Kings & rulers > More leaves from the journal of a life in the Highlands from 1862 to 1882

99
Visit to Invertrossachs, 1869.
Wednesdayy September x, 1869.
We got up at half-past seven, breakfasted at eight,
and at half-past eight left Balmoral with Louise,
Beatrice, and Jane Churchill (Brown as always, unless
I mention to the contrary, on the box), for Ballater.
A high and rather cold wind, but very bright sun,
dreadfully dusty. Colonel Ponsonby met us at the
railway station. Emilie Dittweiler and Annie Mac¬
donald, Ocklee (for the two girls), Jane Churchill’s
maid, Charlie Thomson, and the footman Cannon, went
with us; Blake, Spong with the luggage, A. Thomson,
with Sharp (my faithful collie dog), and Annie Gordon
(housemaid), Kennedy, Arthur Grant, and Hiley (the
groom) with the ponies, all went yesterday, and three
cooks came from London. We had a saloon carriage,
but not my own. It grew hot in the railway train.
We stopped at Aberdeen and the Bridge of Dun,
where Jane Churchill got into our carriage, and had
luncheon with us; but we could have no one to help
to pack and unpack it, which is now so comfortably
arranged in my own railway carriage where there is a
communication with the attendants.
Stopping a moment at Cupar Angus, we passed
hrough Perth, and had another short halt at Dunblane,
where the people crowded very much. Here we got
7*