Glencoe

We spent two days at the Clachaig Inn, a 17th century hotel at Glencoe right at the foot of some of the mountains. The mountains rear up on all side and for an Antipodean like me this is truly an awesome sight, having only ever seen hills in Australia. It rained all day for both days but it was not cold, and we enjoyed our walks around the glen. We hiked a little way into one of the mountains (right now I can't think of its Gaelic name) - maybe one quarter of the way up. It was wet, boggy and slippery and we weren't really equipped with the right shoes so we turned back before it turned into a big slide back down to the bottom. But it was well worth it for the views and the clean air.



Glencoe has a tragic history, like alot of Scotland, especially the Highlands. There was a massacre of a branch of the McDonald clan in the Glen in the 18th century, by the English aided by an enemy clan, the Campbells. If you read the story it is about women and children scrambling up the mountain in the snow to escape a bloody death, and most of them dying anyway of cold and exposure. One translation of the name Glencoe is "glen of weeping" although the name predated the massacre. There is a great deal of heaviness but also majesty about the place.



The Clachaig Inn is a great place to stay, a gathering point for walkers and climbers from all over the world, and young friendly staff who keep the place jumping and vibrant - good food, great beers and whiskies for the connoisseur of those forms of the poison, warm fires and great company.



This was the last leg of our journey around the Highlands, and after this we returned to Dunfermline to spend time with family before catching our flight home. It has been a truly memorable holiday and as this is my third visit to Scotland I felt quite at home and realised I really do love the place. However my ambition to try and practice the travel journalism was probably a little unrealistic as my blog was always hastily written at internet cafes between trips around the countryside and instead of a different take on things I ended up with mostly the same old cliches written in a manner which did not really reflect my true thoughts and impressions, which were much more vivid and complex. Never mind, I can now go back to it all and maybe come up with something a little more from the heart!

Portree and Skye

We are staying at a very pleasant B and B called Tarradale right on the Loch. It has a lovely little deck from which you can watch the birdlife and sunsets etc. Today we drove around to the tip of the peninsula up from Portree and did a walk at a place called Staffin which gave us tremendous views and we saw the remains of ancient Celtic circle huts plus a neolithic burial mound. Then we went on to a ruined McDonald castle right at the end of the peninsula (can't remember the name of the place right now!)

More of the Isles

We had a great few days in Mora and Mallaig, saw some beautiful sunsets, ate great food and had convivial company at an inn called Noc na Faire at Arisaig (Airsaig Hotel itself does not serve dinners to anyone who is not staying at the hotel and they are not very friendly either!).

We were walking along the beach at Morar when we were contacted by a friendly young seal, who popped up next us and swam along next to us for a few hundred metres.

We sailed to the Knoydart Peninsula the other daywhich is accessible only by boat and went for quite a long walk in the hills and woods around the little village there. We had lunch at the most isolated pub in Britain, called the Old Forge.

Yesterday we did a boat tour of the isles of Eigg and Muck, but the weather precluded any nice pics or much walking. The cafe on Muck is highly recommended, the women of Muck produce the best lunches in the UK!

The road to the isles

We came along the road yesterday, to stay four days at a b and b called Garramore, which is a 19th century hunting lodge set in five acres of wild woodlands, right near the white sands of Morar. The b and b are run by a mother and daughter, nice people, the mother seems quite ill, a bit of a struggle for them I think. A beautiful and interesting old house, our room has lovely views across the grassed area and the woods beyond. It's a bit Fawlty Towers like however, in terms of service etc.

We sat on a white sandy beach in a little bay nearby last night and watched the sun go down at 9.30 pm. You can see out to Skye and Rasaay Island, and they look magical and mysterious in the evening, shrouded in mist yet the sky was clear. We sat and drank a bottle of wine and ate chocolate and it was a very peaceful and enjoyable evening. Today we are in the fishing port of Mallaig just up the road and it is a very beautiful and interesting little town - still to find out more about it.

This is Harry Potter country, we are going on the steam train tomorrow!