scottish bikes and belgian beer: highland explorations...

ahh...scotland. where to begin....

it was hard to keep this updated while cruising through the remote highlands. however, here is a little update in photos of places we visited and explored during our scottish half of the honeymoon.

we took the train to glasgow to pick up our van from stephen and isla at caledonian campers (great!) and our bikes from another company (not so great). we headed north through loch lomond and trossachs national park. is our scotland trip really this beautiful right from the beginning??

our first night in the van was spent in the amazing glen etive...just south of glencoe.

At this point the rain, wind, and cold had been in effect for a week...well it has to break soon right? obviously, our first time to lovely scotland ("ahh, this is normally a beautiful time of year in scotland"...wish we had a pound for everytime we heard that). we took our first day in fort williams to buy some extra clothes and spent the night at the end of the road in glen nevis. there was so much water pouring down the mountains...something between a raging waterfall and waterslide. in the morning we decided to hike ben nevis. we also met our first fellow campervan friends, john and sue from england.

the hike up ben nevis was quite the long slog. it also had the best mantained trail i'd ever seen...100,000 people hike to the summit each year. apparently a few days before some folks carried parts of a model t (minus the engine) up the trail and reassembled it on the summit. it was to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of a model t driving up ben nevis! the final approach was through a snowfield...luckily the cairns at this point are huge since it was hailing and hard to see too far ahead.

mike representing jersey

we love our van!

after our hike we headed west to the ardnamurchan penninsula (i have a habit of choosing to go places that are referred to as remote and desolate). we spent the first night on lake moidart with views of castle tioram. (ok, little plug for caledonian campers...this is the way to travel!! basically pick your spot to sleep based on the amazing views. are we really staying next to this 13th century castle with no one else in sight?)

in the morning at low tide we were able to get across the explore the castle ruins...

highlands of scotland or highlands, nc?

we continued west the next morning to ardnamurchan point...that's when we realized it really hadn't been windy before...it was just beginning!

the winds kept the ferry to isle of skye from sailing (they call it the olympic torch because it never goes out) so we stayed a night in mallaig and had delicious cullen skink - smoked haddock soup.

the isle of skye is fairly touristy (luckily this is not the high season) - however, for good reason! it is gorgeous! amazing geology and endless hills to explore. our first bike ride was in the cuillin hills on sligachan trail. it was at this point we realized the bikes we had rented weren't adequate for the type of biking we wanted to do. it was still beautiful and there was a great little pub and fire waiting at the end.

after ride snack

the storr

kilt cliffs

the quaraing on skye's trotternish penninsula...one of the most amazing, beautiful places we've seen!

would gladly get lost in these mountains

we would've liked more time on the isle of skye, however the outer hebrides were beckoning us...and they almost didn't let us go (and that would've been ok with us)

leaving isle of skye on the ferry - bound for the isle of harris and lewis.

the isle of harris and lewis is actually one island - with a distinct demarcation in population and topography. the southern portion of the island (harris - which is further divided into north and south harris) is more sparsely populated and mountainous than lewis. we drove south along harris' east coast (on the golden road-named so beause it was so expensive to build)...a rocky, sparse landscape (one of the filming locations for stanley kubrick's 2001 a space odyssey); the heart of harris tweed (although "harris tweed" comes from any outer hebridean weaver with certain stipulations).

rodel church (16th c.)

as you head up the west coast of harris there is a striking change in scenery...the rocky landscape gives way to white sand beaches and crystal clear waters of the atlantic ocean.

we made an impromptu stop at the beautiful scarista house and had an amazing dinner which included local diver scallops.

after sleeping by the ocean we stopped in to see donald john mckay of luskentyre harris tweed. he learned to weave from his father - we had such a great time talking with him. nike and clark have used his tweed for their shoes.

mike was real excited about these...bentleys??

callanish stones from 2900 BC on the isle of lewis

mike is shooting - i love how he looks like one of the stones

the beautiful butt of lewis (no snickering)

cut peat

port nis - northern tip of lewis

we were very sad to leave the outer hebrides - where the gaelic life and language is still preserved...they are so special. when we come back to scotland this will be the place we go...lewis and harris and the islands of uist and barra to the south. we took the ferry from stornaway to ullapool to begin our trek around the lovely wester ross region on the west coast of scotland's mainland.

torridon...oh boy, what to say. this trail is considered a scottish "classic". it was a classic hike over a mountain pass with your bikes on your back in a hail storm. luckily, it was gorgeous (and we made it back). the photos below are the "good times" on torridon. the smiles are slightly forced.