A short hop along the road and the Dakar briefly enjoys some broad bends up towards the Cairngorm Mountain ski area before we park up among the camper vans and family SUVs to proceed on foot.
On our festive theme, we’re visiting some cousins of those braying stags in the form of the UK’s only free-ranging reindeer, established back in 1952 by a Swedish Lapland Sámi who reintroduced them to Scotland after about 800 years of absence.
The herd now comprises around 150 Swedish mountain reindeer, whose incredibly thick fur means they can bear temperatures below -70deg C.
Herders visit these windswept slopes daily, and we’re tagging along to join them in handing out some supplementary feed.
The reindeer soon wander over to us and I’m amazed how docile and friendly they seem. Both sexes grow antlers through the spring and summer, shedding them again by March.
I’m given a scoop of crumbly feed and told to cup my hands and reach out, and a sturdy specimen surely twice my weight and with enormous antlers strolls over to munch the lot in a series of warm, wet, burpy chomps.
It’s a cheering experience, and one Edleston could photograph all day, but it’s time to head home.
Rather than retracing yesterday’s yomp from Edinburgh, we’re going to tax the Dakar on the brilliant roads that skirt the eastern Cairngorms. Our 95-mile route from Loch Morlich to Blairgowrie takes in parts of the Old Military Road, with riverside meanders, mountain summits at the Lecht and Glenshee ski areas, sprawling moorland and tight sections, with surfaces ranging from scrappy to spotless.
You’d think it necessary to bear in mind we have the weight of an off-season National Hunt jockey pinned to the roof and trail-ready rubber on the rims.
But excuses aren’t needed – the Dakar laps it up. There’s 420lb ft of maximum torque on offer from the twin-turbo flat six across a 2700rpm-wide band, which, in Sport auto, is effortlessly mined by the eight-speed PDK ’box to produce ample acceleration for these roads, matched by abundant grip.