Looking north to the Skye Bridge, Kyleakin on the left, Kyle of Lochalsh on the right (the route the submarine was taking).
Comment on local industry
Back to Kyleakin
Visitor Centre doesn’t open until 10.30 so decided to press on to Armadale to catch the 11.35 to Mallaig.
I’ve discovered it’s cheaper to go from the islands to the mainland rather than the other way as the travel from the islands is subsidised. That’s a laugh! Petrol and diesel on the islands are both so very much more expensive than on the mainland – I recall diesel on Shetland being £1.56/litre – it’s at least 19p cheaper in Perthshire.
Just an aside re the beached whales in the Kyle of Durness – that is the Kyle I crossed with the irishman to get to Cape Wrath – and it really does dry out dramatically, as does the Kyle of Tongue – I wonder if they could put nets across the mouth of the Kyle similar to those used in WWII to stop submarines?
Knoydart, from a different angle. While part of the mainland, there is no road link with the rest of the road system
Mallaig
The “Jacobite” steam train in Mallaig station
A fishing boat out of water
After Mallaig I intended to stop at Arisaig and Morar – both honeypot places, both beaches used for the filming of one of my favourite films “Local Hero” (all the better for not having Stephen Fry anywhere near it – unlike Gosford Park which would have been near the top had it not been for his ridiculous performance). But it was a lovely day, in the school holidays, in the afternoon, no where to park, so I drove on to Glenfinnan. This is where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in August 1745. It is also where Harry Potter has been filmed.
I never found out why there was a cardboard cut out of Gnasher in a serious exhibition about the 1745 Rebellion.
The viaduct from the top of the Glenfinnan monument
Loch Shiel from the top of the monument
The highlander on the top of the monument
The monument and the loch from a knoll viewpoint
A train on the viaduct
I thought Ben Nevis from the west looks like a huge bat from the back with its wings outstretched and its head bowed forward.
I’d been instructed to visit Neptune’s Staircase:
This is the top of Neptune’s Staircase, part of the Caledonian Canal at Fort William. At the bottom are two swing bridges, one for the road
and one for the railway to and from Mallaig
In between are 8 locks raising the canal 64 feet in less than half a mile. Each lock holds approx 500,000 litres of water and each locking uses approx 150,000 litres of water.
Staircase locks are incredibly complicated as Simon and I and some friends found one Sunday afternoon on the Bingley Five Rise. It was a quiet afternoon until we got there. Several dogs and children and fish had to be rescued from the deluge of water that ensued and the friends pretended they didn’t know us as we argued about it.
Prang, learning the bagpipes – fortunately they are fitted with silencers
I stopped the night in a campsite in Glencoe
Bottom of Glencoe
Further up Glencoe
The West Highland Way goes along the top of Glencoe. After Glencoe the road goes across Rannoch Moor.
Simon and I caught a sleeper to Bridge of Orchy and walked to Fort William from there over a few days. To start with we were eaten alive by midges and then it started raining and after that I don’t think it ever stopped. Another walk we did was the Ben Alder crossing, this time we caught the sleeper to Rannoch station itself and walked to a bothy near Ben Alder – we had to carry food, sleeping bags, sleeping mats. The bothy was crowded, noisy and rather insanitary. The following day we walked out the other side and caught a train to Perth from Dalwhinnie station.
Clock made of sweets, Crieff
and sugar mice
Also in Crieff, a collapsed building. On the first floor there is a picture on the wall to the left of the left hand fire place, a mirror above the right hand fireplace and there are books in the bookcase to the right of it.
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