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Ah
- pretty lilac/pink heather for the background and a cute little Hieland
Coo for the feature picture but the story begins in the Lake District.
Everyone loves the Lake District because it is picturesque. We arrived
after nightfall and stayed in a bed and breakfast place called “The Hill"
at a place called Ings near Kendal and I have never seen so many pillows
and counterpanes and duvees in my life and I had to stuff half of them
in the wardrobe just to get into bed. My first glimpse of the Lake District
in the morning was a wet and gray view over the landscaped gardens to
the hills beyond. Oh Well. By the time we got into the town of Windemere
it wasn't raining but there was a lot of smoke pouring from one of the
shops but no one seemed alarmed and there was no sign of a fire engine
while we were mooching about. It is nice and green in the Lake District,
no points for guessing why, it showered on and off all day. We attempted
to drive right around Lake Windemere but we got so far and there was a
big traffic jam so we headed back the way we came. As we progressed west
the sun decided to come out so we stopped for morning tea and to take
some photos. The Lake District is very popular for walking, boating, fishing,
camping, activities I am not well known for but I do like scenery. The
Lake District, when it wasn't raining, is very pleasant, civilised, genteel,
sedate even, perhaps a little too tame for me. We drove out through Keswick,
Cockermouth and then up towards Carlisle it rained the whole time so the
usually picturescue route was rather dismal. We crossed the border into
Scotland and stopped at Gretna Green. I Liked Gretna Green, the souvenir
shops had some really good stuff in them, I almost bought an 80 pound
jumper with sheep around the bottom but changed my mind when I remembered
I live in the tropics and don't wear jumpers. I spied my first Scotsman
in a kilt here Sharon but he was knocking on 60 so I let him get a way.
There are explanation tags on the pictures so just point at them.
From
lakes to lochs in one day what a contrast, even though they both had hills
and water there was more drama in the highlands as you would expect. We
drove out through the lowlands towards Glasgow and then towards Sterling
before turning west towards Ben Nevis and Glencoe. The lowlands were pleasant
enough but as we approached the highlands I really enjoyed the scenery
and drama. I am not sure why they were any different than Snowdonia in
Wales but they were. Neither is better they are both just wonderful. We
stayed at a Backpacker type hostel not far from Glencoe, it was at Inchree
between the Glencoe tourist centre and Fort William. The next day were
really were in the highlands, instead of being in the valleys we were
up the top and it was just wondeferul. After Fort William, somewhere on
the A87 there was alookout and I wanted to stop to take photos and we
found this Scotsman there in full regalia playing his bagpipes. Immediately
I though of Sharon and my quest to find her a man in a kilt with a scottish
accent, he was a tad younger than the last one but still I though he might
be abit old for Sharon. Anyway, she can make her own mind up, here is
his picture and he is actually featured on some of the postcards we saw
throughout Scotland. He had a table full of bi products, Scottish flags
and heather plants and played his bagpipes for the hoards of tourists
who stop there. I would say what a wonderufl job he has but for the Scottish
weather, still he made a lot of money in the 20 minutes or so that we
were there as lots of cars and a tourist bus pulled up. He plays anything,
he asks where you come from and then plays the music from that country,
he played skippy the bush kangaroo and waltzing matilda and wooed the
crowd so much they put lots of money on his bagpipe case and one guy even
handed him 20 pounds. He was a bright spot in a wonderful landscape so
I am giving you a big picture so you can see just how wonderful it was.
The
picture above is at Allt A' Chruinn on the A87 at the eastern end of Loch
Duich. We stopped here for morning tea at the Jacobites Restaurant. I
got out of the car and went to the bank near the road to look across the
lake and was instantly mesmerised, it was like I was locked in time and
everything stood still. I realised then that there was no sound and I
mean no sound. Not a rustle of trees, no distant cars, no animal or bird
noises, just nothing and it was probably one of the most profound moments
I have every experienced in life, surveying this loch scene and hearing
nothing I began to realise why people might want to spent time up a mountain
if they could experience this same thing. The Sun came out at that moment
and the lake looked even better, so still, and I began to look at all
the hills around me and it was still silent. Then the heat on the metal
road barriers began to make them ping and even that was amazing, no background
noise just this occasional ping. Ok so I was having a cosmic moment, then
Martha came over to where I was and I said" listen" and she
said "I cant hear anything" and I said "exactly".
Then we had morning tea and drove off around Loch Duich towards Kyle of
Lochalsh and then on to the Isle of Skye
We
drove over the bridge and on to the Isle of Skye (Misty Isle) and then
headed for Portree (Port Righ or kings port) where we had lunch and mooched
around a bit. I met a man with a Scottish terrier so we chatted a while,
he was from Glasgow and was n holidays with his dog who was called (wait
for it) Jock. It was the only Scottish terrier I saw whilst in the UK
although I saw hundreds of West Highland White Terriers although I never
saw one in the West Highlands. We drove on around the coast road which
narrowed to one land but was otherwise in good condition, the countryside
changed quite alot as we drove. When we first came on to sky it was scrubby
and flat and then as we headed further west it became rather rugged with
the hills in the background on one side and the ocean and Rasaay on the
other. There were lots of heiland coos, I loved the hairy baby calves
and wanted to bring one home but Martha wouldn't let me, she said it would
make a mess in the back of the car. They sure were cute though. We stopped
at the Museum of Scottish Life near Kilmuir. The Island of Skye is about
50 miles long and in places 27 miles wide but it has a very diverse landscape
from flat and boggy to craggy and imposing. It rained off an on all day
but by late afternoon we were treated to sunshine and the photos were
fantastic. I think I was also blessed for a short time at Loch Duich as
those photos turned out nice too. The Museum consisted of some reconstructed
thatched crofters huts, some I think were originally there but they have
been re built and re thatched to form the essence of a small village of
crofters complete with farm machinery and the tools of their trade. There
were many pictures and bits of memorabilia as well as some stone age axes
that have been found on the island. The location of the huts was authentic
and this group made up a little village with a blacksmith shop some private
houses and a ceilidh house, the house where people gathered for entertainment,
provided by themselves of course, singing and dancing and the playing
of traditional instruments. You could see where some of the stones had
been replaced but the bottoms of the buildings were quite original in
most cases and of course they had all been rethatched. The thatch had
netting over it and the stones were either attached at the roof edge to
keep it on ot hung down from the edges of the thatch, it looked decorative
but in fact was quite practical. The last picture of a cottage which is
made of stone with white on the mortace was fairly typical of current
housing on Skye, I liked it, it made the usually dull stone look quite
cheerful but martha hated it. Oh well, to each his or her own. This cottage
was at Dunvegan.
Above
is the view down to Uig, Isle of Skye. This is a ferry port for shipping
from Zebrugge on the continent and also to Ireland and other parts of
Scotland incuding the Orkey Islands. It looked interesting from up the
top but when we drove down it was boring. The Chap in the photo to the
right is Angus MacGaskill who lived between 1825 to 1863, height 7ft 9
inches, he toured america with a midget. His museum was in Dunvegan which
was unattended, you just opened the door and put your money in a tin and
had a look around, there was a pair of socks on a huge bed and some history
about him, it was very interesting and of course there was a photo opportunity.
Then
on to the Dunvegan Castle, the seat of the MacLeods from whom I am descended.
Just checking on the ancestral home, on first inspection it looked like
the outside could have done with a lick of paint. Seriously though, Dunvegan
has been the home of the family cheiftans for 800 years and apparently
it is the only castle lived in by the same clan for such a long period.
Parts of the outside were built in the 1100’s, some in the 1200’s and
other parts have been added since. The inside is decidedly 18th century
and so it is more like a stately home than your average castle. In fact
the outside does not resemble my idea of a castle either although if you
look closely you can see the castle bits. Another castle up the road from
Kyle of Lochalsh looked similar so most likely they build sort of large
house like castles rather than those that looked like the tower of London.
Although the inside looked like a well appointed home there were a few
nooks that we were allowed in that were part of the old castle. They had
doors just off the main rooms or along the adjoining corridors. One such
part was a dungeon and I went inside before I read the stuff on the wall
so I didnt realise it was a dungeon. There was a hole in the floor with
a grill over it, the walls were like raw stone, the inside of a proper
old castle. A man stated coughing his lungs up and I thought it was another
punter viewing the room from below but in fact it was an interactive display
of two prisoners down in the cell below. It seems they lowered prisoners
through the hole in the floor of the chamber down in to the dungeon so
they couldn’t get out but they tied them to some heavy weights anyway.
I guess when the died they hauled them back up again. Very odd but saves
on guards. Apparently the dungeon was close to the stairs where the food
was taken from the kitchen up to the guests and family above so the prisoners
got a whiff of the food but did not get to eat it. Now that is cruel.
Other castley bits we didn’t get to go up but could view through a glass
door was the spiral stone staircase to the fairy tower which is used as
an office for the current chief whose name is Hugh. The last Chief whose
name was John, was still part of the castle, he recorded a kind of history
and tour and this was playing in the audio room. It looked like it was
made a long time ago, he looks quite young and yet he died when he was
in his 70’s. I liked chief John he was a nice man, dont know anything
about Hugh just yet, he is too busy to take up the reins now so the clan
is in the hands of the elders. There is a clan MacLeod Parliament in 2010
I wonder if I will get to be there?
I enjoyed the castle and spent time studying
all the ancestral portraits and then went around to the seal boat jetty
to get a better shot of the outside. Then I viewed the gardens which
were not grand but they were functional, a walled garden with a sign
asking us to close the gate to keep the rabbits out so maybe the Bigpond
advert about the great wall of china being built to keep the rabbits
out may have had some merit in it (joke for Aussie’s). There was also
a lovely water garden using a natural waterfall and two streams, the
paths meandered around and over the streams and plants, I liked the
water garden best, wouldn’t mind one like it at home.
Loch Ness & DrumnadrochitWe
left the Isle of Skye thinking to have lunch and do our washing at Kyle
of Lochalsh. It isn’t very big but we did find a place doing food but
no Laundromat. Then we decided to head for Inverness going in through
the bottom of loch ness. We stayed in a town near Loch Ness for the night
and found a great tourist shop full of all kinds of things to buy. At
dinner Martha opted for an entrée of Haggis so I had a taste to see what
it was like, the ingredients tend to put me off somewhat but most people
say that it is surprisingly nice. I thought it was ok but would not order
the whole thing, at least I had a taste whilst here in haggis country.
It was a busy little place this Drumnadrochit and their people were very
friendly. We stayed at the at the Morae Bed and Breakfast which ws run
by Lawrence and Tracey who were owned by two black Labradors and one 5
month old English mastiff called Daisy who popped in at breakfast time
to greet us. The next day it dawned sunny, an omen I said, we must take
aboat ride on the lake in the hope of cathing a glimpse of that most famous
of residents the Loch Ness Monster?
The
bus driver who picked us from outside the tourist shop in Drumnadrochit
was also the operator of the boat and the tour guide but he told us the
geology, the depth of the loch, its course (I always thought it was a
closed body of water but it is actually open at both ends and is part
of a string of bodies of water which cut Scotland in half). He showed
us the depth beneath the boat and took us over the deepest part and told
us of the two techtonic plates which were below the water in which there
seemed to quite a deep crevice (good for hiding the odd Loch Ness monster
in). He also told us of the history of Urquhart Castle on the shores of
the loch and how it had been blown up to prevent the Jacobites from using
it as a stronghold during the uprising (more on that later). I looked
for herself but she was no where to be seen
The
Morae bed and breakfast is on the main road but there is a little service
road that runs off the main road and it has several b and b establishments.
It was well priced, the breakfast was good and I also enjoyed the company
of the dogs for a short while. At left is a picture of two monsters.
When it comes to Loch Ness I kind of imagined a loch with some buildings overlooking it but in fact there are very few places with lochside access. Drumnadrochit is the place where there are two Loch Ness Monster exhibitions, one at the top of the road and oneto the left, which is the original one, the newer one you turn right and you cannot miss it. My cousin Lawrie had said one was good the other bad so I asked around and apprently the original one was considerd to be the best and that was just to the left with the monster out the front. There was a documentary type film which included all the sightings and hoaxes surrounding the Loch Ness monster and I found it quite informative, there were also copies of all the photos that have been taken so people can make their own mind up about Nessie. Naturally there are thousands of Nessies to buy in all shapes and sizes, I managed to buy only two of them. What I liked about Drumnadrochit was the free parking, I am sure I must own at least one parking space in England I have fed so many pay and display parking meters, even ones out in the middle of the country. In Scotland there are less of them which is a good thing, they seem happy for people to stop and shop there.
After our Loch Ness experience we drove 8 miles out of town to see a Cairn burial mound, although we have seen a lot of 4000 year old tombs we hadn’t seen one like Corrimony Cairn which was quite large and yet only one female body was found within it which means she must have been a pretty important person for all that work to have been carried out. The countryside around Drumnadrochit is beautiful, not like the rugged highlands, more refined and quite Englishlike to some extent, it is nice driving through countries where the landscape changes so much in such a short space, From wild Skye to refined Drumnadrochit countryside in just a few hours.
After
we had lunch we headed for Inverness which is only a few miles up the
Loch. There is a canal before you reach Inverness with lots of boating
activity on it, I saw sail boats moored along the side of the Canal but
do not know much more about it. Our mission in Inverness was to get the
laundry done and Lawrence at the B and B told us where the laundromat
was and it also had internet access so I got my email done as well.
Travel with me to .....
Hawaii |
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Hilo, Hawaiian Tropical Botanic Gardens,
Honomu Village, Night Flight over Volcano, Day flight over
volcano, Mauna Kea observatories, native village and Holualoa |
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Holualoa, Kailua Kona, Kilauea Iki, Pu'ukohola
Heiau |
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Lahaina, The Road to Hana and some beautiful
sunsets |
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The Chicken Island - Oops I mean the garden
isle |
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I spent 6 days on Oahu and in Waikiki and
2 days on the way out |
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Asia |
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I spent 10 days here having fun with Martha
and Jan |
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A stopover on my way to and from England |
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Australia |
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In the Hinterland north of Brisbane |
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Crikey !! The Late Steve Irwin's Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland |
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The Village in The Rainforest |
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England, Ireland Scotland and Wales |
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Radley Oxford, Abingdon, Cheltenham, Belas
Knapp, Cotswolds, Guiting Power, Oxford Castle Medieval Fair |
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Bus lotto in London, the Tower of London,
Trafalgar and Hen racing at the Radley Fete, |
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Oxford City, St Mary The Virgin Church,
Christchurch College, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Bourton
on the Water |
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The Forest is just beautiful. Soudley,
Coleford, Rhaglan Castle, Newent Gloucestershire, The Shambles
Victorian Village, Chepstow, Symonds Yat, Monmouth, Tintern |
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Journey to Ireland and the adventures of
two mad women on the loose. Corwen, Betws y Coed, Snowdonia
mountains, Anglesey, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch better known as Llanfair pg, Dublin, Amagh, Port Rush, Giants Causeway |
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Boyle, Mullaghroe, Tobercurry, Gorteen
County Sligo, Drumanone Dolmen, Arigna Mine. Ballina, Ceide
Fields County Mayo, Killala, Strokestown, Tulsk, Elphin Windmill,
Mullingar, Roscommon Town, Lough Key |
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From top to bottom what a maginficent place.
Galway, Cnoc Suan, Spidall, Ailwee Caves, The Burren, Listowel,
Valentia, Portmagee, Skellig Michael, Waterford Crystal, Wexford |
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Martha and Adam did a charity walk along
an ancient route, I played chauffeur, did some sightseeing
and got stuck in Swindon. West Wycome, Wayland Smithy, Barbury
Castle, Avebury |
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Cardiff Castle, St Fagans |
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Newquay, Boscastle, Museum of Witchcraft,
Tintagel, Lands End, Minack Theatre, Mousehole,
Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor |
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Banbury Cross, Coventry City and Cathedral,
Spon Street, Lady Godiva, Althorpe (Lady Dianna Spencer's
home) and Manchester |
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Ing near Kendall, Lake Windemere, Gretna
Green, Glencoe, Inchcree, Invergary, Loch Duich, Kyle of Lochalsh,
Portree, Isle of Skye, Kilmuir, Uig, Dunvegan, Dumnadrochit,
Loch Ness, Corrimony Cairn |
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Inverness, Cullodden Battlefield ,Brora,
John O'Groats, Orkney Islands, Flotta, Burwall, Stromness,
Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar, Standing Stones of Stenness,
Kirkwall, Edinburgh Castle, Cheviot Mountains, Newcastle,
Segedunum, Hadrians Wall, Sandford Loch, London airport, Singapore |
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Contact
Details |
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My
Mobile Telephone is 0438 318 180 |
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My
Home telephone number is : 07 4031 8181 (61 is country code) |
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Address:
P.O Box 7666, Cairns Qld 4870, Australia |
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