We’ve set off for the Highlands on a grand adventure! And this is where the geography started to change.
You go over a hill, round two curves and the landscape is entirely different:
It is rugged and scrappy and harsh:
And it holds a brutal beauty all its own, which is impossible to capture in just one or two pictures:
So let’s try a panorama. Click to embiggen and scroll around:
This is St. John’s Episcopal Church. Looks ancient, but is pretty young for these parts. It was built in 1842:
That church is in the village of Ballachulish, which is where the mountains and a lake and a river estuary meet. This is the time of year to visit, because of all of the bluebells:
This church may well wind up as the video on the front page of the site, soon …
Opposite the church is Loch Leven. Pronounce it “Li’ un,” or, in the local Gaelic, as “Lee’ oon.” Click to embiggen and scroll around:
Lunch was in Fort William — a charming little tourist town with about 10,000 residents and a history dating back to the 17th century when the English were busy dealing with the Scots and, later, to control them through force. It is named after William of Orange, the Duke of Cumberland, who the Scots called “Butcher Cumberland.” I had a nice steak and ale pie there.
We stopped off in a light drizzle at Inverlochy Castle. I made a video:
And then we made our way up near Inverness, where our B’n’B is. We’ll stay for two nights in a room with a view of Loch Ness. As in …
Didn’t see Nessie today, though we have a fine vantage point:
After dinner in a pub in Inverness — I do enjoy pub food just a bit too much, I know — we got back to Kimcraigan just in time for a great light show. A double rainbow. Again, click to scroll around in the larger version:
Tomorrow, we’re finding Nessie.
