pyramid of Egypt, built of granite at 430 m. height with views of the beautiful Deeside Valley.
