Category: Trip

The Panoramas

I took many panoramic photos on the recent Scotland trip, and was unable to blog any from my phone. Here’s a few of the better ones. Note that all of these are very large images; click on them to see them at full resolution.

Loch Lomond from a viewing tower on the southern shore. This was early in the trip during the drive to Oban, and early in the morning as well. Misty mountain views like these are common in Scotland, and always pretty.

The seaside town of Oban, which was our base for the day-long trip to the Hebrides islands of Mull and Iona.

A lake formed by a dam that we passed by on our way from Oban to Portree. The shore was just endless rocks with many cairns. The lake was mirror-still and it was eerily quiet.

View from the Quiraing peak at the north of Skye. This was like looking at a fantasy world, but not as much perhaps as…

The Fairy Glen, also on Skye. As far as natural beauty, this place was probably the highlight for me. Can you find Kristin in the photo?

This is Neist Point, also on Skye (the westernmost edge). The day was so clear and fine it felt like we could see forever, and I spent some time standing there looking for basking sharks in the water, since we had been told you could see them occasionally.

And lastly the mystical Ring of Brodgar on Orkney, which is so old no one knows who built it, or how, or exactly when, or for what purpose. This was old when the pyramids was built and yet still stands. One day it will be taken by the water, and I’m glad I got to stand between it’s stones before that day arrives.

Scotland was the most scenic place I’ve ever visited, and I hope in some small way these pictures give an idea as to what it was like to see sights this these in person.

Into The Highlands

Yesterday we drove from Oban all the way to Skye. It was a long drive through many different landscapes. At first things looked a little like Australia:

Rolling hills and fields everywhere, with light traffic and sunny skies. In an hour or se we entered the highlands, where the mountains grew much higher (some with snow at the peaks) and thin lakes seemed to be in every valley.

We briefly stopped at many of these for a stretch, and discovered many small rock cairns standing by the shores.

The engineering of these piles was at times exquisite, and I wondered if they were the work of one person or built over time by many? I added to a few myself, and hope my stones remain long after my trip.

In the highlands, as we got closer to our destination we drove past this famous castle (Eilean Donan) and of course had to stop and visit it. Its mostly reconstructed, but the tickets were inexpensive and it was worth the stop.

Once we got to Skye the landscape had become barren, with trees almost all gone and the mountains rising high above us.

We’ll explore this island tomorrow, but for now will relax in this luxury apartment we seem to have booked here in Portree!

The GPS said 3.5 hours driving; it took us about 6 in total with stops 🙂

Glasgoing

That bacon sandwich at the front there? That’s “the UK’s favourite” and cost only £1.20. It was salty and dry, which means I loved it 🙂

We’d slept for hours the night before, and yesterday being our only full day here took the chance to explore. I can recommend the local hop-on tourist bus; ours had a live narration and did a fine job not only showing us the city but helping us to decide which of the many sights to see in more detail.

Glasgow has many of these striking murals painted on the sides of buildings. Apparently they were done a few years back using spray paint only by an Australian artist to help beautify the city for the Commonwealth Games. This one shows the patron saint, Saint Mungo, as he may appear today. One of his miracles was apparently resurrecting a bird.

After the bus we went to the People’s Palace, which is a museum dedicated to life in Glasgow through the years. I particular enjoyed all the history of the Glaswegian tenement buildings and what life was like for those that endured the overcrowding of the city 50+ years ago.

Afterwards we (literally) followed a marching band almost all the way to the Cathedral and the large ancient graveyard beyond.

It had become warmer by now (~75F) and the climb to the top of the Necropolis was tiring and sweaty. We ended up walking over 25k steps in total yesterday – over about 9 hours – and collapsed in the room with loads of candy in the end 🙂

There is a lot more to see in this city, but we don’t have the time to see it. Today we head west…