Dear Aviemores,
As a family we used to go to Aviemore in the 1960s.
At that time you could pass through in a few seconds, no hotels other than
the Alt-na-Craig opposite the station. We stopped at the railway holiday
hostel across the lines from the present Spey Valley Railway. There were
steam trains operating the normal services then.
There was no development for some years, and the main shop was the Co-op
which was where there is a parade of shops now, and there were no shops at
the station, although there was a petrol station there.
The first signs of the Aviemore Centre were announced generally in an article
in a Sunday paper about the new facilities being built, and the next time
we visited, there was a lot of building going on, and a big change was a
chip shop called 'The Happy Haggis' at the south end of village. I remember
my children were very impressed with it. My wife and I were less impressed
by the extra helping of deep fried bluebottles available with the fish or
haggis and chips.
Eventually the ice rink arrived which children loved, but the BIG attraction
for the youngest was the paved area near the new shops which had electric
scooters for hire for children to race all over the area.
And the surroundings were still unspoilt, no holiday village at the north
end, and Loch Morlich had no caravans, no reindeer, no car parks, and the
road to the Cairngorm was mostly empty. The car park there came early on,
but not then.
It was possible to meet and talk to locals in peace at the bar at the back
of the Alt-na-Craig, no Costa style shops and cafes anywhere.
When Aviemore became ski city, and festooned with tat shops, we abandoned
it and went further north where the developers had not reached.
The best bit of Aviemore then was that apart from the few facilities in town,
the whole area remained unspoiled.
I am attaching photos I took about then which show that the only 'tourist'
attraction we were tempted to was the canoe hire at Loch Morlich
Interesting web site, I'm sure it will attract a lot of reminiscences.
James.V
Eventually the ice rink arrived which children loved, but the BIG attraction
for the youngest was the paved area near the new shops which had electric
scooters for hire for children to race all over the area.
And the surroundings were still unspoilt, no holiday village at the north
end, and Loch Morlich had no caravans, no reindeer, no car parks, and the
road to the Cairngorm was mostly empty. The car park there came early on,
but not then.
It was possible to meet and talk to locals in peace at the bar at the back
of the Alt-na-Craig, no Costa style shops and cafes anywhere.
When Aviemore became ski city, and festooned with tat shops, we abandoned
it and went further north where the developers had not reached.
The best bit of Aviemore then was that apart from the few facilities in town,
the whole area remained unspoiled.
I am attaching photos I took about then which show that the only 'tourist'
attraction we were tempted to was the canoe hire at Loch Morlich
Interesting web site, I'm sure it will attract a lot of reminiscences.
