Thursday, 3 July 2025

 

Thursday 3rd June       DRUMBUIE –  BALACHULISH - BEN NEVIS – GLENFINNAN – SPEAN BRIDGE

It’s been a long, wet travel day today. As promised, the rain came down on western Scotland. We said a fond farewell to Susan, our host, at about quarter to nine and left Drumbuie on our way south. It was a good thing we travelled quite a distance on that road yesterday, which meant we got to see it! Today, there was rainy mist and fog, and rather low visibility for seeing things like lochs and mountains. It did lift occasionally so we could get the odd glimpse of the scenery, but not much.

                                                             Mountains beside Loch Duich
                                                               Glen Garry

It only took us about an hour and a half to reach Spean Bridge, where Braelea B&B, our next accommodation is. So after morning tea in The Bridge Café, we decided that we would travel down to Glencoe. The visitor centre there is run by the National Trust, and they have a café for lunch, films etc about the history of the area, and would be warm and dry if it kept raining. It all sounded delightful. Everything was going very well until we were just leaving Ballachulish, when an ambulance shot by us, sirens screaming. We came to congestion on the road out of town and pulled up with all the other cars as several more ambulances, police and a fire truck raced past. After about ten minutes, most of us began carefully turning and heading back, many of us to the Ballchulish Information Centre and café opposite the old slate quarry there. Lex went off for a walk in the rain to see the quarry; I opted to buy a sandwich and cuppa to validate the nice comfy couch I found to sit on. Fortunately they were so busy that it took ages to come! I generously shared my couch with two nice local ladies and their dog, and we had a nice chat until Lex came back, having visited the quarry and the loch. The road was officially closed, and it turned out that a car had collided with a bus. It only reopened at 7.30 tonight.

                                                       Old slate quarry, Ballachulish

So, Plan B was to visit Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest mountain. We bought an hour’s parking at the visitor centre there, and set out across the bridge. At least there was hardly any rain and less cloud at that stage, so we could actually see it (unlike Cradle Mountain in Tassie which we have never managed to lay eyes on!) Lex set off along one of the pathways to walk some of the distance around it. I was planning to walk to the Inn at the base, but halfway there the rain came down heavily and I lost my enthusiasm for mountains. I went back to the visitor centre instead and looked at the displays and spent ages trying to photograph a robin until Lex came back from his walk. The place was full of high school age students who had just finished a 4-day hike, two of those days very rainy! A huge group of the girls had taken over the ladies’ toilet, and changed into their flannette PJ pants and crocs, and were busily bandaging blistered feet.

                                                                  Walking path
                                                               Ben Nevis  1345m
                                                                      Robin
                                          Bridge over the River Nevis, Ben Nevis in background

Next on our list was Glenfinnan, and the iconic Viaduct. This was about another half hour’s drive, but once more, at Banavie, we came up to a long row of cars sitting waiting. Then we noticed flashing red lights, and thought, aha, a train. After what seemed ages, we saw the top of a boat go by! Even then, the lights kept flashing and another boat came through. There is actually a fair-sized swing bridge there on the road, right next to a series of lochs. Finally, after about ten minutes, we were all able to go again and this time reached our destination with no further hassles. 

                                 That slightly crooked white pole in the middle is actually a ship's mast!

Of course it was raining as we arrived. We put on all of our wet weather gear including waterproof pants. Sadly, if we hadn’t taken the time to do that, we would have reached the lookout in time to see the Jacobite Express steam train come across the viaduct. About 200 people saw it, and passed us, coming down as we went up! Oh well, visibility was very poor anyway, and we had a lovely view all to ourselves. Lex then decided he wanted to walk to the viaduct, so I went across to the Glenfinnan Memorial instead. It’s a huge column with a statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie on top. The rain had paused at that stage so I could actually look at it. Then I noticed a deer nearby at the edge of the forest, and spent ages waiting for him to lift his head so I could get a photo! Mission accomplished, I headed back to the visitor centre and read the displays, bought my fridge magnet, etc. Once Lex turned back up again, after walking under the viaduct and up a hill behind it. The view from there was excellent. 

By now,it was late enough for us head back to Spean Bridge, and book into our accommodation. We arrived back at "Braelea", our B&B just on 5 o'clock.

                                                          Rock climbing to get the view
                                       Glenfinnan memorial. This is where Bonnie Prince Charlie                                                     rallied the clans for the Jacobite uprising. Which did not work at all well.
                                                            My deer photo!
                                                      Lex's photo, Glenfinnan Viaduct
                                   Panoramic closeup of the viaduct. It's actually made of concrete.
Full wet weather gear (and 4 layers) required today!

Margaret, our host, was here to welcome us. We have a cosy room at the front overlooking the mountains. She had warned us that evening meals in town are hard to come by, so we had booked a table at the Old Station Restaurant, and had a lovely meal there. Tomorrow we have a train trip, which will be a nice change, though once more, rain is forecast.

                                  Lovely view from our B&B window. It's stopped raining for now!
                                                                           Braelea B&B
                                        The Old Station Restaurant. Beautifully done up building.
                                                      It looks out on the actual station platform!

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

 

Wednesday 2nd July        DRUMBUIE  -  DUIRINSH - KYLE OF LOCHALSH – GLENELG – SKYE

Well, it’s been another huge day today! We woke up around seven in our cosy little loft home, to another fine but cloudy morning. After breakfast and a chat with Danny, Cait and Mikeal, we put on a last load of washing (we have several stops with no washer coming up) and decided to pop to the village next door, Duirinish, in hopes of seeing otters in the harbour. Well, of course there were no otters, but there was a beautiful tranquil harbour, and on the way back we saw a herd of highland cows down in the glen below. I raced back with my camera, but by then all but a calf had disappeared into the bushes. Happily, on the way back to the village, we also saw a deer in the field of wildflowers, who seemed totally unconcerned by us!

                                               No otters, but a beautiful morning anyway.
                                                                 Duirinish deer

Washing completed and hung out, we headed into Kyle of Lochalsh’s harbour for a 10.30 boat ride we’d booked online. We were half an hour early, so walked up to Hector’s Bothy (where we had lunch on Monday) for a cuppa. The trip, on the Sea Probe Atlantis, started right on time, and headed off under the Skye bridge first. By now, the storm clouds were looming, and it started to rain a bit. Fortunately it wasn’t really a problem for most of the trip, as they had a big covered deck area. We sailed around the Kyle past villages and the castle on Skye, and went down to their glass-bottomed area to see hundreds of jellyfish. We looked for otters, but there they weren’t. Again! However, we did hit the motherload of seals, quite literally – a lot of the seals have pups at present, and we saw so many of them in the water and on the rocks. It was so lovely to see them interacting. The tour lasted just over an hour and was pretty good value for 22 pounds really.

                                                     We saw so many jellyfish!
                          The old lighthouse was decommissioned when the Skye Bridge opened. 
                                                             Kyleakin on Skye
                                                             Rain didn't dampen our spirits!
                                                       Seal nursery heaven!

                                                      Castle on Skye, circa 900AD

Once we were off the boat, we went for a walk to check out the railway station, where a train was waiting to depart. They also had toilets, which was very convenient! We’d decided to make our next destination Glenelg, a 45 minute drive away, so thought we’d better have lunch first. Right on the harbour was the Fisherman’s Kitchen, a small box of a café absolutely bristling with seafood, with outdoor tables next to it. Lex saw the 12 pound special – steamed langoustines with garlic butter and a side salad, and just had to have it. I had a cheese sandwich! Both were excellent. The rain pretty much managed to hold off while we ate our lunch.

                                                       Lex with lunchtime langoustines 

Following lunch, we set out for Glenelg, which our dinner table companion, Owen, had told us about on Monday. It was a lovely drive over the mountains, almost all of it single lane. Glenelg is on the mainland, but we had to go right around Loch Alsh, then Loch Duich, and past the stunning Eilean Donan Castle. Then we drove over the mountains on the peninsula to Glenelg, is situated on Kyle Rhea. Coming into it, we travelled again on one of the Military Roads from the early 1700s which were built after the Jacobite uprisings, and passed the ruins of Bernera Barracks (1717) from that time. We arrived at the Glenelg Inn on the shores of the kyle, and went in to see if they’d give us a cuppa. Their specials board looked so good that Lex actually ended up also having the mackeral pate (which he rated very highly), and I had a bowl of chips.

                                                                 Bernera Barracks, Glenelg
                                                              Glenelg Inn
                                                      Mountains and beautiful wildflowers

                                                              Eilean Donan Castle

Fully fortified, we headed south to see the brochs we’d been told about. The first, Dun Telve, was the most complete we’ve seen. At 10 metres high and sitting in the glen, it’s the second tallest surviving broch in Scotland. It was actually pretty much complete until the 1700s when General Wade’s men came along to rob out stone to make the nearby barracks. You can still see the layers and the two walls, plus the stone stairs. They really are huge constructions. Half a kilometre up the road we found Dun Troddan, this time up high on the hill, with an excellent view of the glen. Historians can’t agree why there are two brochs so close together, or even if they were existing at the same time (400-200BC is usual for brochs.) Dun Troddan isn’t quite as high as the first, but more of the stone circles are intact. It was broch heaven for history tragics like us! Fortunately, the weather stayed beautifully fine for our broch exploration.

                                                           Dun Telve

You can tell the scale of them by seeing how small
Lex and I look!

Our last adventure for the day was a trip on the Skye Ferry from Glenelg across the sound to the island. It’s the last turntable ferry in operation; in other words, it doesn’t turn around, but has a moving shelf which is turned sideways for your car to board and depart. It cost us 20 pounds and saved a long mountain drive back, plus it was good to support it. It only took a couple of minutes and we were over on Skye, and heading up the mountain range between us and the bridge. We reached as high as 290 metres above sea level, which was fairly impressive! Of course, it was all single lane, which was interesting at times. Lex only had to reverse twice for oncoming cars. Anyway, we made it in one piece, and were soon back on the A road, over the bridge and back to Drumbuie by twenty past 4.

Since then we’ve sorted photos, had tea and started organising packing, as we are off travelling again tomorrow.  Unfortunately the weather forecast doesn’t look good – according to the Met, we are in for 3 days of rainy weather, so we are packing warm!

                                                            Dun Telve Broch

                                                    Skye turntable ferry

                                                    Mountains and rain on Skye



Tuesday, 1 July 2025

 

Tuesday 1st July                      DRUMBUIE  -  PLOCKTON – SKYE

Robyn writes: Today dawned cloudy but fine, and we were lucky to have beautiful weather all day.

                                                        Vastly improved view this morning!

Lex started by going for a walk, while I finally got a huge load of washing done and hung out, and fought with the dryer. (It’s a washer/dryer, and the most irritating machine ever made. I do hate front loaders!) I chatted to Cait, Mikeal and Danny, then Sandy, washed my hair and was just hanging out the last of the washing when Lex arrived home. He’d been to Plocton, a nearby harbour town.

                                                                  Plocton Harbour

After morning tea, we headed for the Isle of Skye. The sun was shining, and everything was picture postcard perfect. Tourists were out in their thousands – there was a constant stream of cars at times. We headed to the north, drove around Loch Sligachan, and (apart from the normal oooh and aaah photo stops), our first stop was Glen Sligachan, where there were already heaps of tourists swarming around. I know I’ve said it all before, and I feel like I’m running out of superlatives, but the Cuillin Mountains were awe-inspiring. Lots of people were setting out on walks, as it is a recognised trekking area. There was an excellent statue memorial to the two men who did most in the late 1800s and early 1900s to map and name the area, John Mackenzie and Norman Collie.

                                                            Glen Sligachan
                                               Statue of John Mackenzie and Norman Collie.         
                                                            Glamaig 775 metres high

After gazing at the mountains, we adjourned to the nearby Sligachan Hotel for lunch. We both had soup: I had the carrot soup, and Lex the Cullen Skink. I know it sounds like soup of lizard, but it’s a traditional Scottish seafood soup, and he reported it to be delicious.

                                                               Cullen Skink

                                                   Lunch at Seumas' Bar

From here, we drove to Tallisker to have a look at the distillery, on the harbour. We did have a look in the gift shop, but had heart failure at the prices, so kept on going. Here the GPS pulled one of its cunning tricks on us: we set it for Dunvegan Castle, but thought we’d have a quick look at the end of the harbour before setting out. It readjusted (as they do) and charted what we thought was another way out of town to the castle. It wasn’t for another 15 minutes or so that we realised it was taking us to the very end of the loch we were on, where it wanted us to turn around and go all the way back. No U turns for you! Needless to say, we did turn around and retrace our steps, but had lost the urge to go the castle, which is right over on the western side of the island.

Instead, we drove to Portree, the main city. Lex dropped me off there while he went off to do a walk – unfortunately, when he arrived, there was not a parking spot to be had within cooee, so he ended up photographing some of the other landforms:

                                                               The Old Man of Storr

                                                               The Bride's Veil Falls

I had a lovely couple of hours wandering around Portree. It’s not very big, but there were some lovely shops to look at, and I had afternoon tea in a Highland Cow themed café!

                                                     The harbour at Portree

                                                      Afternoon tea at The Highland Cow Shop!

Lex picked me up about 4, and it was about an hour’s drive home. He then went for a walk down to the local loch’s beach, and saw either an otter or seal, and a deer. He arrived home at 7.15 more than ready for a big tea!

                                                     The Inner Sound, as seen from Skye
                                                Coming over the bridge back to the mainland
                                         Drumbuie, our little crofting village on Loch Carron