Blogs from Glen Coe, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe September 16th 2010

Possible snow - BBC weather reports tend to exaggerate somewhat. Weather has been very mild. Travelled the lenght of Loch Lomond - "I'll take the high road, and you take the low road" or something like that. met a lone piper at Glencoe where the Campbells massacred the MacDonalds and then passed through Fort William at the base of Ben Nevis - Britain's highest Ben but today Ben had his hat on. Passed by Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and finally Loch Ness. NO NESSIE but there was that glimpse through the trees at the famous Urquhart castle. Passed through Inverness and then dashed across the battlefield of Culloden - late to the bus. Culloden was the last battle on British soil or Scottish soil depends on who you are talking to. After arriving at our hotel ... read more
Sheep Dog Farm

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe April 8th 2010

Our last blog saw us driving though snow and sleet north towards Scotland. As we crossed through the border towns the snow got heavier and heavier and we really started questioning the logic of a van trip at this time of year. Once we reached Glasgow however, the snow disappeared and before we knew it we were disembarking from a ferry at Dunoon and driving alongside Loch Eck. Something very good began to happen when we started driving through the Argyll Forest Park - most of the cars disappeared, the clouds started to lift and everything started to feel a lot more relaxed. Yay, finally, this is what we had been waiting for - welcome to Scotland! After spending a freezing night in a pretty uninspiring campground in Oban, we headed off towards Glen Coe. This ... read more
Kilchurn Castle, Loch Awe
Early morning shot - looking towards the Pass of Glen Coe
This sheep lives in a paddock with an amazing view!

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe July 27th 2009

Do you find something funny/ironic about welcoming someone back to the "real" world, after they've just spent the last six weeks exploring the...well, "real" world? So now I can properly update you! And it helps to put my own recollections down. So here we go. Scotland was quick. Scotland was amazing. It was nothing short of a homecoming, of sorts, to be back in Glasgow. Just hearing the thick accents on the RyanAir flight from Oslo (which, of course, RyanAir flies out of Torp, which is over 100 km south of Oslo! Just FYI.) made me smile. Stayed at the Bunkum, which is seriously one of the best independent hostels I've ever stayed at, pure dead brilliant. I never fail to meet amazing people there. My 1st night this time around, I ran into 2 German ... read more
Lillehammer, Norway
Olympic Track, Lillehammer, Noway
Firth of Forth Bridges

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe July 14th 2009

Today was all about the primal instinct of the male hunter gatherer! Douglas and I hired a boat and set off into the middle of Loch Leven where we spent a couple of hours fishing, I setup a 4 hook lure with a 2 gram weight and managed to haul 3 mackerel in one go. This caused a slight problem as we hadn't thought we would catch anything so didn't have a batten! Luckily an oar dealt with this issue promptly. After a couple of hours and a total of 5 fish we headed for shore and the BBQ. Nw that we are clearly seasoned hunters, we shall make for the hills and the nearest bear to wrestle!... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe July 12th 2009

A clear theme to the day...Rain...so in summary a lazy start, fitted some roof rails to the car to cope with the bikes, had lunch with Douglas and Katie and family and then headed down to Kinlochleven for a spell in the ice mountain, where you practice climing, by the way it is the biggest climing wall in Britain, then through the woods to the Grey Mare's tail. Midge's were feeling energetic and hungry! The sun finally appeared so a short spell down at the loch before resorting to the Awning and a few drinks.... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe July 11th 2009

We started with the drive from Auchterarder to Glencoe, about 3 hours in total, I can report that the piper at the layby about 20 miles from Glencoe is still there, pipiing. I reckon he must make about 200 quid a day in cash for his efforts. He has also bought a new camper van this year! The burgers are still excellent and if you a tattie scone on the top you get a fine piece of Scottish Culnery. We arrived at Glencoe at about 1:30, got set up, opened the wine / beer and whiskey and frankly can;t remember much else.... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe May 29th 2009

Went to Glen Coe for a drive really nice place, was showing my friend about who is here from san francisco. Really hot and awesome views. Great day out..... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe May 26th 2009

We were up early this morning and having breakfast at 7am - poor Nikki, she doesn't do early mornings! The men had shopped for our packed lunches the night before so we were all set for the day ahead. Clive had plenty of snacks and chocolate bars (£27 worth!!), but that's another story. We were all a little anxious about today as 20 miles was a long way, but actually compared to other days, the terrain was very good to us, the weather wasn;t too bad - just a few showers and we kept pretty good time. We made sure we stopped every two hours for a break, which was greatly appreciated. The scenery again today was superb and you could you walking for hours without seeing any sign of civilisation, right out in the wilderness. ... read more
One of the beautiful streams
Waterfall
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Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe May 26th 2009

We set off at 10am after breakfast this morning heading for "The Devil's Staircase". We had been told that the 9 miles ahead of us consisted of a steep climb, followed by a long descent and that was basically the 9 miles in total. I wasn't looking forward to the climb and there seemed to be a lot of people ahead of us, slowing making their way to the top. The path zig zagged towards the top and we all took a deep breath and headed for the summit. Frank told us all to go ahead and leave him to go at his own pace, so off we went. It was hard going, but wasn't as bad as we had all feared. Again, the views from the top made it all worth it. The ground underfoot ... read more
Top of Devils Staircase
Frank made it to top
Views over Kingshouse

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Stirlingshire » Glen Coe May 26th 2009

This morning we were much lighter as we weren't carrying so much - infact, us girls weren't carrying anything!! We were walking to Tyndrum today a mere 12 miles. Again, the scenery was fantastic and varied, lots of forests and hills and then flat barren looking terrain. We had a couple of really long, steep climbs again, but the views when you got to the top were breathtaking and well worth the pain of getting there. The best view of them all was from the top of a hill looking down at Lake Tula and we had a 360 view. Johnny actually said "this is the best place I have ever been"!!! As I said earlier, there were lots of other people walking the same route as us, and after awhile we all got to know ... read more
Views from the top after a climb through a forest
Views of Lake Tula
Where are we?




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