Into the Highlands

Day 7 & 8
Everywhere I go in the world, I see places that remind me of Kentucky. I found that place today between Edinburg and the Highlands. Rolling green pastures, fields, and forests with fences and walls, but with one difference - not as much junk sitting about. Yes, KY has its areas of well-kept properties, but still much more so in Scotland. On our drive into the highlands, we had to stop at The Green Welly for a road trip resupply. It's kind of a truck stop/Buc-ee's. Lots of folks here.

A significant event occurred for Adam on this trip. Two years ago, Mason purchased a small plot of land here in Scotland and gifted it to Adam. This officially makes him a Scottish lord. I'm serious. He owns 1 square foot of land, or something equally as small, in Scotland. The seller is bassically a land trust company that sells plots to pay for trees to be planted. I've included a photo of lord Howell standing on his land, with one foot anyay, next to the tree.

We had our first real travel through the highlands as we drove between Ochy and Glencoe on the A82 route. The desolate green landscape with rounded mountain peaks projecting grey colored rock against a green grassy canvas is quite a beautiful sight, and so unlike the Colorado Rockies. We pulled off the main road at one location to drive to a waterfall on one of the same routes that James Bond drove the Aston Martin in the movie Skyfall.

Once we made it into Fort William and settled into our AbnB, we went out in search of a place for dinner. Almost everywhere we went to required a reservation, and they were booked up. We finanally found a food hall. Is this the way it is going to be on the rest of the trip? The next night, we gave in, as many places were closed on Sunday, and settled for a burger place called Jiggy Burger that was owned and run by a guy from Boston. We had a nice chat with him about hairy cows and their elusiveness.

My original hope while in the Glencoe area was to do a few miles hiking along the Highland Way or hiking to the top of Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland. But, the day to do so proved to be one of low cloud cover and rain. Maybe next time. Instead, we visited a ruined castle, had lunch in Fort Augustus next to a cool set of stairstep locks along a canal that fed into Loch Ness, and ended the day with a backroad drive to a touristless waterfall. It was fun to climb on, But not so fun for Kim as she got to experience the wrath of the midges. It was a great day in spite of the clouds and rain.

Tomorrow we go to see a famous train on our way to the Isle of Skye.Read more