Friday 9^th April 2010

Saturday 10^th April 2010

Troutbeck C & CC, Near Keswick, 54 38 07 N, 02 59 10 W, (28 Miles).  After leaving the campsite at 10:00 am, driving the short distance to Windermere then breathing in and holding our breath as we negotiated the narrow, twisty and steep inclines and declines over the very picturesque Kirkstone Pass to the shores of Ullswater at Glenridding.  Then to our first stop at the National Trust maintained Aira Force, the  trust volunteer there guiding us to a part of the car park which could accommodate the length of the motorhome and also gave us ease of exit, well worth the £4 parking fee. (Although as we commented to each other, we spent 8 months in Australia and only paid for parking twice and that was in cities and only cost us $1).  We spent 2 hours walking to the top of the Aira Force and back (the £4 parking fee was only for 2 hours), Jenny being very patient as I was experimenting with taking some slow speed photos of the various waterfalls to capture “slow-motion  blur” of the water, have I succeeded?  Judge for yourselves.  No television signal (or radio) at this campsite, probably just as well, it meant I didn’t watch Aston Villa lose in the FA Cup semi-finals, didn’t have much luck with the  Grand National either, we were in the sweep which the camp site manager was running, another £2 down the drain, both our horses probably still running!  I went out as the sun was going down to take some photographs, then as I got back, I had a conversation with Sarah, a lovely young lady who was interested in photography, who was camping with friends at the campsite.

Sunday 11^th April 2010

Scotland

Monday 12^th April 2010

Broome Fisheries, Near Annan, 54 58 76 N, 03 18 16 W, (50 Miles).  Left Troutbeck at 10:00 am, definitely a camp site we will return to at a later date. We had a surprise when we arrived at the town of Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, we need to “top up” with food and we found that a new Tesco had opened on the outskirts of the town so we stopped there first with plenty of parking spaces we will add this one to Betty.  We have “pitched” in the same place as in September of last year, just a few yards from “The Square” pool, we shall hopefully stay for 4 days, dependant on the fresh water lasting, the leisure battery staying charged (with the help of the solar panel, and some sun) and the grey and black waste not requiring emptying.  I started fishing in the afternoon, fishing in the same place as last year and was pleased with the amount of fish I caught which included Chub, Bream, Carp, Perch and Roach.

Tuesday 13th April 2010

I fished for most of the day, Jenny sowed, knitted and read her book.

Wednesday 14^th April 2010

The same as yesterday, brilliant fishing, great weather I fished for most of the day, Jenny knitted, read her book  and did some baking, very relaxing.

Thursday 15^th April 2010

Much of the same, even got a sun tan!

Friday 16^th April 2010

Moffat C & C C, 55 1977 N, 0326 50 W, (31 Mile).  Before leaving this morning we both had a haircut, using the electric hedge hair trimmer for the first time with the inverter directly converting the 12 volt to 240 volt, instead of just using it to charge up the laptop, electric toothbrush etc and it worked perfectly.  Jenny has had plenty of practice over 42 years in cutting my hair, so obviously made a great job of it.  I for the very first time cut Jenny’s hair (not with the trimmer) and I must admit made a perfect job of it.  I estimate she will only have to wear a hat for about 6 weeks!  An easy drive to Moffat and we decided to walk the very short distance to the town and buy lunch, we both enjoyed our filled Baked Potatoes, also the Lemon Meringue pie I had and the Malteser Cheese Cake that Jenny scoffed, well you could say it had “a less fattening centre”.  We then visited “the Moffat Woollen Mill” expecting to find some wool, however it was really a large souvenir shop, which sold everything Scottish, except wool.  We arrived at the wrong time when 4 coach loads of “wrinklies” arrived so it was quite busy, I did have a look around the Whisky shelves, but decided I should drink my 12 year old Glenfiddich first.  Next door was a  small Co-op where we purchased fresh bread and a newspaper, on the way back we “were” pleased with ourselves when we  found a short-cut back to the camp site, until we found if we had walked to the end of the car park we would have found a even shorter way back!

Saturday 17^th April 2010

Sunday 18^th April 2010

Scone C & C C,  56 25 75 N, 03 26 78 W, (115 miles).  Pronounce Scone as “Scoon” unless of course you have strawberry’s and fresh cream, then of course it is scone!  Just one stop on the way, at the services at Abingdon on the M74 to top up with LPG, we used  more at Broome Fisheries for the fridge, heating and cooking not having electrical power available, we are in grounds next to Scone Palace, just outside Perth which is the home of the Earls of Mansfield, and a 5 star visitor attraction to tourists from around the world, however this time we won’t visit the palace or grounds, perhaps on another occasion.  Taking advantage of a “free night” at the camp we shall stop here for 2 nights before moving up to Breamar on the edge of the Cairngorms.

Monday 19^th April 2010

Tuesday 20^th April 2010

The Invercauld Caravan Club Site, Braemar, 57 00 14 N, 03 23 75 W, (58 Miles).  After a stop at the Tesco at Blairgowrie (an easy place to park) we continued up the A93, towards Braemar, climbing steeply into the Cairngorm National Park, past the Glenshee Ski Area into the mountains.  The snow is still on the higher peaks and in shadowy gullies and crevices where, at present, the temperature of the sun has been unable to melt.  At times driving along this very quiet high road through the Glenshee pass there were pockets of snow close to the road around us,  Jenny today did not need any persuading not to throw snowballs, the freezing cold wind and snow flurries being a suitable deterrent for her not to leave the warmth of the motorhome, at least until I pushed her out on arrival at the camp site reception.  A lovely campsite, in mountains surrounded by a silver birch wood 1100 feet above sea level.  It is still extremely cold despite the sun being out and snow is coming down (yes together).  I think for the rest of the day and evening we will stay in the motorhome we may just venture out to the site amenities to do the washing up!

Wednesday 21^st April 2010

Temperature fell to almost –2 degrees C outside last night, it was only 13 degrees C in the motorhome, we had only left the heat on the very low setting, it was my job (as usual) to get up to make the tea and turn the heat up, so it wasn’t long before we had the inside of the motorhome warm and cosy.  The amenities block is nicely heated and with wonderful powerful and hot showers, I must admit indulging myself in them this morning. Braemar village is just 10 minutes walk away so after breakfast we strolled down for a newspaper and a look around, it is still very cold outside so decided to stay inside when we arrived back at the camp site.  I did get a mountain of visitor guides at the information office on both the Cairngorms and our destination shortly of the Northern most part of Scotland (mainland), a part we have not seen since a weekend train excursion that Jenny and I went on many (many) years ago.  We will save the rest of our exploration of this part until our next visit, unless of course her Maj’ invites us to nearby Balmoral Castle for afternoon tea! Tomorrow we will drive the high-level scenic route from Braemar through Cock Bridge towards Aviemore via the hilltop village of Tomintoul which is often mentioned in traffic reports because as soon as snow arrives this road is invariably closed.

Thursday 22^nd April 2010

Granton-on-Spey, 57 20 13 N, 03 37 10 W, (47 Miles).  A delightful drive along the A939, the narrowest, hilliest and most windy “A” road we have ever been on.  Like our drive to Braemar from Scone, snow was alongside the road on the highest parts, it was a pity the weather was “by and large” cloudy, in the cold windy conditions again with the occasional snow flurry, I must admit I didn’t dwell outside too long taking photographs, although I did make a effort when we stopped for a cuppa in a parking area near Cock Bridge, mind you, I had to get out (cos’ I was kicked out) to turn the gas on to boil the kettle, Jenny refusing to get her hair wet, not that she would have done anyway, she is still wearing the hat since I (attempted to) cut her hair over a week ago!  We stopped again at a small car park in Tomintoul for lunch, “Murphy’s Law” if we had travelled another mile up the road there was a picnic area in far prettier surroundings.  We reached the campsite mid-afternoon and with the weather brightening we decided to walk into the town centre to buy a paper, however, we couldn’t complete the crossword today, the last 2 down clues had been omitted, I know I’m good but not that good, Jenny to be fair did actually correctly guess one of them.  Lovely campsite with a fantastic view of the Cairngorm mountains about 5 mile away, however we won’t stop here again, £19 per night is a bit expensive and more than we would normally pay, our average year to date, cost per night being £12.62, which included the peak time during the New Year period.

Friday 23^rd April 2010

Not a day to venture out, deciding by lunch time we would not even bother walking to the town for a paper, the very wet and sometimes snowy conditions not making for pleasant walking, we cannot even see the mountains today, the low cloud at times obscuring the town from our elevated position.  However this afternoon the gentleman in the caravan to the rear of us knocked at the door and said he was driving to the town and asked whether we needed anything, he very kindly purchased a newspaper for us.  From what we can gather our Scottish weather is in marked contrast to the rest of the UK, who we understand have temperatures towards the high “teens” our temperature at present is 4.5 degrees C!  We have taken the unusual step today of booking a camp site in advance, not wanting to have the problem we had at Easter in Yorkshire, we are staying for the May Bank Holiday on the “Black  Isle” (which isn’t one, just a peninsula) between the Moray Firth and Cromarty Firth above Inverness.

Saturday 24^th April 2010

Glenmore Forest Caravan & Camping Site, Near Aviemore, 57 57 30 N, 03 43 97 W, (20 Miles).  Fresh snow on top of the hills opposite the camp site this morning and they are only about 350 meters high, however the weather is already much milder than the last few days and it evidently will continue to get warmer.  First stop this morning was at the RSPB centre at Boat of Garten, where  “The Ospreys came home”, in a spectacular part of the Abernethy National Nature Reserve.  We walked from the car park adjacent to Loch Garten 10 minutes from the entrance (£3 fee, free for us as RSPB members) to the Osprey Centre, the Ospreys are nesting in a old bare tree about 200 yards from the observation building, at present the female is sitting on 3 eggs (the maximum) and her mate “Odin” was off fishing, (he had bought a 14inch Trout for his mate to eat earlier).  There were plenty of other birds to see with an abundance of bird feeders about, two red squirrels feeding on peanuts also kept us amused.  We arrived at lunchtime at Glenmore, Lorraine the manager was pleased to see us and told us some tales and showed us some photographs of the severe winter they have had here this year, 5 foot of snow in places and –22 degrees c, now that’s a winter!  After lunch we decided to go for a long walk and take some photographs of the mountains, we walked miles in the lovely spring sunshine and spotted 3 Roe Deer quite close to us, they immediately ran away, showing us there white rumps as they disappeared in to the forest.  At 8:00 pm we decided to accompany the Ranger together with another lady Alison, on a 1½ hr dusk walk in the forest and along the burn to see if we could spot any bats, Sheila lending us a “Bat detector” ,without which, the calls are too high pitched for the human ear to identify, all very technical to do with echolocation and sound frequencies measured in kHz.  We did well of the 8 species known to be breeding in Scotland, 4 are seen in the area of Glenmore and we sighted 3 of them, Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle and the Daubenton’s Bat, only the Brown Long-eared Bat eluding us.

Sunday 25^th April 2010

A relaxed morning looking at  yesterday’s newspapers which we never had time to read.  After lunch we walked around Loch Morlich a circuit of the loch being about 5 miles, however we took the longer route back to the camp site along the top track of Glenmore Forest so we guess we did significantly more miles than that.  When we got back and whilst Jenny prepared tea I decided to take some photo’s of the mountains, “I’ll be about 5 minutes” I said, about an hour later I returned.  I had been chatting to a couple from Loughborough who where in a motorhome further along the camp site,  managed to appease Jenny by gathering some useful information on other camp sites further North, my cup of tea was cold though!   Justice, missed a real photo opportunity this evening, I went over to the amenities to wash up (yes really) and the late sun was glowing on the snow on the mountain tops, I threw the dirty plates, cups, etc in the sink and rushed back to the motorhome for the camera, too late the sun had dropped further down and the best light was lost.  Not to be outdone when I finished the washing up, (yes, Jenny did come over to dry), I walked down to the loch side to see If I could catch the sunset, alas there was low cloud obscuring the sun as it disappeared the other side of the mountains in the west, so I didn’t even bother taking a photograph, deciding instead to walk along the loch to the burn, through the forest and back to the motorhome to a welcome Malt Whisky that Jenny had poured for me, spending the rest of the evening listening to music on the “one and only” radio station we can obtain  reception of, “Moray Firth Radio”, good music though!

Monday 26^th April 2010

Gosh, been here  3 days and haven’t visited the Glenmore Ski café and store, so we made amends and walked up for “elevenses” Coffee and delicious Apple Strudel, the last time we were here was the morning the Autumn Watch film crew arrived to film the Pine Martin’s, obviously we weren’t going to see them in the middle of the morning, (no, not Kate Humble) however there were plenty of birds at the feeders and a Red Squirrel.  After lunch we decided to visit once again An Lochan Uiane,  “The Green Loch”, where we managed to get some great reflection photo’s in November, not this time however,  as the wind was causing movement on the water, although the afternoon light was good for a couple of shot’s.  We decided to continue climbing up the “narrowing” track to hopefully reach Ryvoan Bothy, the one roomed Ryvoan Bothy was originally a croft dating from the 18th.century, and abandoned in 1877. It was the birthplace of a well known local character, Grigar Ruighe Bhothan, famed for both his physical strength and his capacity for the locally made strong liquor!  It was taken over by the Mountain Bothies Association in 1972,  which is a charity which maintains about 100 shelters in some of the remoter parts of the UK, invaluable obviously for walkers and climbers who get caught out in the Cairngorms fickle weather.  Thank goodness we didn’t need to shelter there today, the weather nice and dry, albeit  a bit windy, somebody had left 3 cans of food, and with plenty of wood, paper and candles in store, plus a pack of cards and a game of solitaire, we could have spent a good night.  We had a nice chat with three intrepid mountain bikers with very unique trailers to carry the camping equipment on, they were cycling from Nethy Bridge to overnight camp at Loch an Eilein.  After climbing up once again to look at two small lochan's above the Bothy Trail, we descended the Ryvoan pass through the ancient pine woods, enjoying great views of Cairngorm and Loch Morlich, before reaching the campsite.

Tuesday 27^th April 2010

A short walk to the Ski café to buy a newspaper this morning, resisting the urge to have slice of Apple Strudel.  Rather than have an early lunch before a walk we decided to have lunch on the walk.  We had a circular walk in mind around Loch Morlich and then up the 2½ mile trail up to Rothiemurchus Lodge a self-catering accommodation facility for the exclusive use of regulars and ex-regulars of the Armed Forces, before descending along the bottom edge of of Airgiod – meall (644 metres)  and down the ski road to the campsite.  That was the plan!  However after stopping for lunch just off the main trail and then reaching the lodge we found the weather deteriating, so “discretion being the better part of valour” we decided to return the same way, at least as far as the loch.  This was where the fun begain, we stopped at the same place on the way back where we had lunch (the weather improving as we descended) and we were sitting waiting for the kettle to boil (yes, all mod-cons, we took a stove, kettle, water, etc with us).  I heard a strange clicking and popping noise in the woods and could see something peering through the trees, I thought it was a deer, however on looking more closely  realised it was a Capercaillie, great excitement, I immediately grabbed the camera and  carefully walked along the trail to try and get a decent photograph, now the funny part, I thought I was “stalking” the Capercaillie and getting closer to him, wrong, he (definitely a male) was stalking me!  Suddenly he came out of cover and ran towards me displaying and attacking me, I had to defend myself by picking up a branch and waving it at him, before he (or was it me) retreated. I did however manage to get some decent photograph’s of him before he went back into the woods and I drank a (by now) fast cooling mug of tea.  After the excitement we continued down to the shore of Loch Morlich, taking a “short-cut” along a logging road which saved us about a mile, eventually reaching the camp site to a “well-earned” hot shower!

Wednesday 28^th April 2010

Rosemarkie C & C C, Black Isle, Near Inverness, 57 35 11 N, 04 06 64 W (58 Miles).  After a very good cooked breakfast this morning at the Ski café, it was time to leave Glenmore.  Not before I showed David the manager at the campsite (and avid wildlife photographer) my photographs of the Capercaillie, was he jealous.  I did not realise until Jenny and I read about them last night how rare these birds are, less than a 1,000 birds in the UK (all in Scotland). David has been in the Cairngorms for 2 years and has never spotted one and knows people who have made 20-30 visits to see one and have not been successful, great piece of luck for us, we did leave David with the help of the Ordnance Survey map the precise location of where we had seen the Capercaillie, he is going up there tomorrow!  Before leaving the Cairngorms we drove up to the Cairngorm Funicular Railway hoping we might be able to get some decent landscape photographs of the surrounding mountains from such a high point.  However, because of poor visibility, we had to satisfy ourselves with some waterfall photo’s as we drove back towards Aviemore, the river was impressive though as the “snow melt” had swelled the river.  We stopped at the Tesco in Inverness to top up with food, reaching Rosemarkie just before 2:00 pm, what a fabulous location, we are on a pitch just 25 yards from the beach overlooking the whole of the approaches to Moray Firth, hopefully we shall see the famous Moray Dolphins while we are here.

Thursday 29^th April 2010

A 500 yard walk along the beach path this morning to the small village of Rosemarkie ( Spar Shop, Deli’, Bistro and Pub), to get a newspaper, deciding when we got back to the camp site to pick up the cameras and binoculars and walk the opposite way to Chanonry Point and Lighthouse.  We have looked at the tide tables and we have been told by the camp site managers Mick and Mavis (M&M) the optimum times to see the Dolphins.  30 minutes saw us at the point a nice flat walk (for a change) between the beach and golf course and although rather windy we stopped for about a hour (we got hungry), sighting the dolphins about a ¼ mile out in the Firth with the aid of our binoculars, certainly not close enough to take a photograph, but nice to see them nevertheless.  Looking through binoculars from the motorhome this evening we did spot them much closer in, right on the point near the lighthouse, perhaps in the next few days we will spend some more time there. The Moray Firth dolphins are the most northerly resident population in the world. They are the only resident population in the North Sea and one of only two or three populations resident in the UK.

Friday 30^th April 2010

We were going to Inverness on the bus today, but it is was such a pleasant day (other than a occasional light shower) we are staying at the camp site.  We spotted an information board in the village yesterday showing a walk called “Fairy Glen”, so today we decided to try that instead, an easy walk up a lovely wooded glen leading to 2 picturesque waterfalls, it is also a RSPB reserve where both Dippers and Grey Wagtails are likely to be seen.  Great start, Jenny slipped going down a bank into some water, she had a soaking wet patch on the seat of her trousers and (I was told) her knickers were wet as well, (I just laughed and took a photo’).  Following the Rosemarkie Burn, we climbed steadily up along a good path; though muddy in places, to the 1^st waterfall, taking a photograph of a swathe of Wood Sorrel, Wood Anemone and Lesser Celandine which  looked very pretty on the way. After a short “photo” stop we continued up to the 2^nd waterfall, for yet another photo’ opportunity, there was even a seat at this one, so we stayed for a while before making our way back to the village to buy a newspaper and some bread rolls before walking  along the beach back to the camp site.  With such  wonderful views from the motorhome we didn’t need to move for the rest of the afternoon so we sat and relaxed outside.  There is such a lot to see from here, despite there being a strong television signal on this site, we haven’t even bothered to get the TV out of the top locker, got Radio 2 on though!  I left Jenny to do the washing up (that makes a change) and I walked along to the Lighthouse Beach to see if I could photograph any dolphins, I had waited about a hour when, fortuitously, Jenny had just decided to join me as 2 dolphins surfaced less than 20 yards from where we were standing, close enough to hear them communicating with each other with squeaks and whistles.  Not sure how good the photos are yet as I  took them as the evening light was disappearing and I have not downloaded them to the laptop yet.  For a further ½ hour, we stood watching them swimming around before they swam further up the Firth and out of sight.

Saturday 1^st May 2010

Sunday 2^nd May 2010

A relaxed day, catching up with yesterday’s newspapers which we didn’t have chance to read.  In the very pleasant sunshine I did wash the outside of the motorhome.  Late afternoon whilst Jenny sat outside reading,  I walked along the beach past Rosemarkie to take some photographs of “sea, sand and rocks” however on looking at them on the laptop later there wasn’t any that really “ticked the box” so other than the one titled “Rosemarkie” in the album, I deleted the rest.

Monday 3^rd May 2010

Tuesday 4^th May 2010

Wick Caravan and Camping Park, Wick, 58 26 59 N, 03 06 32 W, (117 Miles). Although a longer drive than we have done for sometime, it was a very easy and  pleasant drive North.  We stopped at a very picturesque lay-by for a cup of tea mid-morning before stopping for a late lunch in Helmsdale, we bought a fish supper to share for just £5.50, good job we only bought one, we would never have been able to eat one each.  We had parked the motorhome near the small harbour with a river running into it and were amused whilst eating our lunch to spot a Common Seal swimming up and down, we guess he must have smelt our Haddock and wanted a piece, he was unlucky!  The Tesco at Wick was our next stop, before driving a short distance to Riess where we looked at a “free” camping place, however we decided instead to drive the 4 mile back to Wick and stay at the camp site near the town, a pretty camp site right on the edge of the Wick River finding a nice flat pitch facing the river.

Wednesday 5^th May 2010

Dunnet Caravan Club Site, Dunnet Bay, 58 36 85 N, 03 20 72 W, (28 Miles). Not the best of showers this morning, water went cold before I washed my hair, the washing up water was only luke warm as well, not the best campsite we have stopped at and one we would not stay at again despite the view.  We left the motorhome on site and had a pleasant walk along the  river into the town to purchase a newspaper and some fresh bread, the town although nice, seemed dominated by “charity” shops and we didn’t stop long before walking back to the site and driving off just before noon.  The weather was foggy on the way to our first stop at John O Groats, it seemed so “commercialised” since the last time we came here (in the 70’s), with gift, pottery and “smellie” candle shops all situated in a purpose built building, pity the famous old and majestic John o Groats Hotel stands empty near-by, why couldn’t they have used that?  The visibility was so poor, we could hardly see the uninhabited island of Stroma just about a mile across the Pentland Firth, we did however visit the “last house” museum (free) which we found extremely interesting, with plenty of photographs of Stroma in much earlier years.  We continued to the camping club camp site and a pitch which we found out later was one of the most “sort after”,  having a wonderful view along Dunnet Bay towards the village of Castletown.  We also found adjacent to the club site was the Seadrift Visitor Centre with some fantastic displays on the areas wildlife and history, the ranger on duty was also very informative on what we could see close by, pointing out whilst we were there the part carcass of a huge whale which had been washed up on the beach.

Thursday 6^th May 2010

The nearest newsagents is at Castletown so that was our walking destination this morning, we decided (because we weren’t sure if we could reach the village from the beach) to walk along the road to the village, unfortunately the “one and only” newsagents was at the other end of the village.  We found the beach  path on the way back which enabled us to walk along the waters edge back to the camp site, a total distance we estimate of  about 6 miles.  We would have been a bit quicker, however there were two burns running off the hills into the sea, unfortunately of the 2 bridges that crossed the burns, one had collapsed and was in the water, damaged,  we presume by winter storms.  We therefore had to negotiate the water over rocks and sand, which took some time (yes, Jenny did get her feet wet).  After that exercise we spent the rest of the day (it was quite cold and windy) in the motorhome reading and listening to the radio.

Friday 7^th May 2010

A wonderful sunny day greeted us when we woke up this morning so after breakfast we took the opportunity to visit some of the picturesque scenery in the area.  First stop was at the newsagents in John O Groats, no Daily Mail’s had arrived so that was a waste of time.  We continued to Duncansby Head, a viewpoint 2 miles East of John O Goats.  A much better day “viz” wise we could see for miles, Stroma across the Pentland Firth, the infamous “Skerrie” rocks  and the low-lying Orkney Island beyond.  After a cup of tea in the lighthouse car-park,  we walked along the fenced cliff edge to the dramatic Duncansby Stacks, carved red sandstone cliffs, which ages of pounding waves have carved into a unique combination of sea-stacks, caves, natural arches and bridges, there were also two spectacular narrow inlets where hundreds of Fulmars were nesting.  Whilst Jenny prepared lunch I walked back along the cliff top to photograph the Fulmars in flight as they hovered over there respective nesting site, with limited success.  Amusing though to see them attempt to land in the wind and miss the nest, abort the landing and have to try again.  Interesting that despite there being coach parking at the headland, we did not see one coach in the 3 hours we were there despite the kind weather. Obviously the coach drivers are more content just to take their customers to the gift shops at John O Groats, I wonder why?  After lunch our next stop was “The Castle of Mey” once the much-loved holiday home of the Queen Mother, we didn’t “do” the tour of the castle or gardens, instead just took a photograph from the car park, purchased and restored by the Queen Mother in 1952 it does look a wonderful place, with an uninterrupted view of the sea just about a mile away and the Island of Hoy just over the firth, no wonder she loved this place so much.  Our last stop of the day was Dunnet Head. the “true” most northerly point on the UK mainland, fantastic views from the cliffs 100 feet above sea level, Hoy approximately 5 mile away, the rest of the Orkneys to the North East and to the West, Cape Wrath a distance of at least 40 miles.  We walked past the old buildings used by the forces for observation of the surrounding seas during World War 2. to the cairn at the top of the headland, enjoying a 360 degree view of the area, which on such a clear day were truly stupendous.  A great finish to the day was the sunset, I walked down to the waters edge to take some photographs, I came back extremely cold but happy!

Saturday 8^th May 2010

This morning Jenny did the breakfast washing up (I kid you not), and some housework (motorhomework) and some clothes washing.  What did I do?  Walk the 6 mile round trip into Castletown for the newspapers, I walked along the beach close to the waters edge, spotting an Artic Skua eating a fish and also a flock of Ringed Plover on the way, eventually finding a path to the road to avoid the “bridgeless” burn, the rest of the remains of the bridge I noticed had been deposited on the beach. Instead of continuing along the main road, I took a minor road signposted “Harbour Heritage Trail”,  stopping to read the informative notice-boards telling the history of the small harbour.  The information actually links with Castletown’s “Flagstone Heritage Trail”, evidently in the 1820’s flagstone from Caithness was transported all over the world, to pave the streets from Sydney in Australia to Montevideo in Uruguay, I didn’t linger too long on the trail, however it did seem very interesting, with old buildings (including a old wind pump tower), tools and equipment to look at.  I had a well deserved cup of tea when I got back, my timing was “spot on” I only had to wait 45 minutes for the start of practice for the F1 Grand Prix from Barcelona, we have made sure we can get a television signal here, in fact we have got digital!  Spent the rest of the day reading the newspapers although I did “wipe” the motorhome exterior down after a rain shower.  Once again I decided to walk down to the beach for the sunset, walking much further along tonight to catch the sun going down at the back of Dunnet Head, alas, there was a layer of cloud (or ash) on the horizon as it set, so the planned ????? photo didn’t  materialise, did get a nice reflection shot though.

Sunday 9^th May 2010

Grummore Caravan Club Site, Altnaharra, 58 17 81 N, 04 22 34 W (59 Miles). We had permission today to stay on the pitch until 3:00 pm (usual time is noon), I was therefore  able to watch the Spanish F1 Grand Prix before we left. We filled up with fresh water (the tank holds 90 litres) and emptied the grey (washing up, etc) and black waste (the other) before we left as we were not sure where we were stopping tonight and could be free/wild camping.  We had been told of this camp site on the shore of Loch Naver by a lady we had been talking to as we washed up at the amenities at Dunnet Bay, however we didn’t know whether there would be room.  After looking at the Ordnance Survey Map we made the decision to try it as it was along a “B” road on which we were sure we would find an alternative place to stop for the night.  Must mention parts of the “A” road we were on to-day single track with passing places, when we did turn on to the B873 (narrower than the “A” but still plenty of passing places), we only saw 3 cars in 16 mile.  There was plenty of space when we arrived at Grummore, Robert the very friendly site warden came and found us a nice pitch facing the loch and because the reception was officially closed asked us to sort out payment in the morning, trusting eh?  We could drive off at 7:00 am in the morning.  The lady at Dunnet Bay was right, this is a stunning location for a Caravan Club Site, on the shore of Loch Naver, with a direct view of Ben Kilbreck on the opposite bank, no phone signal, no television signal and the nearest shop over 20 miles away!  Unusually, this site although having electric hook-ups does not have a toilet or amenities building, we shall be using our own facilities while we are here.

Monday 10^th May 2010

Robert the site warden said last night “the only thing that will keep us awake is the silence” he was wrong we slept very well, a sound we did hear and very welcome it was,  the call of a Cuckoo in the pine wood nearby, in fact he ‘cuc-oo-ed’ all day long!   A surprise we had this morning was fresh snow on Ben Kilbreck and the surrounding hills, we, though it was a cold night, didn’t expect snow in May, even here.  When we went up to reception to pay, Linda (Roberts wife) told us there was snow on the site this morning, (we didn’t get up early enough to see it).  We are stopping another night here and we are moving the motorhome to a pitch which was vacated this morning approximately 10 metres from the waters edge, I could stop here for ever. Robert gave me a map of a local walk to Carn Gruama Mur 262 metres high from which you can see the mountains of Ben Hee, Ben Hope, Ben Loyal to name but three., as well as the length of Loch Naver.  After lunch in bright sunshine (we had more snow and hail showers this morning) we set out for the cairn, along a clearly defined path for most of the way, but it gradually petered out as we got closer to the top.  The views from the top were stunning, we didn’t stop to long though the wind was blowing quite hard and it was very cold.  We descended by an alternative path which joined a interpretive trail around the ruins of Rosal Clearance village.  It would take to long to explain about  the clearance of land in Scotland to raise sheep, but suffice to say it is not a popular time in Scotland’s history.  Early evening we spotted a quite rare bird on the loch a Black-throated Diver which hopefully I have managed to photograph as he/she swam along the shore, two other birds whish are worthy of mention that we have seen are the Common Sandpiper and Wheatear, we have also watched through our binoculars a herd of Red Deer grazing on the hills opposite the camp site.  Do we really have to move from here?

Tuesday 11^th May 2010

Kinlochbervie Certificated Location, Kinlochbervie, 58 27 73 N, 05 03 20 W, (78 Miles).  Another very cold morning with intermittent snow and hail showers between the rays of sunshine.  After a short chat with Robert we took the opportunity to fill up with “proper” water, that is straight from the burn with a nice tan colour and minimum chemicals added, how nice our drinks have tasted the last 2 days, not using the town cxxp.  Shortly after turning on the main ???? road at the end of Loch Naver, we climbed high enough to have snow at the side of the road, thank goodness the actual road was clear and after descending down to the side of Loch Loyal the snow had disappeared, the surrounding higher mountains still looked stunning with the fresh snow on them though.  Our first stop was for me to photograph a picturesque old ruined croft with some “craggy” mountains as a backdrop, we also caught up with some phone calls, whilst having a brew, having not had a signal for a couple of days.  We joined the A838 at Tongue after our “diversion” to Grummore, both agreeing the extra miles were well worth it and certainly a “longcut” we will take again in the future.  After a stop for lunch at the picnic area at the bridge over the Kyle of Tongue we thought we would check out a camp site at a village called Talmine, approximately 4 mile off the main road.  The next part is really bizarre, we had to wait at a “passing place” for a funeral cortege to pass by in the opposite direction and we waited………… and waited……… and continued to wait, never have we seen so many cars we estimated at least a hundred, who ever had passed away, certainly had a good send off, wouldn’t like to have picked up the bill for the refreshments and buffet at the wake though.  As we returned from Talmine we passed the cemetery, what a crowd, I would estimate more than Birmingham City Football Club get at a home game, (I put this bit in for my brother Brian, a City supporter).  After a brief stop at the parking area  at Ceannbeinne beach for a afternoon cup of coffee, we continued to the Kinlochbervie Certificated Location, we are at a superb “5 Van” site costing just £10 (with power, no amenities) literally yards from the cliff top overlooking Loch Clash, hopefully there will not be a Northerly gale tonight, otherwise I don’t know where we will end up.  I decided to go to the cliff walk as the sun set to take some photographs, the wind was so cold  I soon returned to the motorhome for my windcheater, the sunset wasn’t the best so I soon returned to the comfort of…………..a malt whisky!  

Wednesday 12^th May 2010.

Betweenhereandthere, Near Lochinver, 58 10 97 N, 05 18 53 W, (54 Miles) Before leaving Kinglochbervie this morning we walked down to the village for , bread, milk, and a newspaper; but no newspaper,  they don’t arrive until 11:00 am, wonder what time the newspaper boy gets to school?  The site owner gave us an information leaflet about the Sandwood Estate which stretches over 4,600 hectares which includes the crofting townships along the coastline for about 4 miles, with some beautiful beaches along the way, we decided to visit them before continuing west.  I might even meet some distant relations on the way as the most common surname is Morrison, a fierce (could well be related) clan who came from the Hebrides 400 years ago.  After a “cuppa” at Oldshoremore beach, we continued to the beach near Polin, before coming to the end of the road at Blairmore, this is where the trail starts for the 4½ mile walk to Sandwood Bay, said to be one of the top beaches in the UK.  We started the walk, however, we decided after walking about 3 mile that it would take longer than we thought, so reluctantly we turned back, deciding that we would “save it” for another time and start out earlier and (weather permitting) spend the day there.  We drove back through Kinglochbervie and rejoined the main A894 towards Ullapool, (at this stage I could tell you about Alan who we met and Phil his mate who we didn’t, cyclists who were riding along this stretch of Sutherland, alas it would take to long).  With a bit of trepidation as some “motorhome website forums” say it is not suitable for motorhomes and some say it is ok again we have decided to take a “longcut” and drive along the very narrow B869 coast road towards Lochinver  (the road sign said “no coaches or caravans”).  There were some very steep, narrow and windy places but we did not have any problems and at one point we had to pull into a “passing place” for the local bus which although a “mini-bus” was bigger than our motorhome anyway, so we knew we would get through.  Our first “wild camp” tonight, we are about 10 miles from Lochinver, parked off the road where a burn runs down from a Lochan, which is called Loch na Creige Leith, and apart from the sound of gentle trickling burn the silence is wonderful, pity the sky is cloudy as without any light pollution I bet the amount of stars we would have seen could have been awesome.

Thursday 13^th May 2010.

Shieldaig Bay, 57 45 64 N, 05 41 41 W, (101 Miles).  A rather windy night, I think because we were between 2 steep  rock faces, the wind was funnelling down from the loch and we were in the middle of the vortices!.  First stop this morning was a view point on the road to Ullapool, however we didn’t reach the viewpoint itself, I didn’t read the information board at the start of the walk properly, we did however have a pleasant walk to a small Lochan.  Our next stop  was to look at and photograph Ardvreck Castle on a small promontory on Loch Assynt, built in the 15^th Century, throughout its life it was the scene of much violence, with murders, executions and sieges by quarrelsome branches of the MacLeod family, it is also said to be haunted by at least 2 ghosts, neither of which I spotted.  Close by stands the ruins of Calda House built in 1726 by Kenneth MacKenzie II for is wife who didn’t like the austerity of Ardvreck Castle, typical woman, don’t know what she was complaining about, from what I could see both buildings had air-conditioning!  We stopped for lunch at a small tea-shop in Elfin, enjoying our cheesy baked potato and salad and chat to the owner, before continuing to Ullapool.  Ullapool as progressed since we were here last, it now boasts a Tesco, albeit a small Tesco, but nevertheless a Tesco.   Good news, we bought enough food for a “5p a litre off fuel voucher ” I asked at the customer services where the petrol (diesel) station was, she replied “Inverness or Dingwall”, both at least 50 miles away, I need  to do some maths, 100 mile round trip to save .5 pence a litre, the motorhome does approximately 22 miles per gallon, I give in, anybody got a calculator?  Anyway we needed to refuel at Ullapool as we were down to a ¼ tank.  We found the “one and only” petrol (diesel) station, which Betty (the SatNav) said was a Shell Station, sure enough we found it “emblazened” with all the distinctive Shell logo’s, now at £1.30.9  per litre we thought at least we would use our “Shell Card” to obtain some air miles, wrong the assistant informed us it wasn’t a Shell Station but a Gleaner Station, and they didn’t accept Shell cards…………we are still trying to work it out!  Early afternoon we stopped at the National Trust property of Corrieshalloch Gorge and The Falls of Measach, we chose to walk clockwise around the circular trail, wise decision, walking anti-clockwise would have been at lot more arduous, the 1.2 kilometre track eventually led us to the swing bridge across the gorge, must admit my heart fluttered as I looked down to the River Broom at the bottom, especially as the bridge was swinging.  We continued on a steady drive around the shores of little Loch Broom, Gruinard Bay, (with a good view of Gruinard Island, still we presume contaminated, by “experiments” during World War 2) and Loch Ewe, before reaching the Camping and Caravan Club site at Inverewe.  Unfortunately they only had a non-power site available, not wanting to pay just for a pitch we decided to find a place to wild camp for the night.  I remembered a car-park we had used at Shieldaig Bay on the B8056 when we had B&B at Badachro some years ago, sure enough it was perfect, shielded from the wind with a view over the bay and very little traffic on the “no through” road, which only serves 4 very small villages.  After tea I walked along the road to take some photographs of the bay in the diminishing evening light and was delighted to see 2 Greylag Geese with 5 bright yellowy/orange new-born goslings.

Friday 14^th May 2010

Sands Caravan and Camping Site, Gairloch, 57 44 48 N, 05 45 93 W (47 Miles).  Before moving this morning we decided to walk up to a series of Lochs (the fairy lochs) about 2 mile above Shieldaig at a height of approximately 225 metres.  One of the reasons for the walk is to visit the memorial to the crew and passengers of a B-24-H Liberator bomber which crashed here in 1945, with the loss of all those on board.  Last time we were up here we walked up the wide(ish) track to Loch Bright Horrisdale before turning east across country to the fairy lochs and we found the scene of the wreck site straight away, before descending on a much narrower, harder  (albeit probably quicker) track to Shieldaig.  On this occasion we elected to go up on the narrow track, however this time we could not find the correct loch.  Luckily there is a “trig point” (triangulation pillar) on the top of Sithean Mor a high hill close by using our compass and map and by locating 2 of the larger lochs we found the wreck site and memorial at the smaller Lochan.  We stood in silence for a time to pay our respects, ironic that these young boys (the pilot was only 22) were on a flight back home to the USA when they got lost and reportinglly clipped the mountain of Slioch (980 metres) about 12 miles away before finally crashing at the loch, what a terrible tragedy.  We returned along another track on the way down, before rejoining the track we went up on, passing a herd of “photogenic” highland cattle as we approached the road back to where we had “over nighted” in the motorhome.  We had decided to spend the weekend at a camp site where we knew there was a television signal (Monaco F1 Grand Prix this week-end).  We couldn’t get a phone signal to book the Caravan Club site at Kinlochewe, so we decided to take a chance and just arrive, “SITE FULL” was the sign that greeted us at the gate, whoops!  They did not have any vacancies all week-end the manager said all the Scotland and Northern England sites were very busy, but the ones in the South (Cornwall and Devon) were not, strange.  Against the “club” rules she did allow us to fill up with fresh water, empty the grey waste and the toilet, we gave her a donation to the mountain rescue service.  Whilst I was doing these chores (I always get the best jobs), Jenny phoned this campsite (Sands) at Gairloch, after the assistant assured us they could get BBC TV reception, it did mean we retraced our route some 21 mile but we did not want to continue south without seeing this area once again. Sods law the first place we visited on the way back to Gairloch was Victoria Falls, last time we visited,  people could walk up the track through the wood to the bottom waterfall and then continue up steps to a further waterfall. Disappointedly this time the forest of trees had been cut down and they had put a viewing area at the bottom , which the public were not allowed to pass, even the “view point” further up another track was a nonsense, who wants to look at a view with power-lines running across it?  We did have one enjoyable episode whilst we were there, I offered to take a group photograph of 12 Swedish tourists, 5 minutes and 8 different cameras later I finished taking photo’s and Jenny looked like an encumbered umpire at a cricket match with cameras dangling everywhere, we did have a good chat with them before they continued on their way.  Tonight we are about 3 miles from Gairloch with a fantastic view over Loch Gairloch and beyond, and yes, we have a TV signal.

Saturday 15^th May 2010

No long walk this Saturday for the newspapers they have them at the shop on the campsite, spent the day catching up with editing my photographs, listening to music and of course watching the F1 practice. Jenny sat in the laundry reading a book for a couple of hours, watching our clothes go round in the washing machine (just like those little dogs in the washing powder advert, remember them?).  I did take her a cup of coffee though, I also intended watching the FA Cup Final this afternoon, wrong it’s the Scottish cup up here, I didn’t  bother to switch on, found the birds outside the motorhome more interesting, Meadow Pipits, Skylark and Wheatears birds we don’t see very often.

Sunday 16^th May 2010

Monday 17^th May 2010

Aboutthere, Applecross Peninsula, 57 32 54 N, 05 50 88 W, (55 Miles).  After a quick stop at the service station to check the pressure of the tyres, the one at the “pumps” was not a commercial type, however, a mechanic in the shop told us to go to the garage at the top of the hill where he worked, where he very kindly checked them for us, I did leave him a tip for a drink though.  We didn’t realise how late we left this morning so it wasn’t long before we found a picnic area on the side of Loch Maree for a morning “cuppa”, no biscuits I’ve give them up (for now).  We were there longer than intended as 2 other motorhomes pulled in behind us so we had a bit of a chat, where have you been?  Where you are you going?  That sort of thing.  After driving off, 5 minutes later we stopped again, this time at the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve to purchase an Ordnance Survey Map of Raasay and Applecross, one we didn’t borrow from Lichfield Library.  We forgot to bake some bread this morning (part-baked baguettes from Tesco) and the garage/store in Kinlochewe had run out, (got a daily mail though) so we stopped at a very picturesque picnic area overlooking Upper Loch Torridon for a coffee, photo stop and to bake the baguette.  At Shieldaig we turned off the A896 along the very narrow, single track, windy and undulating coast road around the Applecross Peninsula, stopping for a later than usual lunch (the baguette had cooled) at a small parking area alongside Loch Torridon with the still snow-capped mountains of the Torridons on the opposite shore.  We had found on the map a likely place to stop for the night and when we got there it was perfect, off the road, overlooking the Inner Sound and the Hebridean islands of Rona and Raasay, with the higher ground of the Isle of Skye in the background, an idyllic place for a good nights sleep with only the sheep to keep us company.

Tuesday 18^th May 2010

Skye Camping and Caravan Club, Edinbane, 57 29 01 N, 06 26 07 W, (97 Miles). I was right a great night’s sleep although I did keep going outside as the sunset last night over the islands to take some photographs and it didn’t get dark until well after 10:00 pm, in fact it never gets “properly” dark up here at this time of the year.  The “rush hour” started at  7:35 am and by 9:15 when we left the parking area 3 vehicles had passed by!  I made sure I went to the toilet properly this morning as we had the notorious “Pass of the Cattle” to negotiate, at 2053 feet it is the UK’s highest road, single track (with passing places) very very steep with several extremely sharp hair-pin bends, we are however “exiting” the peninsula the suggested way i.e. from North to South, at least this way the sharpest hairpins are on the downhill side.  We did stop at the summit viewpoint for a “photo-stop” before descending to sea-level near Kishorn, an exhilarating drive, certainly not for the faint-hearted and after a brief stop to change my under-pants (joking), we continued on our way.  Not for long though, on the shores of Loch Kishorn they are building a new pier at a fish farm, this necessitated a tanker load of concrete to be delivered, the tanker was on it’s way out and it was necessary for it to go over a narrow river bridge on a sharp bend, because of the length of the vehicle they had to use a large “Manitou” fork lift truck to lift up the rear end of the truck and swing it around to straighten it up to get over the bridge, several people were assisting and controlling the “traffic” both ways (all 7 of us). Having a chat with one of the workmen he was saying it is not unusual to have to use this means of manoeuvring on this part of the coast and they were well used to it.  A short stop at the loch side village of Lochcarron to purchase some fruit and a newspaper, brought back memories of the last time we were here and struggled to find a “Bed and Breakfast” when we arrived rather later than intended.  We eventually found a room at a small pub the  “Rockvilla Hotel” and decided to eat in their restaurant and had the most superb 3 course meal at a very reasonable price, the room and breakfast was excellent too.  Having decided to visit Skye we drove over the bridge (now free) at Kyle of Lochalsh and onto the Isle of Skye, finding a parking area at the end of Loch Ainort with the “Cuillins” towering above us to stop for lunch.  We reached the Camping and Caravan Club Site on the edge of Loch Greshornish a small sea loch which is part of the much larger Loch Snizort mid-afternoon, a campsite surrounded by hills where we are staying for 3 nights. I interrupted typing this tonight to walk along the loch side path at dusk hoping to see an Otter…………….No luck, we will have to try again tomorrow.

Wednesday 19^th  May 2010

Despite the weather being a bit “grim” we thought we would visit the “top end” of Skye today, remembering that the last time we rushed it because the weather was so bad.  Our first stop was at the small port and ferry terminal at Uig and visited the brewery shop, I didn’t buy any bottles of beer this time, in fact I have still got the bottles of Red and Black souvenir ales from the last time we were here they are in our storage unit, wonder if they are passed there “sell by date”?  After a cup of tea and a scone in a café, we continued along the top towards the museum village of Clachan, an old croft village with some very interesting items from the early 19^th Century, actually the croft house we went into looked surprisingly warm and comfortable, especially with the peat fire burning in the hearth.  Close by is the cemetery where Flora MacDonald is buried, if you don’t know about her than you didn’t take any notice of your history teacher at school, I didn’t and Jenny had to explain it all to me!  We found a fantastic stop for lunch at “Lub an Sgoir” (the “u” and “o” should have those little lines  over them but I don’t know how to do that on this lap top) and some small islands which I won’t bother naming.  The “Quiraing” was our next stop, a very unusual, range of peaks, highly acclaimed in the mountain climbing fraternity, with names like “The Prison, Table and Needle”, we did walk about a mile up the track before turning back (we hadn’t got ropes, crampons and all the rest of the paraphernalia we needed) and returned to the motorhome.  No equipment needed at our next stop, parked in the car-park and 50 metres away was the cliff top view point for Kilt Rock and a waterfall that runs straight off the cliff into the sea.  Wasn’t impressed with Kilt Rock, so called because of the white streaks that run horizontally through the rock, in fact the  photograph on the information board looked a bit better than the actual, I think somebody needs to descend down the cliff face and give the white bits a bit of a “wash and brush” up!  One place I was impressed with was the walk up to “The Storr” or should I say to the base of, I say I, because Jenny stayed in the motorhome doing the Daily Mail crossword (and finishing it, which is what she normally does after I start it) whilst I walked up. Unfortunately the mountain was covered for most of the time in mist and after waiting patiently for about 30 minutes to get a decent photograph of the famous “Old Man of Storr” , I had to be satisfied with a photograph of a mist shrouded old man and the surrounding rock formations, I can imagine this would be a stunning place when the weather is fine, perhaps one day we will return.  I tried again tonight to spot an Otter, I walked as far as I could along the shore line of the sea loch, before a burn prevented me (without getting my feet wet) walking any further, found an armchair (a flat rock) to sit on as dusk descended, watched for about a hour and saw only a Heron, Oystercatcher, Herring Gull and heard Cuckoos in stereo, but once again no Otter.

Thursday 20^th May 2010

Very wet and windy today, so we are staying in the motorhome, at least I have caught up on editing of the photographs I have taken in the last few days.  We were lucky with the weather yesterday, Jenny was speaking to the man in the motorhome on the adjacent pitch who had stayed at the site all day and it had been damp and miserable until early evening, at least our weather wasn’t to bad (apart from the mist on The Storr).

Friday 21^st May 2010

Morvich Caravan Club Site, Morvich, 57 14 15 N, 05 22 99 W, (83 Miles). Hadn’t gone far this morning when we went on a recently re-tarred road with loose chippings, we went the recommended  20 mile per hour, pity the guy in the opposite direction didn’t, result a chip in the windscreen, a job for Auto Windscreens when we get back to the Midlands!  The Coral Beaches were the first place we wanted to visit this morning, but with little sun, the scenery although nice, was not showing it’s true beauty, however we did enjoy the 2 mile walk along the shores of Loch Dunvegan to the beach.  We were going to  Dunvegan Castle for a photographic stop, but the best photo location from the loch side was seriously marred by a white cover over part of the castle, we guess they are renovating a part of it.  With the weather not improving with low mist and rain we decided to abandon 2 other places we wanted to visit on the Isle of Skye and return over the bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh.  Immediately the weather improved!  We have run out of fresh fruit, milk and bread so we stopped in the town to shop, parking was not easy, we parked eventually in a lay-by just outside and walked in.  It was lunchtime so we bought some fish and chips and found a seat overlooking the harbour to eat them (sorry Mr Herring Gull we were hungry), before “topping up” with perishables at the small Co-operative Supermarket.  At the end of Loch Alsh and at the beginning of Loch Duich, lies probably the most photographed building in Scotland, Eilean Donan Castle, not wanting to miss out we stopped to take some photographs, stopping in a parking area of a hotel and what used to be a very nice restaurant called “Jenny’s” which is now a camping shop (must be a joke somewhere).  We could have  “gate crashed” a wedding reception while we were there, however I would have been the only guy not wearing a kilt, so decided not to bother.  We arrived at the campsite at 3:00 pm and realised we had been in the vicinity some years ago when we parked in the mountain rescue car-park close by to walk in the area, the campsite didn’t exist then.  It is in a superb location surrounded by hills on three sides all in excess of 850 metres high and with the River Croe running along one side.  This evening we did in fact take a stroll along the river and along the adjacent Glen Lichd, we didn’t go far though as we want to explore further in the next 2 days.

Saturday 22^nd May 2010

Great service from this camp site and we don’t know why other camp sites which are not near a newsagents don’t follow suit i.e., Skye and Dunnet Bay to name but two, here they order the newspapers for you, it saved me a 5 mile walk this morning.  As usual on a Saturday we spent most of the morning reading the papers.  After lunch we got organised to walk along Glen Lichd,  a fantastic reasonably flat walk of approximately 6 mile, through Kintail Forest (strange name as there is very little forest) with the high mountains of the “Five Sisters” on one side, other high mountains on the opposite side and a excellent track, which for most of the time ran close to the  picturesque River Croe.  We would have liked to have reached the Glenlicht House, a bothy at the end of the glen, but after stopping for a long time sitting relaxed on the side of the river about a mile from the bothy, we decided to return to the campsite after a super walk which we can definitely recommend.

Sunday 23^rd May 2010

We thought we might attempt a longer walk today to “The Falls of Glomach”, however at a total distance of 12 miles and a height gain of 1650 feet, we decided to start the walk and decide as we went along whether we would complete it.  The walk started off easy enough along the lane for about ½ mile, then across flattish moor land before descending to a foot bridge over the river called Abhainn Chonaig and then climbing steeply along a Forestry Commission track to the end of a plantation.  Then it became much harder the narrow path zigzagging up the slopes of Bealach Na Sroine became very rough going.  After stopping for a late lunch we knew it was going to be a hard slog to reach the waterfall and would take quite a long time so we agreed we would return to the camp site, albeit by a different route when we reached the river lower down the trail.  Reaching the river we continued along the easier (but probably further) track, spotting a herd of deer in an enclosure as we walked along the metaled road through a crofting area. back to the campsite.  After a strenuous but very enjoyable walk, I still couldn’t resist walking back along the river to see if I could photograph some Dippers we had seen “fishing” yesterday, other than one flying fast upstream I didn’t see any others.

Monday 24^th May 2010

Viewpoint 348 metres above Ratagan, 57 13 41 N, 05 27 82 W, (40 miles).  A drive today along the scenic coast road to the tiny village of  Corran, returning along the same route.  First stop however was within 15 minutes of leaving the campsite at the viewpoint (which we subsequently returned to “wild” camp over-night) overlooking Loch Duich and opposite the mountains of  Inverinate and Kintail, the group of mountains called the “Five Sisters” looking particularly stunning with low cloud on the top.  We stayed longer than anticipated sitting at one of the picnic benches drinking tea while I experimented with different camera settings and filters to capture a decent photograph, after a further short stop at a higher viewpoint we continued on along the undulating, narrow and windy roads we have got used to in Scotland with the Isle of Skye and the imposing Cullin Mountains to our right across the “Sound of Sleat”. The next place we wanted to stop at was the trail down to the Sandaig Islands at Sandaig, famous for being the  home of  Gavin Maxwell author of the book  “The Ring of Bright Water”  the story of his friendship with the areas Otters.  When we visited some years ago the ruins of the house were still visible together with other signs of his occupation, the Islands also were particularly beautiful, golden beaches, surrounded by crystal clear water.  Alas, the plantation surrounding Sandaig was being razed to the ground and the footpath was closed,  this magical place will never be the same again.  After 20 mile we came to the “end of the road” at Corran on the shores of Loch Hourn, parking at the new community hall and walking the short distance to “The Tea Hut” run by a little old lady who comes out of her house when you ring the brass bell on the wall of the hut!  We sat outside in the little garden (the 2 chairs in the hut being occupied) drinking a mug of tea and eating a delicious portion of  Clootie Dumpling (found it in Jenny’s Scottish cook book when we got back to the motorhome and she is going to make some).  After leaving “The Tea Hut” we strolled down to the edge of the loch to photograph the mountains of the Knoydart, incidentally if we decided we wanted an alcoholic drink the nearest public house is on the Knoydart, a boat ride across the loch then a 15 mile walk across the mountains to Inverie, think I’ll have another cup of tea at the hut!  After a steady drive back up the Ratagan Pass to the viewpoint, I took more photographs in the different light, luckily having the camera in my hand and capturing a fast jet as it swept low along the loch, below us! before veering to port and starboard and disappearing up Glen Lichd, luck b-----d gets paid for having fun like that!  Didn’t realise that we can see the campsite at Morvich from up here it is only about 2 mile away across the loch, spotted it when I was standing on the bed with my body through the skylight taking photos of the colours of the setting sun on the mountains.

Tuesday 25^th May 2010

Glencoe Caravan and Camping Club Site, Glencoe, 56 40 43 N, 05 05 05 W, (79 Miles).  Just one stop this morning for a cuppa before we arrived a Fort William.  We needed to “top up” with calor gas the first time since March when we were in Dumfries and Galloway, wise decision going along the Gaslow route, although we had a higher initial outlay we are sure that being able to purchase and refill with Autogas as opposed to buying refilled containers will recoup the cost a lot sooner than we expected.   We also did a quick shop at the small Tesco before having lunch at MacDonald’s (ulterior motive we wanted to use the internet to do some banking).  The choice of camp site was made for us we had not decided between Bunree or Glencoe, Bunree hadn’t any vacancies, Glencoe had, decision made we went to Glencoe.  After saying hello again to the cheerful manageress Barbara, we drove around and chose a pitch.  After “reserving” it with our pitch marker and power cable we then drove straight up to “The Pass of Glencoe”  4½ mile from the campsite and parked at the quieter lay-by just below the large viewpoint car park (which appeared full) about half way up the pass, which has spectacular views of the “Three Sisters”, Beinn Fhada, Gearr Anonach and Aonach Dubh.  With an ice-cream each purchased from the camp shop we sat and relaxed in the magnificent scenery, drank tea, read the newspaper, Jenny read her book and I went “walkabout” with my camera before returning to the campsite for the sunset.  Oh, while we were at Glencoe another fast jet flew low along the glen, closer to us than the one on Monday, I am so jealous, I’d do that job for free!

Wednesday 26^th May 2010

Whoopee!  At last!  Yesterday I suggested we attempt the walk in to the “Hidden Valley” and today we finally managed it and boy was it worth it.  In 2000 we made our first attempt which we aborted about half way when the weather changed for the worse, we have been in Glencoe on two other occasions and both times the weather was not good enough to even try to do the walk.  The “Hidden Valley” is a valley which is reached by walking through a narrow glen between the mountains of  Beinn Fhada and Gearr Anonach, with a steep gorge, burn and sheer cliffs on one side and scree and more sheer cliffs on the other.  The trail that leads to the valley, to say  the least, is certainly not easy.  We had to scramble up the edge of a rock face, duck under trees and negotiate the crossing of a burn as we climbed up to a point above the valley floor.  When we arrived it was what Jenny and I call “the wow factor” the  high mountains on either side of Beinn Fhada, Gearr Anonach and at the end of the valley the mighty faces of Stob Coire Sreamhach and Bidean nam Bian, with snow still on the sides and top also snow melt waterfalls with icicles on them.  After finding a great place to sit and eat our lunch, joined by a cheeky Chaffinch perching on the rock next to us waiting for a tasty crumb, Jenny continued to sit and enjoy the scene whilst I walked down to the valley floor, from a lower perspective it looked even more awe inspiring. All to soon it was time for us to make our way back, taking it quite steady on the difficult track, we rested awhile after crossing the burn, in fact I rested on a rock in the middle of it!  The next part was the hardest, descending down the rocky path to the narrow bridge over the River Coe, going up the other side was easy there were wooden steps, complete with handrail!  After an easy walk up the path to the viewpoint car park, the visitors and busking piper with all the regalia that were in evidence this morning having left, we reached the motorhome and drove back to the campsite, where we immediately got our chairs out and sat in the late afternoon sun with a well-earned glass of wine and a satisfied smile on our faces.

Thursday 27^th May 2010

Clachan Camping Club site, Killin, 56 28 99 N, 04 18 44 W (52 Miles).  After our usual chores, emptying the toilet and grey water, filling with fresh water and topping up with diesel at the local service station, we left a very chilly Glencoe which had a layer of fresh snow on the higher peaks this morning. What a great decision  to do the Hidden Valley walk yesterday in perfect weather, we certainly wouldn’t have attempted it today.  Stopping just once mid-morning at the end of Rannoch Moor for a cup of tea and some delicious chocolate and ginger biscuits, Jenny bought them yesterday morning at the visitor centre as I perused the walking books to remind me of the route to the Hidden Valley (a small price to pay).  We reached the village of Killan at lunchtime and booked in at the Maragowan Camping Club Site reception.  Unusually this site also controls the Clachan club site one mile further along the road and the one we have chosen to stop at despite being further from the village, the Maragowan site is in the open near the river, we opted for the woods with more chance of seeing wildlife.  Tumbling through the very heart of the village are the celebrated “Falls of Dochart” so after settling in at the campsite choosing a pitch with a more open aspect to hopefully be in some warm sun, we walked back to the village to take some photographs and as we spotted a Co-op store in the village purchase some fresh fruit.  Should have taken my tripod with me to take some “slo mo” shots of the interesting waterfalls and rocks, still, an excuse to go back tomorrow (despite the 4 mile round trip) and call in again at “The Shutters” for tea and apple pie!

Friday 28^th May 2010

Saturday 29^th May 2010

I walked into Killin this morning to purchase the newspapers, whilst Jenny continued with cleaning the motorhome.  It was my intention today to wax polish the outside paintwork, unfortunately just after I arrived back the weather changed and became extremely wet.  So we have had a relaxed day, including of course watching the F1 Grand Prix practice from Turkey.

Sunday 30^th May 2010

Near Loch na Craige, 56 35 11 N, 03 48 92 W (32 Miles).  After leaving the camp site this morning we drove into Killin and parked at the free car park to watch the Turkish Grand Prix, the TV reception in the village being much better than at Clachan.  We continued our journey mid-afternoon deciding first to look at the “Falls of Lochay” along a single track road about 4 mile from the village, however we came to a “dead end” with no indication where the actual falls were located, with nobody around to ask directions we drove back to the main road.  We found an excellent place to free camp this evening, on a Forestry Commission car park which I had remembered from one of our other trips to Scotland where we had stopped for a picnic and with pleasant evening sunshine shining spectacularly on the nearby Loch Cruife we settled down for the night.

Monday 31^st May 2010

Tuesday 1^st June 2010