We were extremely fortunate that we are both early birds, because we arrived half an hour ahead of the schedule for the bus tour we had, only to find that the tour was about to leave and we were the only two missing! We were only 1 minute late, in fact. It would have been a dreadful start.
Anyway, all was well and we set off with only 8 passengers ( Canadians, Kiwis, Taiwanese, Swiss and me) at first and Michael our Scottish driver. Very good first impressions! We could both understand him easily, so this was great. It was a beautiful, clear day so we all felt immediately very priviledged. 8 more passengers, with Aussies and Americans , joined later in the day. Full bus!
It was fabulous to do a part of the trip Dennis and I had done only a few days before and to learn a little more about the history again. We also learnt that this wonderful viaduct, which we had seen before, was used in Harry Potter films. I must one day do the West Highland railway trip from Morraig to Fort William, supposedly voted the Best railway journey in the world! I wonder how they can ever decide such things?
When we arrived at Glencoe the cloud had descended and we had our first drops of rain. It didn't matter at all. Actually, it was marvelous to see this valley, with such a sad history of massacre of innocent men, women and children, in such a sombre mood! It was indeed more fitting than the sunshine Dennis and I had had.
At Fort Augustus we took 'the South Road, the high road ' which I have never been on before. We had fantastic views down on Fort Augustus and Loch Ness, Scotland's deepest lake, 325 m at the deepest point. I am pleased that we did not try it in our rental car cos it is pretty narrow, one lane in places, and with lots of traffic. We had a slow climb up the hill as we were following parts of a new wind farm
What massive things they are and so vital to Scotland's plan to have totally renewable energy only by 2020. They are 70 percent there already apparently with their many wind farms, hydro electricity and tidal energy. Brilliant and something we in New Zealand should follow.
En route we had a short walk down through spruce forest to a lookout to the Falls of Foyer. There was amazingly little water in it, but it was still lovely.
We arrived at the tip of Loch Ness, just before Inverness ( inver = at the top of). I love learning little snippets of language on tour. We had a very well- timed stop at Loch Ness just as the sun was setting. Wow, it was breathtakingly beautiful. And, not a monster in sight!
We didn't actually make it into the city of Inverness in the evening, as we passed a pub/ restaurant near our b and b and that is where we stayed till the music stopped. We ate really well, but the highlight was the music played by two young , local men. We were lucky enough to be sitting next to them so by the end of the evening I felt I had got to know them a bit. What charming, polite and talented young men they are. Charlie MacGiskill playing the fiddle ( his great uncle's fiddle, made in 1864!) was only asked to play at 3 that afternoon and had never played with the guitarist before. You would never have guessed. They were amazing. Apparently his aunty is a famous musician on the outer Hebrides.
There was a wonderful atmosphere in the pub, which was full of people of all ages, from a wee 2- year- old boy who could not stop leaping up and down to the toe- tapping music, to an absolutely wonderful old lady, probably in her nineties, Lizzie, who apparently goes there every music night and sits with her legs twisting and turning to the music, and with such a look of delight on her face. What was so heartening to see was that everyone spent some time with her, bought her drinks and obviously loved her being there. It was such an incredible community spirit.
We knew the next day would be cloudy with some rain, and that was exactly what it was until lunchtime! It did not spoil anything at all. The clouds actually add a huge amount to photography. We were lucky not to be out in the rain much, the bulk of rain falling while we were in the bus. We stopped briefly at a tiny village called Golspie. Not much there but Guni managed to find a few nice shells and we enjoyed the beach. Just nearby was the very classy- looking Dunrobin Castle, belonging to the Duke of Sutherland, as does a huge amount of the land in this area. The Duke of Sutherland of the 19 th century, was once the largest land owner in western Europe and quite a tyrrant.
He certainly cannot be short of cash with such an enormous 150- room castle and vast grounds! What an amazing setting!
Last stop before the Ferry cRossing was John O'Groats. Amazing to think that just two weeks ago I was very close to Land's End, at the other end of Britain, 876 miles away.
I felt very far from Mark and David and all my New Zealand friends as I stood by this sign!
There had been a weather transformation about 30 minutes before. One minute we were driving in torrential rain with the windscreen wipers struggling to cope and then seconds later we caught a glimpse of some blue sky and suddenly it looked like this. Brilliant!
I was so happy to be crossing in good conditions. It was still pretty cold on deck and the sea was choppy, but I get the feeling that it was as calm as it could ever be. The highlight was most definitely watching the flock ( not sure of the collective noun for gannets?)of gannets which flew alongside us , above us , actually all around us, using the air currents created by the ferry. These birds were gorgeous. After two unsuccessful photo shots I just sat back and enjoyed their wonderful gracefulness and their incredible fishing ability, diving from great heights like arrows into the waters far below them - mini torpedoes. What a splendid show they put on.
Our first sight of the Orkneys was certainly very impressive. With over 70 islands mostly very small and 600 miles of coastline there is a lot to see and learn. Sadly, we will not have a lot of time, but better than nothing.
We arrived at the little village of St Mary's, a sleepy little port surrounded by fertile land and sheep and dairy farms - lots of them.
There is so much history here, both from wartime and ancient times, we had an introduction to wartime Orkney with the pretty little Italian Chapel, built by Italian prisoners of war in 1943 using two Nissen huts, turning them into a very ornate place of worship.
We had to island hop to get to the Mainland of Orkney. Before the war we would have had to have taken ferries, but thanks to the Churchhill Barriers, erected by the Italian prisoners of war, at Churchill's command, to block eastern advances, we could now drive over the 'Churchill Barriers' .
I get the feeling I am going to clearly love this place. It seems to offer so much. This sandy beach is not only beautiful, but is also very popular with divers because of the number of world war shipwrecks which can be found there after the German High Seas Fleet was scuttled here at Scapa Flow after the First World War.
What a paradise today!
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