Mad cows!
Mad cows!
No, not really. But Katy told us how she’d see huge bonfires at night in Durham, destroying hoof and mouth-infected cattle. Flame-broiled, indeed.
Kniggit Castle
Doune Castle, best known as the castle of the French knight who taunts King Arthur and his “English kniggits” in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
Slopeside
One of the many high-relief hills/mountains on our way to Glen Coe.
Glen Coe creek
We hade a quick stop at Glen Coe, the site of a massacre of the MacDonalds at the hands of British soldiers who were housing them in February of 1692.
Glen Coe valley
By the terrain, you can see how easy it would have been for the British troops to try and block the MacDonalds.
The valleys were formed by glaciers during the last ice age 18,000 years ago, grinding away whole swatchs of lands over hundreds of years.
The Katies
The two Katies at Glen Coe.
Glen Coe gap
The view of the top of the hills across from us. This would have made for some spectacular hiking, but that wasn’t the gameplan for this trip.
Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis, the highest point in the UK, and home to the distillery of the same name.
Heathered hillside
A typical looking heather-covered hillside in the Highlands. The blurry swath is a reflection off the large picture windows in the tourbus.
Callander clouds
I dug these clouds in the town of Callendar (no, that’s not a typo).
Rapids
Rugged river rapids.
Petrol prices
We stopped in a local town for snacks and a walk along the local canal.
I thought it might be interesting to show folks back home how good we have it when it comes to fuel prices. Over there, a liter of petrol costs £0.749; in the U.S. that same price is equivalent to $4.50 a gallon.
Inverness
The city of Inverness, near the Scottish coast. This marks the furthest north we went on our trip and the furthest north I’ve ever been.
Cloud textures
After the drive through Inverness, we pretty much just drove straight on back to Edinburgh. Along the way, the sun was setting, and I got some nice photos of the low clouds and hillsides.
Trees in silhouette
Clouds and forest.
Highlandscape
At times the Highlands reminded me of the Appalachians, which makes sense considering a billion or so years ago, they are all a part of the same range.
Hill and sky
It was through this are that our tour guide Fran (she was Frantastic!) kept noticing red deer (?) and proceeded to tell us about the “five kinds of deer and the sitka deer.”