Searching for Rob Roy

On our way back from Glenfinnan we have decided on a short detour to search for one of the Highland legends. We've decided to stop at the cemetery where Rob Roy was supposedly buried..(a cemetery by Balquhidder Parish Church). The rain has stopped again and we took a very narrow side road to get there.  We've passed some picturesque houses and fields with wonderful old trees and sheep, even spotting a traditionally dressed fellow, going somewhere with his bodhran, perhaps for an evening of history and song..

The first time I have ever heard about Rob Roy was as a child when the book by Sir Walter Scott found it's way into my hands.. Don't remember much of the book story anymore (it was a few decades ago after all.. ;D), and whatever memory of it I did have was successfully replaced by the movie (with Liam Neeson who, I thought, did an excellent job of playing the main character) but I've always liked the character and was quite excited to find a place that was dedicated to him.. The place was charming and lit with late afternoon light, surrounded by juicy greenery seemed very picturesque. And it felt old and peaceful...

We walked around the place for a while charmed by it's atmosphere. The old, old graves, covered by lichen and moss, reminded us of the fact that time does not wait for anybody..

On the very bottom of this picture you will see the resting place of Rob Roy, his wife and son.  At the time we have not noticed it.. I've learned only afterwords that we were standing right next to it and even, unknowingly, took some pictures with it. I guess it just goes to show that too often we search high and low for things that are right under our own noses... Until the next time..

Kasia

Heading back to Edinburgh..

Well, it was time to say good-bye to Glenfinnan and head back to Edinburgh.  We have decided to make a circle and chosen a different road this time, as always, trying to fit as much new views as it was possible in the short time we had.  It was definitely not a mistake and, though, we had been stuck for a while in a traffic jam in Fort William (road constructions - what else?!) we were not sorry at all.  The weather system that we've encountered at the end of our nature walk seem to have been chasing us and the sky was truly amazing. So even stuck in traffic we have snapped a few shots of it.

Starting to be short on time, we weren't really planning on stopping too many times on the way, alas the views were so gorgeous that we have made numerous stops here and there taking pictures, every time promising it was the last..

How can you not stop when the rainbow shows up invitingly?!

Seduced again and again by colours and textures we were in awe of the beauty of the views we've encountered...

Oh.. to live in this little house for a while.. That would be something, for sure.. See it all in the changing seasons and colours would be something quite extraordinary, I think...

With such amazing textures and colours and ever-changing sky it was very hard not to photograph the same views over and over again, because every time we turned the light has changed and showed us yet another aspect of the landscape.. Glorious,wonderful places, all of them!!

The weather has started to catch up with us. There was a serious rain on the horizon and yet we still took our time to stop, not willing to miss anything...

See what I mean about the changing sky?!  Well, it was time to hide in the car, since the rain started to fall and the road was calling.. What we've found next, I will share a bit later.  I hope we were able to capture the wonderful beauty of these places. I can imagine them in the late summer or early fall when heather is in bloom, adding more colour to the ground... I would love to be able to truly explore this stretch of the road again, with more time and the ability to actually hike in the mountains a bit and visit places farther away from the highway..

Kasia

Ardgour Island

Ardgour Island, located right next to the Glenfinnan Monument  is a home of many interesting species of fauna and flora.  Visiting Loch Shiel we have had a pleasure of taking a little nature walk that took us there.  The spring was in the air, the flowers were blooming and the weather was still great. So we grabbed our cameras and went exploring:

First thing I noticed in Scotland was that everything is covered in moss and lichen.  It grows on rocks, on trees, on buildings and pretty much anywhere it can find a bit of nutrition. It gives the objects it covers a bit of a velvety feel, which I liked a lot.

As you can see, I even managed to find this lovely creature taking a stroll on the ground ;)

What I did enjoy the most, though on this walk were the trees. The pine trees on Ardgour Island are thought to have a different genetic makeup than the rest of pine tree population in Scotland.. Their ancestors, apparently, have survived the last ice age.. They are wonderful, some very old, some younger, but all with lovely shapes and impressive sizes..

Travelling in spring gave us an opportunity to witness their glory unobscured by leaves of many other kinds of trees growing there as well as a great colour contrast to view them before everything turns completely green. This early development also has given us the ability to enjoy the surrounding views..

Even our boys could not resist exploration and wondered frequently from the wooden path..

Alas, eventually the weather system has caught up with us and it was time to leave this interesting place and wait for the rain to stop falling before we embarked on the next part of this trip where even more amazing views have awaited us... Until the next time!

Kasia

Scotland - on the shores of Loch Shiel

As I have mentioned in my previous post: Scotland - the Road to Glenfinnan, we went to visit the shores of Loch Shiel as a kind of a joke because of "Highlander" the movie. But that is not the only movie that has made this place famous. Some of the scenes from Harry Potter movies were filmed there as well. The movies aren't the only thing that makes Glenfinnan interesting, though... In August 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Price Charlie") has landed on the shores of Loch Shiel starting the second Jacobean Rising that has ended tragically for Scotland at Culloden in April of 1746.  In 1815 the Glenfinnan Monument has been erected to commemorate the start of that event as well as in tribute to the clansmen who fought and died in the Jacobite cause. For those who would like to learn more a lot of information can be found on the web.  Now, for the scenery, I am going to leave that for you to judge:

I was paying attention to the little things that surrounded us, while we were hiking to the viewing point, so here is a little macro as well ;D

I am sure you will agree with me, that it is a beautiful place, well worth hours of driving from Edinburgh. I just wish we've had more time to spend exploring this area, though we did take a little nature walk and I will share some of the pictures in my next post.  Hope you enjoyed!!

Kasia

Scotland - the Road to Glenfinnan

Do you remember "Highlander" with Christopher Lambert? In the movie the main character said he was born in Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel.. So we've decided, as a kind of a joke, to actually make a trip there and see it for ourselves.  After all, since this was our first trip there, we needed some aim, right?! It's not a huge distance from Edinburgh (less than 400km), but it takes quite a few hours to get there . On the way from Edinburgh  you have a chance to see a lot of lakes, glens, moors and all sorts of beautiful scenery. Since we have been traveling in April the heather was not in bloom and some of the trees were still not covered by leaves thus the colors were still subdued. I can only imagine how this land looks late summer/ beginning of fall when things are in bloom!

Sometimes the narrow road would not let us stop at a point with interesting few, sometimes, that view was covered by old trees that would make it impossible to take a picture of such a view, though, it's not like it stopped me from trying ;D

The weather was great and it was really a pleasure to make a few stoops on the way, even if they've delayed our reaching the goal..

Whether it was a dam or a picturesque lake we were enjoying our trip and yet we were not completely prepared to experience Glenfinnan, which, we discovered, is a beautiful place and I will be happy to share pictures from there in my next post.  Looking forward to it!

Kasia

Scotland - Exploring exploring and more exploring

What can you do when you are in Scotland for only 5 days.... there is one thing you have to do.... visit Glenfinnan.  So yes it's the birth place of the fictional immortal highlander Connor MacLeod, and of course the viaduct as also featured in Harry Potter movies.  But that's all fiction, historically speaking this is the place that Prince Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard at the start of the Jacobite Rising in 1745.  The monument erected in 1815 commemorates this event.  The area is, for the lack of a better word, spectacular.

From Glenfinnan and the Loch Shiel we decided to visit another famous historical spot, Rob Roy MacGregor's grave.  This time we chose a different route, and that's where the problems started.  The landscape turned from spectacular to amazing in a few miles.  We practically had to stop every five or ten minutes, because the fast moving storm clouds and peeking sun, created jaw droping, breathtaking vistas that could not be passed by.

Finally we arrived at the site of Balquhidder Church, and the graveyard that was Rob Roy's resting place.  It was late, the sun was setting, and the absolutely silent.  Another beautiful place.  We must have been completely blind, because we could not find the grave, which later on was pointed out to us.  We must have walked by it a few times with out even noticing it.  Dumb tourists.

Of course all these images were done with the new Fuji X-Pro1.  In truth though, it's the moment and the beauty of the landscape that matters over all.

Scotland - Exploring the Countryside

Since we were up and about in the country, after visiting Castle Menzies, we decided to do little bit more exploring. Even driving on the narrow roads with moss covered walls instead of wide shoulders, to which we are used to, did not discourage us.  There was so many things to see starting with amazingly shaped old trees and ending with sheep covered meadows..

At some point he happened upon an interesting looking structure by a lake we were passing by.  It was a place called  The Scottish Crannog on shores of Loch Tay.  It is an interesting place where you can be taken on a tour giving you an insight of the life of people from a long ago time. It is a reconstruction of the 2600 year old Oakbank Crannog, discovered in Loch Tay near the village of Fearnan in late seventies by archaeologists from the University of Edinburgh. Definitely worth checking if you are ever close by!

The nice staff at the centre there has fed us some hot chocolate and oatcakes and pointed us to the nearby Falls of Acharn and Croft Moraig stone circle, where we decided to venture next. It was a bit of a hike to get to the Falls of Acharn, but we did not mind at all. Though the sky was dark, the rain did not fall and we've managed the whole trip up and down quite dry ;).  There was a meadow full of sheep, some more lovely trees and amazing sky to keep us occupied and I took a lot of pictures there:

And, of course, I could not resist a bit of macro work..

But mostly I was just amazed at the beauty of the very green countryside, so different from our prairies..

The Falls of Acharn are quite lovely as well, but I think the road there was as interesting as the falls themselves..

After completing that hike we drove a little bit to get to one of the two stone circles that are located close by.  This particular one is called Croft Moraig. I could not get too close to it, because it was fenced in but even from the distance, with a heavy sky it was quite an experience and I am very happy to have seen one of those in person. Though, perhaps it was a good thing I was not inside it, considering the nearness of one of the Sun Feasts.. Who knows what might have happened?!! ;D

After that short stop we've decided to head back to Edinburgh through picturesque countryside with it's meadows, sheep and lochs..

All in all, it was quite a wonderful day! Buy wait till you see where we went the next morning!!

Kasia

Scotland The Begining.... from the Fuji Xpro 1 point of view

So we have arrived in sunny Scotland.... ummm not quite.  It was Scotland alright, but it was far far from being sunny.  Coming from warm sunny Spain, it felt almost like coming back to Canada.  The only difference the vehicles were on the wrong side of the road.  The first night in the hotel I managed place my Fuji on a little tripod I brought, and snap this image of Edinburgh at night.

The next day we spent driving around, visiting small towns and a haunted castle.  Here are some of my images from that day.  Enjoy!