The last few days of our drive around northwest Scotland followed an indirect route. After more or less tracing the North Coast 500 route from Skye toward Durness, our plans had us making a longish detour to the historic lodge at Altnaharra. This meant leaving the NC500 and heading south into the highlands on less-traveled roads. I made this photograph along the detour late in the day.
Continue reading Windblown Trees at Loch Stack
Arriving at this spot involved one of the driving adventures that characterized much of our time in northwest Scotland. We followed a main road northward from Skye, and here we diverged to the west toward the coast. As we topped a rise we looked back and saw this spectacular scene — spots of sunlight on nearby hills, light rain falling between us and three distant tall peaks, and a dramatic, cloud-filled sky.
Continue reading Three Peaks, Rain Clouds
Near the end of May we did a weeklong walk in England’s Cotswolds. Ours was not the longest walk, and our mileage was less than it might have been on more aggressive walks. (Basically, we did an out-and-back loop starting and ending at Moreton-in-Marsh.) The plan was to enjoy the walking, but have plenty of time and energy to enjoy the towns we passed through and stayed in each night.
Continue reading Four Cotswolds Trees
This spring, following our exploration of northwest Scotland and cities in Ireland, we made our way to the Cotswolds District of England, where we did a one week village-to-village walk. It was unusually hot on the day we arrived, but once we started walking the weather was more typically British, as in cloudy and rainy. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The cool, damp weather was generally great for walking, and most of the rain came in the form of brief, light showers. With that in mind, it is no surprise that we spent a lot of time in some very green landscapes.
Continue reading Cotswolds Forest Scene