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Updated: May 4, 2025
Henry Reeve Birk Hall, Ballater, September 1st. My dearest wife, Matters have turned out here very pleasantly. I proceeded to Aboyne by rail, and then posted along the Dee-side to this place the Strath most beautiful; a lovely mixture of wood, water, and heather, with mountains beyond.
The number of large bridges and other great engineering masterpieces on this network of roads is enormous; among the most famous and the most beautiful, are the exquisite single arch which spans the Spey just beside the lofty rearing rocks of Craig Ellachie, and the bridge across the Dee, beneath the purple heather-clad braes of Ballater.
We are fain to make it stand before our readers as it is now. The road to Balmoral may be said to begin with the Strath at Aberdeen. The farther west the railway runs, the higher grow the mountains and the narrower waxes the valley. Yet the Highlands proper are held to commence only at Ballater, the little northern town with its gray square, and its pleasant inn by the bridge over the rushing Dee.
At last came the welcome telegram, "A great victory, Duke safe and well," and a further telegram with details and the concluding sentence, "Duke of Connaught is well and behaved admirably, leading his brigade to the attack," and great was the joy and thankfulness. In the meantime the Duke and Duchess of Albany had been expected on their first visit after their marriage, and were met at Ballater.
At Ballater the railway ends, and two picturesque roads follow the course of the river, one on each side, the first passing Crathie, the other going through the fir and birch woods of Abergeldie on the same side as Balmoral. Both command grand glimpses of the mountains, which belong to the three great ranges of the district Cairngorm, Glengairn, and Loch-na-Gar.
In 1796, after an attack of the scarlet fever, he passed some time at Ballater, a summer resort for health and gaiety, about forty miles up the Dee from Aberdeen.
"The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow" perpetually remind him of one of his constantly recurring refrains, He who surpasses or subdues mankind, Must look down on the hate of those below. In the course of 1790, after an attack of scarlet fever at Aberdeen he was taken by his mother to Ballater, and on his recovery spent much of his time in rambling about the country.
The number of large bridges and other great engineering masterpieces on this network of roads is enormous; among the most famous and the most beautiful, are the exquisite single arch which spans the Spey just beside the lofty rearing rocks of Craig Ellachie, and the bridge across the Dee, beneath the purple heather-clad braes of Ballater.
In the evening there was once more a great dinner at Holyrood Scotts, Kerrs, Bruces, Primroses, Murrays, &c., &c, being gathered round their Queen. A month afterwards at Ballater, amidst pouring rain, her Majesty presented new colours to the 79th regiment, "Royal Scots," of which her father was colonel when she was born.
Several important bridges were also erected at other points to connect existing roads, such as those at Ballater and Potarch over the Dee; at Alford over the Don: and at Craig-Ellachie over the Spey.
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