I have seen an Osprey on two consecutive days at the same place. The first day I witnessed it catch a fish.
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www.ecoventures.co.uk A trip out to see the dolphins. It was good fun and we saw some dolphins. Have a look at the photos, there are some dolphins in there, honest. The pictures of us in waterproofs are worth a laugh.
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Thought about listing beers I have tried, three problems:
- One, I cannot remember them all.
- Two, there are to many.
- Three, it is a matter of taste.
Breweries. The Black isle, Cairngorm, Isle of Skye, Orkney brewery, Kinlochleven, and others.
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I suspect, like many others, we have seen images of the Italian Chapel at Lamb Holm, Orkney. You have to see it in the flesh to appreciate the skill of its creators.
Lyness, Isle of Hoy. This is the site of the Scapa Flow museum which is housed in some of the buildings which formed part of a massive military base. The main exhibition is housed in the pump house. The pumps were steam driven and were installed to pump heavy fuel oil to and from the ships. The original boilers, pumps and associated equipment are worth preserving in its own right. The remaining oil tank contains other exhibits and is used to show a film.
Signs of the logistics and infrastructure associated with this base are evident. Its own railway, standard and narrow gauge Accommodation for up to 40,000 service personnel, a cinema, laundry, etc. 11,000 tons of fuel oil. Vast amounts of stores. Workshops to manufacture boom nets.
The first enemy plane shot down. First bomb dropped. First civilian death as the result of an air attack.
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Albert took us to see a pair of the above birds. These are very attractive, shy birds so, to see a pair with a chick was a real pleasure. Like lots of people Albert expressed his concern about the decline of bird populations and the low breeding rates.
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Albert is a resident and crofter on Hoy who also takes visitors on guided tours of the island. A man with the a sense of humour, understanding and knowledge of local wildlife and history. We benefited from a one to one experience and an enjoyable day despite the rain.
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Time to catch up, this could be a long blog, sorry.
Move on from Fort William. Loch Shiel is west of Fort William on the road to Mallaig. It is a fresh water loch of about 17 miles in length, we took a day long boat trip with the object of seeing some of the local wildlife, it was successful if a little cold. At the head of the loch is Glenfinnan.
Glenfinnan is famous amongst historians, steam buffs and Harry potter fans, (one came all the way from Borneo). Prince Edward Charles Stuart, Bonny Prince Charlie, raised his standard there in 1745 at the start of the Jacobite uprising.
The Glenfinnan viaduct forms part of the rail route between Fort William and Mallaig. During the summer months a steam hauled train runs between the two, The Jacobite, it has just been voted the best railway journey in the world. If anybody intends to travel on it book up well in advance, it is very popular. Harry Potter fans. I believe that some of the scenes for the Hogwort express were filmed there, and yes, I did speak to a man who had come from Borneo to see the train pass over the viaduct. He was very excited about it, his wife wasn’t.
We motored north on route to the Orkney isles taking the back roads looking for places to wild camp, Loch Naver, see the pictures.
Ferry from Scabster to Stromness, a nice, clean and well appointed ship. The weather was kind to us and presented some good views. Again see the pictures.
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No excuses, only reasons. We rely on satelite technology for our internet conection. Unfortunetly this failed us. To make matters worse, at the time we were on the western isle’s which resulted in limited options with which to contact our internet provider. However, we got there in the end.
We sailed from Oban To Castlebay on Bara, a seven hour crossing, arriving at 23 00 hrs. We wild camped near to the airport, along with several other campers/caravaners. The airport on Bara is in fact a stretch of beach which operates according to the tide, planes operated by Flybe. I have put some pictures on the web album, best looked at as a slide show to give the impression of landing and take off. From there we moved north through the Islands to Harris and Lewes and then Skye. Roads, if you look at a road atlas you will see that the islands have numerous unclassified roads. Lots of the A roads are single carriageway with passing places, it gives you an idea what the smaller roads are like. It takes bottle and concentration to travel along them with a motor home. However, the opportunity to wild camp and enjoy some wonderful scenery makes it worth it.
Ferries, some of the inter islands ferries do not berth in the sense that most of us would recognise, let me explain. A concrete slipway, the ferry approaches lowers its onboard ramp and using its engines is held against the slipway. A good system, except that as the vehicles unload the ferry floats off. When you have the front wheels on the slipway and the rear wheels on the ramp and the ferry starts to slip back its a bit off putting.
Isle Skye. It is beautiful, the scenery is stunning and, it has its own brewery.
We are currently on the outskirts of Fort William in Glen Nevis at the base of Ben Nevis. I can recommend the Glen Nevis camping and caravaning site.
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We stayed for a couple of days at Bushmills, a nice site, clean and well layed out. Some body has invested a lot of money and got it right. It is a nice little town with the sort of shops that some of us remember with a slightly romantic tinge. We drove along the coast and visited various places, of note, Ulster American Folk Park, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. We allowed a day to visit the latter two, no where near enough. Carrick-A- Rede, it has featured on televisions in a number of programmes, again, worth a visit. The north coast of Ireland is nice.
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Actually, the problem is Keith. He managed to delete all the photographs before uploading them, did I hear a sigh of relief?
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