Scottish wanderings - part 7

Wednesday 21 June - Ballachulish (Glen Coe) to Fintry (and our castle stay)

Culcreauch Castle

When in Scotland why not stay in a castle? Jen's daughter Annette had suggested a castle stay and we were fortunate enough to find one quite near Glasgow which was reasonably priced. This was where we would be staying on our last night in Scotland.

Back in Ballachulish, we had a pleasant breakfast before setting off. 

Gey clouds hanging over Loch Leven

A view out from our B&B

Clouds coming down on the mountain tops

The weather was not looking promising so we needed to make the best of what the day offered.

We called in to the Glan Coe Visitors Centre, which wasn't actually open when we arrived. This did not deter us as we did a short walk through an area that has been reclaimed and is being revegetated with plants and trees as it would have been before it was taken over for forestry.

Glen Coe had some amazing scenery which unfortunately did not show up in the photos due to the inclement weather. Here is a sample of what we saw.

Camping was permitted as evidenced by this group of campers (they are the dots down on the valley floor).

Originally I had anticipated doing one of the walks in Glen Coe, there is a feast of available walks and a heap of munros (mountains over 3,000 feet) to climb, however with the weather looking increasing bleak and not wanting to dirty Jen's lovely clean hiking boots nor cause any other problems for her feet when she was flying home the next day, we decided not to attempt any of the hikes.

There was still plenty of wonderful scenery to see.

The parking areas along the rod through Glen Coe were crowded with vehicles

We stopped to get a good view of this waterfall.

It also allowed us to look back up the valley along the road.

We were on the A82 and it took us to Bridge of Orchy where we had stopped for lunch during on West Highland Way walk. It seemed a good place to stop for a coffee as we knew they did a pretty good cup and, by then, it had started to rain.

We spent the rest of the day wandering the Scottish countryside. Being the driver on this leg I got very few photos.

When we finally stopped for lunch we ordered sandwiches. In most places you don't just get sandwiches but garnish as well.

One of the tree lined roads we drove along

While there were still ridges the country was somewhat flatter

Sheep dotting the countryside

It was finally time to head to our castle and, after traveling along yet more single lane roads we finally arrived.  The road in to the castle took us through a forest before we came out on an expanse of lawn.

 After checking in we did a walk around our home for the night and its extensive grounds. Part of the estate is farmed by two tenant farmers. Along with the 10 rooms in the castle proper the estate also has a range of other accommodation. We were in the castle proper. We had booked the rooms when Trevor was intending to be with us. Jen's was a single room at the top of the Keep.

My room was just a little lower (and we did have fun getting our luggage up and down the winding staircases!)

My room came with a four poster bed.

 The castle had a long history and had managed to survive and be modified across the centuries.

We enjoyed a farewell to Scotland dinner in the castle dungeon. A fitting conclusion to our time in the northern reaches. The fare on offer was locally sourced and well prepared and presented.

The next morning we had a lovely breakfast before we dragged our carefully repacked bags out to the car and headed off to Glasgow Airport from where Jen headed home and I headed south to London.

Scottish wanderings - part 6

Tuesday 20 June - Portree (Skye) to Ballachulish (Glen Coe)

Our time in Scotland was fast coming to an end and the weather had certainly improved with another lovely day.

After breakfast we headed off from Portree heading south towards the bridge that would take us from Skye to the mainland.

The loch was so still that it acted as a mirror

There were some wonderful views. The only problem with a driving holiday is that the driver is rather restricted as far as photo taking goes. Between us Jen and I will cover a lot more views than we each individually managed to capture. That said, some of the photos taken in the moving car were not the best.

Another church ruin which Jen spied with some relatively recent headstones

After leaving Skye we continued along the A87 heading generally towards the east. This took us past Loch Alsh and Loch Ouich before we traveled along Glen Shiel which took us past Loch Cluanie and Loch Loyne. The route then headed south for a short distance before we hit Glen Garry. We stopped at a view point above the Glen with Loch Garry resplendent below us.

And there was another piper today

From Glen Garry we headed along the A87 until we reached Invergarry where we picked up the A82 which took us past Loch Oich and Loch Lochy and on to Fort William.

Looking along the main street in Fort William

Fort William was actually a fort at one point in its life. The remains of the fort, which are quite meager, sit on the edge of the loch. The internal area is now a local park.

The park within the confines of the old fort site

View from the fort site

Is that Ben Nevis visible in the background?

 After a bite of lunch and some shopping it was in the car again heading south west for the short distance to Ballachulish in the western end of Glen Coe.

Ballachulish is a small settlement that was built around a slate quarry. After finding our B&B we walked through the village and checked out the visitors centre. While Jen put her feet up I went out exploring. There is a trail that takes you through the former quarry. One track went up the side of the quarry and I decided to take it to get views over the area. The track became indistinct and I ended up doing quite an amount of scrub bashing. This was challenging as there was quite a slope in places, a creek below, a tangle of plants and a lot of fallen limbs many of which had rotted away to just a shell. There was also a mossy coverage to the ground some of which was quite thick but did not support any weight. I was relieved to get down onto solid ground.

Looking up the quarry wall from the base

There was a pool of water in the quarry

A view from the side of the quarry

Another view from my vantage point

And here is some of the stuff I scrub bashed through.

Back at the start of the quarry trail I discovered another trail which headed up an open hillside. It wound around the top of the quarry with good views down into the quarry and also over Ballachulish and Loch Leven.

Looking down into the quarry with its pool of water

Looking across Loch Leven

Looking down across the village and the loch

Looking along Loch Leven

The trail I was on wound its way up the slope and into a forest. At that stage I turned back as I was not sure how well the trail was marked nor where it would come out.

There was a limited number of places to eat in the village however the restaurant attached to the pub came with a recommendation. When I had attempted to book a table I was told that I was out of luck as all the tables had been reserved however all was not lost as the same food was available in the bar.

Jen and I duly presented ourselves at the bar and were fortunate to find a free table. The food was good and we enjoyed the meal. Once again, quite a few of the diners were accompanied by four legged friends. This seems to be common throughout the areas we had been in Scotland. It is not unusual for the dogs to be given a bowl of water, too, and to be made very welcome.

Ballachulish had a large field around which much of the village was built. During the late afternoon I saw quite a few youngsters out on the park practicing their hockey skills. Apparently, the local hockey competition is the big thing with the youngsters in the area.

After dinner I headed off to a vantage point so that I could get photos of the sun setting. This made for a late night as the sun did not go down until around 10:30pm. The downside with being out as it got cooler was that the midges came out in the hundreds. I had not thought about being attacked by these little horrors and spent the time flapping my arms to keep them from biting me. I still had a heap of bites before I finally gave up.