Scotland Holiday Diary 2
5th June
A great day! The famous Loch Ness!!
The breakfast was very good. Our host, Kareene being a very nice and good one!
There was another couple having breakfast in the same time, some Australians. They came to visit, wander all over the islands, of Great Britain! About 7 weeks! They were part of a bigger group but now they were stuck here because of some damage to the car, which was a Martin Hilly classic, an old type, built by the owner himself. The guy was mumbling that he couldn't find a proper auto service for the car! As we thought, both me and Simon, why on earth he would need to try to find one, being part of a club! In Great Britain they take care of such problems if you are part of such a club, as they claimed they were (I wonder!)!!!! And they had the money to ship the car over here! No more comments...
We went to Loch Ness about 10 o'clock.
On our way there we stopped at Spean Bridge Mill (a little shop in a village) with nice things and good prices. And a very nice garden arranged around the shop. I liked it very much!
We went on, the next stop we planned to be at Drumnadrochit. Here there are ruins of a castle, Urquhart, placed on the shore of Loch Ness. And from the tower you can have a beautiful view of surroundings! You can try to imagine the immensity of the loch!
Urquhart Castle
On our way there we passed the highest mountain there, Ben Nevis (this is the English translation of the original name, in Scottish meaning something like "the peak with the head in the clouds"). It is about 1300 m. We could see a lot of snow on its peak and on the slopes!
The mountain zone starts about where our host lives. It's very impressive, but these mountains are completely different from the Carpathian Mountains!
And the vegetation changes a lot! Here is an area with nothing, just rock and a little bit of grass, at a short distance further you can see coniferous forest and other trees. It is very strange how these areas are limited between them. It is like an invisible perfect line which creates the demarcation between them!
And the mountains same: some have smooth slopes, rock covered with grass, others something like the mountains I know, just rock, in different shapes, sharp ones!
And I forgot to mention the rhododendrons, growing everywhere, with such bright beautiful colors: purple, red, peach, white-pink. I almost feel like betraying the roses, my favorite flowers!
First we passed Loch Oich then, after Fort August (it looks like the Romans managed to reach this area!) starts Loch Ness!
Loch Ness
The road winds nicely around the lake, with beautiful vistas, till Inverness, which is at the north end of the loch.
We stopped here for a while and then we decided to return to our place on the other side of the lake, less busy, a road they call "trail", not being a proper one large enough for 2 cars. From time to time you can see places marked as "Passing Place" to stop if there are cars coming from the opposite direction. I loved it because the views were beautiful, great! We stopped of course many times to take pictures!
We returned to our host at about 8.30 in the evening, imagine how we were! Tired! But happy with what we saw over the day!
The weather continued to be lovely, nice and warm and sunny! Not a drop of rain! Only a few clouds.
Now I'm looking through the window: in front is a little lake and some peaks in the distance and I can see the sun going to hide behind them! It is so beautiful!
And it is still light! Even if it is after 10 o'clock in the evening. I forgot to mention last night, when I was able to write in my diary with any light in the room even though it was much after 11 o'clock! It was like then the sun set started!
Tomorrow I will ask Kareene. If here, being far north should be like I know it is at this time of the year (I saw this in Leningrad, now Petersburg): the famous white nights, when it's not really dark during the night, only just like when the sun set starts.
Good night!
Sunset Over Loch Leven
6th June
I reread what I wrote yesterday. Clearly I was really tired. The words can't show enough the beauty of what we saw! The beauty of Scotland! It is special, different, beautiful, impressive! It is much more than you see on TV or we hear talking about!
Glencoe
Today I had time to impress my memory with the views! We will return back to Windermere. It is not for nothing that this land is so famous!
At breakfast I asked Kareene about the white nights and she confirmed that this is it. But she talked about the reverse of this phenomenon: during the winter, when you can't see the light, the nights are very long, almost interminable. And it is not nice at all!
We found out the Kareene is original from Shetland (the famous Shetland wool), very far north, and we laugh when she said she considers herself Scottish when it suits her! Finding out this I asked her if she ever saw the Northern Lights. Aaa, it was enough to make her start talking! But the way she described them! She knew so well to describe the images she saw (clearly she was very impressed)! She said that one night they wrapped up very well and stood out all night watching the Northern Lights! The sky, she said, became green, with green waves, like ribbons waved by somebody. According to the movements of the ribbons you could here sounds, like a kind of music. And there are some other phenomena, with more colored lights. She said that they call them "Merry Dancers", more musical than the Northern Lights! One can be sure to see this magnificent phenomenon towards the end of the year.
Kareene said that if you wouldn't know the scientific explanation of the Northern Lights you would think that the Gods came on Earth. Kareene impressed me also with the way she talked about it, not only the way she described it.
It is another dream I'd like to become true: to see the Northern Lights!!!!
We started the journey back to Windermere about 10 o'clock. It was again a beautiful sunny day. Nice and warm.
On our way back I managed to take very nice pictures.
The Road Home
We stopped, as we got used, many times, for little breaks: a drink or a snack or a smoke!
We could see again the impressive and beautiful lakes, the odd relief, the beauty of the flowers in this environment. You can see a lot of gorse flowers too. I find this plant quite peculiar: its colours: the mixture of the colour of the flower - a very bright yellow - with the colour of the plant itself - a strange dark brown.
Again Loch Lomond, then Glasgow. This time Simon didn't make the mistake and we avoided the city, driving on the bridge Erskin.
We arrived at "Above the Bay" quite early, about 5 o'clock.
We went for something to eat and then back in our room. I was anxious to have a shower and look at the pictures. I was very glad to see I managed to take nice pictures. I love taking pictures!
Here you can feel the difference from Glencoe, it was already dark at 10 o'clock. It looks like everything returns to normal.
Yes, tomorrow we'll be back in Cavendish, our little peaceful village!
Good night!
<< Scotland Holiday Diary 1
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