Friday 2 September 2016

The last days in the Scottish Highlands

We depart early next morning and decide to go out for breakfast in the nearest village, Broadford.  We also stock up on groceries at the local supermarket.

Did I tell you I always like to try the local cuisine? Well, I do and this time it was Haggis.  I have made myself about three meals and loved it!  Nothing wrong with Haggis, and I know very well what goes in it. ;-)  By the way, if you like black pudding you like Haggis...

Our next stop is at a pub at Strathcarron, where Ankie and I take our leave of Evelien and Dieuwer after enjoying a relaxing afternoon tea.  Ankie will re-join them later after she's dropped me off at the airport at Inverness.

But first we have some more travelling to do and drive on to Muir of Ord.  Ankie had already planned to stay there for the night as there will be a 'big' agricultural show of the Black Ilses.  'Big' is relative, as I would call the agricultural shows in Australia 'big'. :-)

However, I do see a few different things.  In particular the enormous variety of sheep and cattle.  So different from those at home.  I can't take enough pictures, but don't worry, I won't show them all here...Unfortunately it was raining almost all day and there was mud, mud and more mud for us to walk in.  I kept thinking of the sunny days at the Brisbane Ekka!

On a walk through Muir of Ord we also try and find a geocache, but this is to no avail.  A DNF (Did Not Find) for me this time.  I sure hope to find at least one before I travel on, because I so much want to find one or more in Scotland.

From Muir of Ord the last leg leads us to Bunchrew, near Inverness.  I buy internet time so that I can search for some geocaches.  As I have not had use of my mobile phone I haven't been able to do a lot.  This time luck is with me.  When Ankie and I go for a walk after dinner we find two without great difficulty.

On our last day together Ankie wants to clean the camper before she travels on and when that's done we make a last trip to Loch Ness, Drumnadrochit and Urquhart Castle. Unfortunately there is not much time left before I have to catch the plane and it is very busy at the Castle, so I don't get to see it.  As luck would have it, though, I have some spare time while Ankie looks in vain for a parking spot and I find a nearby geocache, and a very tricky one at that. ;-) Oh, and I didn't get to see the Monster of Loch Ness either.....:-)

A meal with Haggis




 Broadford




Waterfront Fish & Chips (breakfast)






 Black Isle Show at Muir of Ord




 Children's display





 Farmers' Society display



 Beautiful cattle







 Breeds of sheep in colours of the rainbow (almost)







Bunchrew







This was 'home' for the past fortnight

Haggis Highway Bunchrew Views

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 Haggis Highway Not Quite Underneath the Arches

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 Loch Ness



Monster Drive - Urquhart Castle

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 Drumnadrochit







And those, my friends, were the last pictures of Scotland.

This trip I had been really looking forward to, because Scotland has been on my list for so long.  I really have to thank Ankie and her friends for inviting me and letting me tag along.  It's been such a great experience and really worth while to have the trip made in a motorhome.

The Scottish climate is not something to write home about, but bearable and it just makes Scotland what it is, I think.  We had rain, mist, drizzle, overcast days and.... yes, even a bit of sunshine.  Besides not having the right footwear for long hikes I certainly had guessed correctly with my other clothes.

The most important part though is the landscape.  They say 'a picture paints a thousand words', but even pictures don't capture the 'being there' and experiencing the rough beauty of the Scottish Highlands.  These impressions will stay with me forever.










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