Today we made the move from the lowlands to the highlands, driving to a B&B near Beauly just a little north of Inverness. I awoke to this amazing sunrise and then we were off. (Did I mention that sunrise is really really early? It is already light by 3:30 am with official sunrise about 4:20 and is still light at 11:30 pm.)
I took the pic of the bridge below while driving past at 60 mph and trying to avoid shrubbery and other traffic. Got this on my first try.
We stopped for a bit in Killin where the cascades are. The next several pics are from that town.
Here are a few more scenes along the drive. This place is so beautiful--just one loch or glen after another.
I'm getting pretty good at shooting photos from a moving car. That's how I got the castle below too.
The next pic is a bridge in Carradon. Really interesting structure.
We finally made it to Beauly and the pic below is from the front window of our new digs.
Getting ready for a new day. I had to cut my bangs because they were getting in my eyes all the time. Did it with a tiny little nail scissors. My hairdresser can fix it when I get back. We are going to do a little cruise on Loch Ness today. I will let you know if we see Nessie, the name the locals use for the Loch Ness Monster. The first pic below is the canal where we boarded the boat.
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| Canal going into Loch Ness |
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| Our boat--The Jacobite Rebel |
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| On board and leaving the canal |
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| The Lighthouse |
Here is a castle we saw along the way.
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| Officially on Loch Ness |
We had traveled for about an hour when I got my first glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster--affectionately called "Nessie." I waited until I could get a good shot of her so I could share my adventure with all of you. When I found her in my viewfinder, I took the shot. Look deep into the mist...
What? You didn't see her? Well there is a big mystery surrounding Nessie. People, including me, have actually seen her, it's just that when you photograph her she doesn't show up in the photo. It is as if she has been photoshopped right out of it. The picture proves that I am telling you the truth. Nessie really exists. She's just a little shy...
Below is the Urquhart Castle. We could have gotten off the boat to tour the castle, but decided we wanted to get back and do some hiking instead.
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| Urquhart Castle |
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| Leaving the castle behind and heading back |
Our next stop was to visit Rogie Falls. Here are a few pics of the falls and the walk along the river.
Just to the right of the falls was a smaller falls--you can see it going from the upper left to lower right corner as if it is running down steps.
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| A quieter place along the river |
We did another hike to visit two old bridges--Wade Bridge and Silverbridge.
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| Wade Bridge from the river |
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| Top of Wade Bridge |
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| On our way to Silverbridge |
We saw a lot of these flowers along the way.
Below is Silverbridge with its double arches. There were several cascades and waterfalls along the way. In many ways the hike reminded us of the Colorado Rockies except that the water here is brownish and the trees, bushes and flowers are all different.
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| Silverbridge |
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| Double falls |
New day--we traveled to the west coast of the Scotland Highlands on skinny little roads that could only admit one car at a time and had lots of steep climbing with switchbacks, so meeting a car coming from the opposite way was at times hazardous. The thing to notice about this trip is the difference in the terrain from the east coast. It is higher and much more rugged and adventuresome. The first few pics are taken along the drive from Beauly to Torridon.
From Torridon, we drove to Shieldaig and these are on the way.
We arrived at Shieldaig and found it to be a quaint little village with some beautiful views.
Can anyone guess why I was looking for elves at this next place?
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| Shieldaig |
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| Shieldaig |
After Shieldaig, we headed for Applecross, again over steep terrain.
In this next pic, you can see how the road winds through the flatter area.
It was a warm beautiful day so had lunch at Applecross before heading back. The last several pics are on our way back to the B&B.
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| Yep, suckered again! What can I say? |
Well, that is it for the Scotland highlands. Tomorrow we head back to England where we will again pick up a bit of our literary tour and if weather permits maybe do some kayaking in the Lake District.
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