:………and our first stop is Aviemore(population approx. 2500) in Cairngorms National Park. What we didn’t know is that this week is the school break and you know what that means – everything’s booked except high end hotels and we’re more 3 star people than 5 star…….well I take that back, we are actually five star but they’re frugal stars!!! After much searching on booking.com and air bnb we finally found Margaret’s place which looked fabulous with good reviews so we were surprised it was available. When we arrived she told us she had been away to England and didn’t expect to be back so soon and had just marked it as available when she got our booking – lucky us as it was great! That prompted us to start looking elsewhere, ie. plan ahead, and book for the next four nights which we did so the pressure was off.   Aviemore reminded us a little of Banff, although on a much smaller scale, as there were all kinds of tourists about, mostly with kids, lots of hikers and bikers and good looking people in sports gear and in great shape.   We were only spending one night so we planned a hike for the morning in the Park and ended up in Loch Morlich which was quite beautiful and not too strenous so we walked around the loch for two hours.

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Next stop on Jim’s itinerary was Culloden where the Jacobite uprising of 1745 occurred with Bonnie Prince Charlie, otherwise known as the ‘young pretender’.   Here’s the picture but google for more info if you wish or ask Jim when you see him as this was a bit of a surprise stop for me – guess I wasn’t paying attention during the history lecture!

From there we were en route to the Isle of Skye where we stayed in another air bnb in Kyle of Lochalsh at the foot of the bridge.   It was not quite as grand as Margaret’s, but Lynne was a  kind and quirky host who was a hard-working gardener by day and very accommodating to what we needed.   It was a great place to spend the night and we were off early the next morning, again in the rain, to explore the Isle which I had heard so much about from Jim over the years – it better not disappoint!  The first picture below is of a castle close to Kyle of Lochalsh but I forgot the name of it already – spectacular spot.  The next picture is our view from our air bnb in K of L, looking towards the Isle of Skye.

The Isle of Skye certainly did not disappoint – it was magnificent and no picture taken with my ipad will do it justice, but what odds, you will get an idea and can google for more.   We spent the day exploring this fabulous Island which is home to  approximately  11,000 people.  It’s the largest northerly island in the inner Hebrides and both Clans MacDonald and MacLeod have their clan castles on the Island but they were not open.  Seems there is no ‘Murdoch’ clan as they are part of Clan MacDonald so it would have been neat to visit the castle but this was not in the cards…..life goes on!    I think it was here we first encountered single-track roads, meaning they’re basically one lane with a place to pull over every now and then if a car is approaching.   As you can imagine this makes for a slow journey but it is so exquisitely beautiful and remote that you don’t really mind.  Of course there’s also scattered sheep on the road so they slow you down as well.  Here are a few few pictures which hopefully speak for themselves.

This is the road for two way traffic – basically us and the sheep……and the cows if they decide!

Our day on the road ended with a ferry trip from the Isle of Skye to Mallaig where we spent the night at Esther’s place, another air bnb with which we were quite pleased and this one included breakfast and although it was continental, it was  quite substantial.  The first picture is the beautiful view from our little apt. but admittedly the view is hard to see in this one and the second picture is of Jim on our way to dinner up and down a very steep hill to a great restaurant where I had my first cullen skink, fish soup that was delicious!

Up early in the morning and on our way to Lochaline which is very close to where Jim planted trees for two  months in 1974.  Again single track roads, slow travelling but it doesn’t matter as we are not in a hurry.   Hard to believe that people live so remotely and some areas make Tidnish look like a metropolis.  After hours of driving we arrive in Lochaline and then off to Drimnin where I hold my breath frequently and pray a car is not coming around a corner or up a blind hill…….and then the end of the road!  It is so remote that a man sees us and asks us if we’re lost and we explain that Jim had planted trees here many years ago and just wanted to come back to re-visit the area.   He kind of looked at us strangely with questioning eyes that begged the question “why?”  Off we go to check into our little Lochaline hotel, take a walk and chat about how nothing had really changed in all those years – a walk down memory lane for sure, at least for Jim!  The first photo is Jim in Drimnin(all the trees are behind me) and the next picture is looking out from our window in Lochaline……and the hotel is for sale in case you’re interested!

From Lochaline we took the ferry to the Isle of Mull where we spent the day roaming around in not great weather again but what a beautiful place and yet again very remote.  Stopped at Tobermory where there is a golf course and Jim noted that when they were planting trees all those years ago they could look over to Tobermory and see golfers on the golf course and always wanted to visit – today’s the day, 44 years later!   The first picture is again of the single track road as I still can’t believe we drove on them for hours with no damage to the car or ourselves and the next picture is just one of the beautiful Isle of Mull.  Tobermory is the third picture and the last is one taken in beautiful Oban where we hunkered down for the night as we’re off tomorrow to return the car and head towards Belfast, Northern Ireland on the ferry.

But before I go there are a couple more pictures to show.   The first is of the mountain, Ben Nevis,  the highest mountain in the British Isles where 9 out of 10 days it is raining and 100,000 people ascent each year.    When we visited  it did not defy statistics, meaning it was raining, so we did not attempt to hike, never mind climb!    Jim talked about climbing it all those years ago but said at that time he was in the best shape he had ever been in after planting trees for two months up and down the hills of Scotland with trees on his back.   So here’s Ben Nevis, minus the top, in the rain and a picture of Jim in Scotland taken when he was planting trees.  I dug this up before we left and no doubt he’ll be surprised to see it here!