“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.
“Slioch and Loch Maree” — Snow-dusted peak of Slioch towers above Loch Maree.
The impressive, fortress-like mountain is Slioch, one of the Scottish peaks that reaches above 3000′. We passed by after driving south from Ullapool, Scotland, then cutting west toward Torridon and later heading to Applecross, on the coast looking westward toward the Isle of Skye. The route passes all sorts of beautiful country — coastal bays, long valleys, lochs, tall peaks.
“Trees, Stream Bank” — Trees and spring grass along side a creek, Applecross Bay, Scotland.
Perhaps I have already mentioned that we experienced a lot of “gray” weather during our May visit to northwest Scotland? In fact, the locals told us that it was colder, wetter, and grayer than usual for this time of the year. We even saw new snow on some highlands peaks, and we had at least some precipitation just about every single day. That weather, along with early May time frame meant that we did not see a whole lot of lovely green landscape. But there were a few exceptions, including this spot at Applecross Bay.
“Two Trees, Stone Wall” — Two old trees stand in front of a stone wall, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
While on the Isle of Skye this past May we stayed at an out-of-the-way lodge a few miles out on a gravel single track road along Loch Snizort Beag. We may have thought that we were at the ends of the earth when we first turned off the main road onto that track, but we came to appreciate the isolation, the views… and the sheep. They filled the pastures along the road and occasionally entered the roadway itself.
