The Highlands

The Scottish Highlands are truly a magical place.  After leaving Loch Ness, we drove along Loch Cluanie.  The mountains here are increasingly rugged and there is a grandeur to the landscape.

The effects of glaciation are apparent in the sculpted glens, but even more striking to me is the influence of what I’ve decided to call mono-ungulate rumination.  This little tree germinated on top of the rock, high enough to be out of reach of the pervasive Ovis aries.  I suppose the exposed rock emphasizes the starkness of the mountains.

The quality of the light was incredible, something I don’t recall ever seeing anywhere else in the world.

We spent the night on the Isle of Skye, arriving just in time to shelter from the approaching storm at a lovely hotel.  Molly described the tempest as “chucking it sideways”.  The next day, when it was merely “spitting it sideways”, we hiked a relatively sheltered forest trail near Portree.  The bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh to Skye is visible in the picture below.

From Skye, we made our way to Fort William and spent a night in a hostel in Glen Nevis, just under the shoulder of Ben Nevis.  Ben Nevis is the highest peak in Britain; the elevation at the summit is 4406 feet.  I had thought of hiking that route, but we decided it was a bit too long and the peak was shrouded in cloud anyway.  We settled on a route through the Glen Nevis gorge to Steall Falls.  The signs at the trailhead were a bit disconcerting, but we decided to go ahead anyway.  Somehow it seems very British: “You might die here, but at least make sure you have good shoes on!”

The recent (and ongoing) rains rushed down the mountainside.  We had to leap across this waterfall:

River was in good spirits the entire day, smiling and singing along the trail.

We eventually arrived at this beautiful meadow and caught our first glimpse of Steall Falls.

The torrent we had observed through the gorge was fed by this cataract.

I traversed the bridge to get a closer approach to the falls.  It was hard not to think of the cautionary signs at the trailhead while inching my way across.

The power of the water plunging from 120 meters was pretty amazing!

Continuing south from Fort William, we drove through the spectacular Glen Cloe.    The landscape here is simply stunning.

I’ve seen these “Blind Summit” signs before, but this one just happened to get into the frame of this picture.  It turns out that they are warning of a hill in the road that hides oncoming traffic, rather than a commentary on the perennial cloud-covered state on most of the local mountain summits.

After leaving Glen Cloe, we drove through Rannock Moor, which was much flatter but still starkly beautiful.  I’d certainly like to return to Scotland some time soon.  We are considering planning a backpacking trip next summer.