Ross
Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2012
- Messages
- 295
The occasional non-US trip report comes up here, so with overnight travel in Britain still banned until next week and all travel abroad including to my favourite South-West states not possible, I thought I'd post on a trip to Scotland last year.
It is still a fair old drive from London with UK traffic and slow roads to the Scottish island of Skye - my favourite British scenery. At least a 10 hour drive to our rented static RV in northern Skye.
But after Glasgow the scenery improves as two-lane roads wind around the Scottish lochs.
The main danger in Scotland is even a summer week can be washed out by rain - and certainly the first overnight stop we were drenched.
But we got lucky after that and en route was the famous Eilean Donan castle.
On my only previous trip up here I'd climbed one of these peaks from the back side when looked at in this photo (no great feat as you only have to go from sea level to around 1,000m), but more tricky for climbers is the arc route going around all the peaks in the semi-circle which I believe has some technical sections).
From the peak I reached that time I looked down at this lake - there are no roads to it - and thought it must be a wonderful place to go to, surrounded by steep mountains.
It is only an 8 mile hike one way around the outside of the mountain horseshoe then over a ridge, but with two kids and potentially changeable treacherous weather - which wasn't good when we woke - we took a windy, choppy, cold and rainy boat trip by sea which dropped us off nearer to this lake behind where I took this photo. Access was then by a much shorter hike. These two shots show only a fraction of the length of the lake and I wanted to summit a peak well behind where I took this shot at the opposite end of the lake to what you see. From there would have been a panoramic shot taking in sea, peaks and lakes. But the weather was still windy and rainy and could get worse and there is no clear trail, so it could have been slippery for kids. (next time). I'm always surprised how many people need rescuing and get injured on UK peaks of under 1,400m but I guess when the cloud and fog set in and you are not good with maps and compass to hike "blind" you can get cliffed out still. I tend to avoid those conditions as if you can't see more than 50ft & there's no view, I'd rather go another time.
Instead we decided to loop the lake which also has no clear trail. It involves river crossings at both ends. A small waterfall drops into the sea, but that was too violent. However, further upstream, with the help of a group of Czech guys - the only people around - who saw the kids struggling, we got the four of us across with me the only one to get wet feet.
After that the rain cleared and there were even moments of sunshine breaking through.
This shows the crossing at the far end which was easy - narrow, with no flow, ankle deep and rocks to hop over.
With that done, the next hike of just a half day was the steep but rewarding view from above the Old Man of Storr rock pinnacle, with views across to the Scottish Highlands on the mainland.
One advantage over the South-West is it's not so hot you get moaning kids, and you're not carrying water for four people!
But it just shows how travel has grown as when I last went here around 20 years ago, there was just myself, my girlfriend and we just saw one other father and son
This time cars lined both sides of the road for half a mile.
The other hike I wanted to do was a loop of a few hours around the Quiraing. I think because of time constraints and a desire to get good light for photos I set off at dawn, having driven to the trailhead the evening before, so the next shots are a mixture of sunrise and sunset. Before the short dawn drive to the trailhead I thought it was worth looking at the waterfall that spills into the sea just a half mile from where we were staying. The first view looks south, the waterfall view north.
When I set off, I took this shot of the path. I'm not really sure why, and don't remember even taking it, but when I got home it was my favourite photo just because it is unusual with the green, the cloud and sea in the background.
This is from further along this trail looking right. No roads cross this stretch of cliffs in the next photo. But below that is the one road that does, which passes the trailhead
half way round the roads and cars disappear, you climb quite steeply and get views out to sea.
This is from the evening before "scouting" drive over the hills along a single track road. It's taken on the other east side of Skye looking out to the Outer Hebrides islands of Lewis and Harris which we got a ferry to, but I've not posted any pictures of as although nice, remote, and sparsely populated with desolate beaches, we didn't really do any hiking, backpacking or climbing, so I'm not sure short walks from the car would be in the spirit of backcountrypost !!
But I will throw in a couple from our journey back south for any Harry Potter fans. This is the viaduct that the Hogwarts Express goes over and Harry flies over it in a car. This is the oldy worldy steam train that takes tourists over it twice a day.
And from the best viewpoint of the viaduct if you turn 180 degrees you see the Glenfinnian Monument which commemorates the Jacobite Uprising of 1745 on Loch Shiel.
It is still a fair old drive from London with UK traffic and slow roads to the Scottish island of Skye - my favourite British scenery. At least a 10 hour drive to our rented static RV in northern Skye.
But after Glasgow the scenery improves as two-lane roads wind around the Scottish lochs.
The main danger in Scotland is even a summer week can be washed out by rain - and certainly the first overnight stop we were drenched.
But we got lucky after that and en route was the famous Eilean Donan castle.
On my only previous trip up here I'd climbed one of these peaks from the back side when looked at in this photo (no great feat as you only have to go from sea level to around 1,000m), but more tricky for climbers is the arc route going around all the peaks in the semi-circle which I believe has some technical sections).
From the peak I reached that time I looked down at this lake - there are no roads to it - and thought it must be a wonderful place to go to, surrounded by steep mountains.
It is only an 8 mile hike one way around the outside of the mountain horseshoe then over a ridge, but with two kids and potentially changeable treacherous weather - which wasn't good when we woke - we took a windy, choppy, cold and rainy boat trip by sea which dropped us off nearer to this lake behind where I took this photo. Access was then by a much shorter hike. These two shots show only a fraction of the length of the lake and I wanted to summit a peak well behind where I took this shot at the opposite end of the lake to what you see. From there would have been a panoramic shot taking in sea, peaks and lakes. But the weather was still windy and rainy and could get worse and there is no clear trail, so it could have been slippery for kids. (next time). I'm always surprised how many people need rescuing and get injured on UK peaks of under 1,400m but I guess when the cloud and fog set in and you are not good with maps and compass to hike "blind" you can get cliffed out still. I tend to avoid those conditions as if you can't see more than 50ft & there's no view, I'd rather go another time.
Instead we decided to loop the lake which also has no clear trail. It involves river crossings at both ends. A small waterfall drops into the sea, but that was too violent. However, further upstream, with the help of a group of Czech guys - the only people around - who saw the kids struggling, we got the four of us across with me the only one to get wet feet.
After that the rain cleared and there were even moments of sunshine breaking through.
This shows the crossing at the far end which was easy - narrow, with no flow, ankle deep and rocks to hop over.
With that done, the next hike of just a half day was the steep but rewarding view from above the Old Man of Storr rock pinnacle, with views across to the Scottish Highlands on the mainland.
One advantage over the South-West is it's not so hot you get moaning kids, and you're not carrying water for four people!
But it just shows how travel has grown as when I last went here around 20 years ago, there was just myself, my girlfriend and we just saw one other father and son
This time cars lined both sides of the road for half a mile.
The other hike I wanted to do was a loop of a few hours around the Quiraing. I think because of time constraints and a desire to get good light for photos I set off at dawn, having driven to the trailhead the evening before, so the next shots are a mixture of sunrise and sunset. Before the short dawn drive to the trailhead I thought it was worth looking at the waterfall that spills into the sea just a half mile from where we were staying. The first view looks south, the waterfall view north.
When I set off, I took this shot of the path. I'm not really sure why, and don't remember even taking it, but when I got home it was my favourite photo just because it is unusual with the green, the cloud and sea in the background.
This is from further along this trail looking right. No roads cross this stretch of cliffs in the next photo. But below that is the one road that does, which passes the trailhead
half way round the roads and cars disappear, you climb quite steeply and get views out to sea.
This is from the evening before "scouting" drive over the hills along a single track road. It's taken on the other east side of Skye looking out to the Outer Hebrides islands of Lewis and Harris which we got a ferry to, but I've not posted any pictures of as although nice, remote, and sparsely populated with desolate beaches, we didn't really do any hiking, backpacking or climbing, so I'm not sure short walks from the car would be in the spirit of backcountrypost !!
But I will throw in a couple from our journey back south for any Harry Potter fans. This is the viaduct that the Hogwarts Express goes over and Harry flies over it in a car. This is the oldy worldy steam train that takes tourists over it twice a day.
And from the best viewpoint of the viaduct if you turn 180 degrees you see the Glenfinnian Monument which commemorates the Jacobite Uprising of 1745 on Loch Shiel.
