A road trip to the north east of Scotland by two Spanish friends came to an abrupt end when their van broke down in the Cairngorms amid -17C weather. Manuel Gutierrez, 35, and Beatriz Castejon, 30 started their venture along the east coast through Stonehaven and into Aberdeen on Friday (December 9).
Braving the temperatures and treacherous road conditions, the pair - who live in Glasgow - headed towards Braemar where a yellow weather warning for snow and ice was in place. Things turned desperate for the duo however after their van broke down, leaving them stranded on the outskirts of the Aberdeenshire town, Aberdeen Live reports.
As they waited to be rescued, the friends managed to find some firewood which allowed them to knock up some Pot Noodles and sausages from their dwindling food supply. Manuel recalled the experience, saying: "The first night was okay because the van was still warm for a while, but we were worrying we wouldn't have enough wood the next day to make a fire, and we thought we are going to die here.
"We were surprised because when we were stuck we were able to find some logs to start a fire, but we were worried because we were running out of wood. We were able to defrost some water so we could cook some frozen sausages and make some Pot Noodles, " Manuel added.
Recalling the start of the trip, he explained: "We left Glasgow and headed towards the east coast. Then we headed towards Braemar where it was lovely for three days until the campervan broke.
"We were stuck in the middle of nowhere in the night. So we stayed in the campervan and phoned the AA for breakdown recovery and they said they'd get there as soon as possible but we had to spend the night there, and it got down to -17.3 degrees on Sunday night.
"The next day we were expecting breakdown recovery to arrive during the day but it didn't so we had to continue sit in the middle of the road till someone from the local garage came to try and fix the van. Everything was frozen. The engine, the coolant, they couldn't fix it, so the guy from the garage spoke with the AA and they said they couldn't do anything."
Help eventually was on hand for Manuel and Beatriz, as a local garage and the nearby Craiglea B&B came to their rescue. "The rescue guys wouldn't let us stay in the van because we could die out there as it was so cold, " Manuel added.
"We didn't have running water because it was frozen and we didn't have any power from the batteries as they were frozen too so nothing worked and it was freezing. The guy from the AA took us to Braemar which was the nearest village and they put us in a bed and breakfast.
"It was closed but they opened just for us and told us to stay as long as we need. We've been here since Monday night (December 12) and we're still waiting for the recovery to come and pick up the van but they can't do it because of the weather warning and the snow until this Sunday (December 18).
"The town was lovely, and the people have been amazing. We can't do anything so we are just staying in the hotel and the pub but we need to go back to work and we can't do it.
Manuel works with the NHS, while Beatriz is a scientist at the University of Glasgow, and both are eager to end their ordeal and return home and back to work after spending time living in far from normal circumstances.
"When the guy from the garage arrived, he told us he had got stuck as well, so we had to dig out the snow to try and get him back to the road. He was quite scared as well.
"Because of the conditions we're still waiting for them to pick up the van to get back to Glasgow. The AA is helping to cover our expenses but it's not cheap around here, so we had some help from family to cover the costs up front."
Manuel has been sharing posts on his Instagram throughout his ordeal, as the pair continue to hang on to hope that they will be able to return to Glasgow before the end of the week.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
