114 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



current slows up for one or two quiet pools skirting Invercauld 

 Park, then passes below the road to the right in the direction 

 of Balmoral Forest, and is in about a couple of hundred yards 

 crossed by the picturesque old Bridge of Dee * one of General 

 Wade's structures. The view here is over a considerable part 

 of Ballochbui Forest, up the course of the Garrawalt, a rough 

 and obstructed tributary, to the mountain of Lochnagar (3,768 

 feet) in the distance. This mountain takes its name from a 

 romantic little tarn, the loch of the hare, overhung by high 

 precipices, situated far up on its north-east side. It is reduced 

 to contemptible insignificance in most photographs, but is a 

 mountain of beautiful outline and outstanding character. 

 Byron called it " the most sublime and picturesque of the 

 Caledonian Alps." Queen Victoria, writing from Balmoral in 

 1850, 2 calls it " the jewel of all the mountains here." 



In the lower Invercauld Water in May 1892 two rods got 

 156 fish in sixteen days. One day yielded 25, another 24, 

 and another 20 fish. In the same month in 1896, two 

 rods had 257 in twenty-two days' fishing. 3 These were, how- 

 ever, rather exceptional performances. The river now settles 

 down to an almost uniformly fine character. It is not a 

 big river in its run of 16 miles past Balmoral to Ballater, 

 and it is never deep. The bottom is stony, at times very 

 roughly stony, and again opening out in fine shingly stretches. 

 It has been estimated that from Braemar to the sea the pace 

 of the Dee, under normal conditions, is 3| miles an hour, and 

 the average depth about 4 feet. It is ideal fly-fishing water 

 in almost its whole length, although in great stretches of the 

 river all manner of lures are used. 



Invercauld Water extends a long way on the left bank. 

 The section below Balmoral Bridge used to go with Ballater 

 Hotel, and a very fine section it is ; indeed, I understand it 

 was considered by many the best hotel water in Scotland. 

 It is now let to a syndicate of anglers. His Majesty the King 

 has Balmoral, Abergeldie, and Birkhall Waters on the right 

 bank, and rents part of Invercauld on the left bank, from the 



1 Another bridge, also called the Bridge of Dee, or the old Bridge 

 of Dee, exists on the outskirts of Aberdeen. 



* Journal of our Life in the Highlands, 1868, p. 122. 

 3 Grimble, Salmon Rivers of Scotland, ii., p. 57. 



