“Cotswold Trail, Clouds” — Clouds build above a trail through agricultural land in the Cotswolds.
For a hiker like me, with a lifetime of wilderness hiking and backpacking behind him, a “Cotswolds walk” is a new and different experience. I am used to single-person-width trails, usually rocky, and sometimes ascending to quite high elevations. On multi-day trips I have carried everything on my back. But here the trails are gentle, often passing between and through fields and pastures. And you carry only a few supplies for the day’s walk — you simply stop at a grocery or a pub in a small town at lunch time and buy something to eat.
“Mountains, Clouds, and Shadows” — Clouds shadows drift across mountain terrain on the Isle of Skye.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but one thing that impresses about the mountains of Scotland is that they have the appearance alpine terrain in my California High Sierra. There are few or no trees, the only vegetation is the sort that lies under your feet if you walk through it. The peaks are sharp and rugged and rocky. The entire landscape — mountains, streams, valleys — is laid bare. In the Sierra I must go well above 10,000′ to see this. In Scotland it begins barely above sea level.
“On The Road To Elgol” — Distant mountains and cloud-filled sky along the route to the Scottish village of Elgol.
We had several days to explore the Isle of Skye during or May visit to Scotland. We stayed at a somewhat off-the-grid location to the west of Portree. One day we did a popular route up the eastern coast toward the far northern reaches of the island, returning on the other side of that peninsula. Another day we headed south and east, visiting the Talisker distillery and, among other things, heading out to the remote village of Elgol on the southwestern coast.
“Two Highlands Peaks” — Soft light on green hills and two distant highlands peaks.
We came upon this scene while driving north from Ullapool, Scotland and then taking a diversion out toward the coast. (We were intrigued by signs promising that we would find blueberry scones, and we just keep going until we… ran out of Scotland at the coast! Sadly, we never found the scones.) We were traveling along some lowland valleys, and at the top of one short incline we looked back and saw this view. Initially the entire scene was shaded by clouds, but since it looked like sunny spots were moving across the landscape we waited until some of that light landed on the foreground.
