Taexalia

wild.life

Slioch

As we travelled towards home, hoping to reach Garve before the sun slipped below the horizon, we were caught by the beauty of this beast rising out of the waters. The Male Parental Unit interpreted my clicking camera followed by small sighs of exasperation as a tree would swing into my lens just at the point of capture... followed by the winding down of the window and the influx of freezing air to mean I needed a photo op stop. He obliged. High fences and decrepit signs warned against ... read more

A Goal in Gairloch

You may have noticed my Day Zero linky in the top bar - the page that lists my 101 in 1001. This is an experiment in goal setting, and also a bypass of New Year's Resolutions - instead giving myself 1001 days to complete the list and, quite probably, also embrace failure ;-) I found writing the list an interesting challenge - despite all the To Do lists floating around in my brain I had to really get creative to make it to 101. On Sunday I was taken on a surprise trip to Poolewe and ... read more

Glimpsing Spring

I've covered a fare bit of ground over the past week really. My folks took us over to Lomond Shores which is basically a shopping centre at one end of Loch Lomond. It wasn't as awful as it might sound, but since I'm not a stuff buying addict I was more interested in the scenery. I'm also still trying to forget the cloying stench of perfume that permeated the air - I hate perfume and can't see the attraction of a) perfume shops and b) walking around with a chemical cloud for an aura. We ... read more

Interesting

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7358315.stm"Plans to construct one of Europe's largest onshore wind farms has been refused by the Scottish Government... It said Lewis Wind Power's (LWP) 181-turbines for Lewis on the Western Isles did not comply with European law protecting sensitive environments... The scheme had the backing of the local authority and business, but attracted almost 11,000 objections...."So the Scottish Government has stepped in to protect an SPA ... read more

Highlands and Islands In a Week part 6

And now returning to the Highlands and Islands trip - I had meant to finish the tale before now!On the Thursday we watched the weather reports with dismay as almost all the Isles were sporting wee clouds with rain or snow symbols. It didn't look good for walking or touring or anything really. But we set off anyway with a vague plan to try and spot some dolphins or seals. We passed Inverness and crossed the Kessock Bridge and took a quick stop of at North Kessock. The tide was going out though, ... read more

Highlands and Islands In a Week part 5

The next morning we set out for Glen Affric hoping the weather would hold for our planned walk. We drove up the glen to the Forestry Commission carpark near Dog Falls. No sign of the Lord of the Forest from the previous evening but the scenery was as gorgeous.There are a choice of tracks to follow, most of which take you to the Falls - we decided on what seemed the longest one and set off.Around 5 paces onto the path I came across these wonderful roots and stopped to take some pictures. The ... read more

Highlands and Islands In a Week part 4

The downside of @ having to return to work was missing bosies but the upside was that I got to have two duvets on my bed at night. I slept with more warmth. Speaking of sleep, I am reminded of the tale @ told everyone at breakfast on the Monday morning...Apparently I was snoring like a kitten (must have been something to do with the clear mountain air!) and in the middle of a snore I whispered "that one that one that one and that one"... Much analysis took place over whether I was choosing new ... read more

Highlands and Islands In a Week part 3

On Monday I had an inkling of where we were going but @ had no idea...We drove down Loch Ness to Invermoriston and took the road to Kyle through Glen Moriston and along the banks of Loch Cluanie. We passed through Glen Shiel under the Five Sisters before the road took us to the shores of Loch Duich. At the end of the loch lies one of the most used scenes from Scotland, Castle Eilean Donan. It is as pretty as the pictures, even with the tour buses in view :)The road passes on to the shores of ... read more

Highlands and Islands In a Week part 2

I've cobbled together a map, which I think has a centimetre missing, to give an idea of the routes we took. My road map only shows up A class and B class roads so the struggling-to-be-a -single-track-road roads we took in some places aren't there. But you get the picture :)Sunday's trip was prompted by Dad asking "What do you want to do tomorrow?" and my reply of "Hmmm well I've never really seen much of Sutherland and aren't there some really cool beaches up there?"So we set off around 9:30am ... read more

Highlands and Islands In a Week part 1

@ and I set out from Edinburgh early last Saturday to catch the train to Fort William. Neither of us had done this trip by train and having now experienced it we agree with all recommendations that it should be on the list of things to do before you die.If you catch the very early train from Edinburgh, which I think might be the tail end of the Caledonian Sleeper Northbound, you can travel without changes. We decided on the slightly more reasonable 7:15am departure which involves a train to ... read more