Blogs from Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

Ever since I read a book, ‘500 places you must see on the British Coast before your die’, (as if there’s an option afterwards!) I’ve been wanting to visit Muck and Eigg, small Scottish islands off the west coast of Scotland. It wasn’t guaranteed during winter, so we were lucky to get a ferry to Eigg today. Once we were out of the port, Glyn received a text saying that the ferry maybe cancelled due to the weather. This was a concern in case the return ferry got cancelled and we would’ve been marooned. Eigg is about 5.5 miles long and 3 miles wide. With a population of 110, there’s no central hub, just houses scattered randomly over the hills and by the shore. A single lane road traverses from top to bottom with a few ... read more

20th Jan 2022 Mallaig day 2 It’s strange getting used to not having any internet when you are used to constantly checking whether people have contacted you, how Bozo is messing up again, what evil things Priti racist Patel has done again etc. But little things like not having the temperature on your watch are weird to live without too. But that’s what you get when you have accommodation away from it all and it does allow to get plenty of reading done. As with other English-speaking countries we’ve visited we spend a lot of time before and during our trip learning the local accent and lingo. Scotland has been no exception and there have been lots of och-ayes, seeing someone called Jimmy and excessive and elongated use of the word wee (as in small as ... read more

The reason we’d come to Kingussie was to visit the Highland Wildlife Park but now that’s ticked off, we decided we should see more of the place. Things to do include walking and biking and we don’t have bikes, so a walk it was. There’s plenty of walking markers dotted around, so Glyn researched online and found a short circular walk via Creag Bheag. A small chance of see red squirrels in the woods sealed the deal and I packed my longest and heaviest lens in anticipation. What the walk lacked in length it more than made up in steepness. My regular exercise is a slow jog on flat towpaths, so this was a shock to the calf muscles. The thick forest eventually gave way to heather and low hedges that probably wouldn’t be so popular ... read more

18th Jan 2022 From Kingussie to Mallaig I let Claire lie in until 7:30. She's a lucky girl. Today was a travelling day so of course we wanted to squeeze in as much as possible before we ensconced ourselves in our new accommodation. I let Claire have some breakfast and then we packed the car and drove about 200m to a car park. Well it would have been 200m if I hadn’t missed the huge sign, but that’s by the by. The car park had some clean loos and a map of all the walks in the area. I’d already decided on one last night that took us to a peak with a chance of seeing red squirrels so we headed out on that one. The route turned out to have many things that people go ... read more

After a veritable lie-in until 8am we breakfasted in our room before heading out into the clean Highlands air. Part of the reason for this trip was to try and photograph polar bears in the snow at the Highland Wildlife Park. When the sun is out all day and the temperature is a heady 6 degrees…..well that just ain’t gonna happen. A note from yesterday. When we last came up here, about 8 years ago, the A9 had a trial maximum speed limit in some parts for HGV of 50mph. That trial is still going on! And it’s dumb! That speed limit applies to single carriageways so everyone behind has to go at 50 as well… The roads are straight and smooth yet this eternal trial is slowing everyone down to 50. Okay dumbnuts, here’s the ... read more