Scotland: It's guid ti hae yir cog out whan it rains kail

There's always something incredibly special about seeing something in the flesh for the first time. Perhaps something that you've known about for a long time, from childhood even, something that you've seen pictures of in books or on TV or in films, something that you feel as though you already know intimately. For me these occasions are always something to get excited about and I can make myself quite ill with impatience and the unbearable anticipation of peeling back my eyes to finally see 'it' in front of me. Will it be as good as I've always thought?, as big as I'd always believed?, as awesome as I've been told it is?, as magical as I've always hoped it would be?, and "oh no.. what if it's all a big let down..?" Well... I'll share with you that this big guy was really one of those things for me; Ben Nevis.

I've seen the highest mountain in England and the highest one in Wales, I've seen the highest one in Northen Ireland, I've been part way up the tallest one in Italy, and France, and Switzerland, and I've flown around the highest one in Norway, and I've been lucky enough to see many more 'biggest' ones but never have I seen the tallest one in Scotland, the tallest one in fact in the whole of the British Isles. So how cheesed off was I when we couldn't see even a hint of it from our hotel, or from Glen Coe, or from Fort William or in fact from anywhere on our side of the loch. So we had to travel to a place called Corpach around the other side of Loch Linnhe so that we could see him. We parked up at the foot of the Caledonian Canal (more of that later) just to get a glimpse. Well, it was worth the wait and it is worth the effort as we enjoyed the view shown above. Another of life's little ambitions ticked off on the list but how good would it be to actully go up there...? Hmmmm... That gives me an idea!

Well, there's only one way to find out and that's to go over and do it! Rest assured that we didn't lose our minds like some people and pay a visit to the outdoor shop and kit ourselves out with ice-picks and crampons, oh yes... they we're all there, in our hotel, shaking from having nearly died that day. No, we did the sensible (ok, TOG-like) thing and took the Gondola cable car up Mount Aonach Mor to the Nevis Range ski resort so we could get a least a flavour of what it's like. So... what was it like? Well.... It was bloody freezing!

Yet it is actually very beautiful and the weather kindly took a short break, enough to give us an amazing view over Loch Linnhe and the surrounding glens, Bens and Munroes, some of which were apprarently up to 20 miles away (according to one of those panoramic 'you-are-here' bronze view map thingys). We were even treated to a fresh fall of snow which was really exciting as we watched all of the brave souls getting dragged further up the mountain by a fast moving bin lid on a stick between their legs, and then skiing and snowboarding down, some gracefully and skilfully, and some disgracefully and pitifully, which provided us with a little voyeristic enjoyment, but OH MY GOD! It was SO COLD!!!.

It was great to be knee-deep in fresh snow, it was wonderful to be amidst the falling flurry and it was truly awesome to see the views out in the sub-zero refrigerated air and then warm ourselves up inside the Snow Goose restaurant with a hot coffee and then send postcards from the highest postbox in the British Isles, but best of all, absolutely best of ALL, was yet another fulfilment of a life long ambition for me, and I couldn't quite believe that for the first time in my life that I was face to face with these little boys and girls who danced around and around, just feet in front of us like some scheduled performance of a ballet; Snow Buntings!!

They are genuinely a scarce breeding species in the UK, only in Scotland now for many years, and only a few (literally) recorded pairs making them an RSPB 'Amber List' species which means that there are less than 300 in total, at less than 10 known sites in the entire country. They are just gorgeous and they were quite clearly comfortable with the hoards of aliens tramping around them in huge rigid plastic boots, Michelin Man suits and deep sea diving masks as they came back time and time again to scavenge the dander and detritus of cheese sandwiches and bacon rolls; Lovely!

Forgive my indulgence with these little chaps but it has genuinely been one of my lifetime ambitions to see them since being in the YOC (Young Ornithologist Club) as a child! Precious, precious moments indeed.

Bloody cold though! (did I mention that already?) So, after a couple of hours we decided to start our descent and we hustled into the cable car to ride down the mountain. Once again the views were spectacular and the 15 minute journey passed dissapointingly in no time.

Time for a little more history along the way to our lunch destination which was so far out of the way that we only just made it...

The journey kept stalling continually to take in that monument and this waterfall, those deer, that buzzard, and that famous viaduct above which featured in the Harry Potter film 'Prisoner of Azkaban' when the car flew alongside the Hogwarts Express. Directly opposite the bridge is this incredibly special view of the Glenfinnan Monument which, in my opinion, is the most tasteful coalescence of natural beauty and manmade architecture I have ever seen.

The Glenfinnan Monument is set at the head of Loch Shiel and was built in 1815 to commemorate the Jacobites, who fought and fell during the 1745 uprising. Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) raised his standard and rallied his clansmen for battle on the 19th August 1745 which marked the start of his campaign to restore the exiled Stuarts to the throne. The Glenfinnan Monument was designed by James Gillespie Graham and erected by Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale some years later.

Loch Shiel reaches out long into the horizon before your eyes, veiled on both sides by steep craggy snow-topped mountains which have remained completely unchanged and unspoilt since the events that made the place historic, and after reading the testimonies on and around the monument we couldn't help but wonder how it must have looked and sounded when it was swarming with more than a thousand enraged highlanders all those years ago.

We eventually set off towards Glenuig again passing through even more stunning scenery and resisting many occasions to stop and point and go "wow!" and take pictures and film and well, you know how it can be, but we had a deadline to meet... Lunch! Then, however, we came across this view below and we just had to pull over and get out to drink it all in and wonder quite genuinely how we could possibly still be on the mainland of the United Kingdom.

This view from Roshven looks out over the Sound of Arisaig and the clarity and colour of the sea makes you pinch yourself. As you can see the skies were clear and despite the slightest of zephyrs coming at us we had a wee stroll along the sandy beach, with me wearing just a tee-shirt quite comfortably and a picnicking family nearby quite unblieveably chasing their pet spaniel into the water wearing just swimsuits.

So... that's part 2. We did make our lunch venue and I'll tell you more about that in Part 3.

Lots of love

Andrew & Linda

xxx

Scotland: Where English sounds like Gibberish!

So... After WEEKS of toil and hard graft with rubble, fences, flag stones, patios, sheds, tiles, woodstain, sand, cement, gravel, soil, posts, nails, screws, segs, blisters, baths and many many aches... We finally set off for our well deserved holiday in Scotland. The journey up on the first night was certainly 'interesting' with sleet, snow, hail, rain and 80-90 MPH winds just some of the challenges. Still, the intrepid duo of travellers battled on and survived the 212 mile drive on just a small pie and a bag of crisps from our favourite service station; Tebay! We arrived in the heart of Glasgow just in time for a relaxing drink... or perhaps it was two :-)

Next morning I had to work :-( My Glasgow office is only a few minutes from our hotel at the SECC so I strolled in early, and Linda set off on foot to see the sights of a city that she'd never before seen. The weather was still a little unkind and we eventually met up just after lunch and took a stroll around the Necropolis (graveyard) at the Cathedral. What a fascinating place with lots of old decrepid and sadly vandalised statues, tombs, crypts and graves and we even saw a skull and cross-bones on one stone which apparently signifies that the person lying within died from the plague.

The graves all told a family story about who was who, who was married to who and what their maiden name was, who had fathered who, what he or she did for a living or what they may have contributed to Scottish history and in some cases even how they came to be no longer. The highlight for me was the grave of William Miller, who in 1841 wrote the children's poem, "Wee Willie Winkie". Afterwards we had a look inside the Cathedral which was both cavernous and historic and of course, beautiful. Then we headed north through Glasgow to Dumbarton and on to Loch Lomond before getting very slightly lost around Loch Long, and then eventually arriving at our destination, the historic Drovers Inn.

Well... if it was good enough for Rob Roy McGregor..!

The Drovers is a fascinating place, it's more than 300 years old and it's not exactly modernised, or even decorated, I doubt it'll ever have a 'star' or a 'crown' of any sort, and I don't think that even Kim and Aggie would be able to clean the place up BUT..., the quality of the hospitality and the fascination of it's Scottishness and it's absolute uniqueness is truly wonderful!



So, they put us in room 6, the "Haunted Room". Apparently no matter how they heat the place that room NEVER gets warm, we can both now support this theory, well... I can at least having woken up in the wee small hours with NO bed covers as Linda did her best impersonation of a cocoon. It is apparently haunted (in the walls) by the ghost of a young girl who drowned in the nearby loch. Well, that may be so, but Linda and I really enjoyed the roaring fires, the beer, the wine, the food and the £10 a shot whiskey (Well... you have to sometimes don't you?!) to such an extent that the poor girl could have danced around the room all night making Wwwooooohhh noises and throwing the pots around, we would never have noticed :-) "hic..."

Next morning after a full 'Scottish' breakfast we headed up in to the highlands towards Glen Coe and it wasn't long before we felt our shoulders relaxing and our brows unfurrowing as we were met around every corner by beauty...

and nothing quite so beautiful as the gorgeous boy we met at the top of a particularly steep and winding climb...

This handsome chap was standing at the end of a small car park which overlooked a particularly beautiful scene of lochs, glens and snowy mountains. We stopped the car respectfully quite a distance away from him so we could stare and gasp and take some film and photographs of him and his stunning garden. We stayed behind the car and despite several others pulling up to watch and to film him also he stayed for ages just making the occasional polite and gentle low pitched calls. His harem was just out of sight beyond the brow of his hill.

Needless to say he was eventually spooked by some complete idiot with a camera phone who apparently wanted to get close enough to smell his breath, and just for a moment we both wished that he'd provided us with some goring blood sport for us to admire with those impressive antlers, but anyway... at least we'd enjoyed a real moment (about 15 mins actually) of wild Scottish magic and it was to be the first of many for us during the week.

After a lovely drive and a couple of strolls through Glen Coe we had lunch on the banks of Loch Linnhe and eventually arrived at our home for the next three nights just outside of Fort William. The hotel was fine and the location was perfect for our tour. We awoke early the next morning to see a genuine phenomenon (I don't get the chance to use that word too often!) as the tide moved the loch waters from right to left in the view (below) from our bedroom and the fantastic sight of the mist hovering just a few feet above the water, rolling along at exactly the same speed. I've never seen anything quite like it! More Scottish magic and mystique which we watched for ages until the sun burned it all away to reveal the stunning panorama of snow capped mountains and rich deep heathery glens and lochs.

We set off for a day of adventure to Glen Coe. Linda has recently read about the infamous battles between the Campbells and the MacDonalds and the massacre of 1692. So we had to visit some of the historic sites and along the way we were completely stopped in our tracks by how still the waters of Loch Leven were and how perfect the reflections of the sun kissed scenery around us could be. We stopped to look and take some pics and it was utterly magical, so cold, so sunny, so perfect that one had to question it's reality.

Again we were joined by many photographers and admirers of this tranquil scene, well, many being one or two as it's all so quiet up there. We were SO lucky with the weather all week and the last time that I saw such radiant blue skies was in Nothern Cyprus. The most bizzare thing also shared this vision with us... A red Ford Fiesta which was built completely into a shed thing, on stilts, and was being used as a boat pulley, you'd have to see it to believe it! That and the wonderful scenery made this one of those genuine 'life is good' moments.

We took a walk through the forests and rocks and hills and glens at Glen Coe to visit Signal Rock. Which is where the clan Chieftain used to address his followers from and where history has documented that the signal to attack was given on that fateful day nearly 400 years ago when 38 members of the MacDonald clan were so brutally murdered. Here's a picture of Linda (a.k.a. William Wallace) sharing in that history from that very rock... "It's all for nothing if you don't have freedom!"

Our second walk of that day was a much gentler stroll around a man made loch known as "The Lochan". The Glencoe Lochan was created by Lord Strathcona in the nineteenth century to help his Native American wife get over her longing for her home in Canada. We (well... Linda) could see what he was trying to do and hopefully we have captured some of that beauty in this picture below...

The walk around the Lochan was fabulous, every corner turned gave a different view and yet another sharp intake of breath and earned our agreement that we're indeed, in the right place at just the right time. Just below the car park for the Lochan was a very tasteful monument to the massacre where we once again encountered wild Deer and the lovely crystal clear electric blue River Coe running beneath the old stone bridge.

Well... That's a lot of typing and uploading for me and a lot of reading and looking for you so I'll leave it there for now. Let's call this piece Part 1 and I'll promise to write parts 2 - 4 of our Scotland trip over the next couple of weeks.