Scotland Pictures: Part 1

Randy with his fish and chips.

I fell in love in Scotland. With GPS. I’m hoping to get one of these babies soon!

As we drove from Glasgow to Oban, a city on the west coast of Scotland, we drove alongside the train trestle that the Hogwarts Express screams along.

We stayed overnight in Oban before heading to the Isle of Mull. Here’s the view out the window of our B&B. The hazy geographic form in the distance is the Isle of Mull.

A businessman (McCaig) built (but never finished) a replica of the Colliseum on the top of the hill in Oban.

Randy at McCaig’s Tower.

At a pub in Oban, I ordered potato leek soup and got this, which tasted kind of like beef gravy/Jell-O in a bowl. Um, are you sure this is potato leek soup? I was not the only customer who asked this, but the waitress was sure.

But the dessert made up for it. Sticky toffee pudding. A kind of spice cake covered in toffee sauce and served with whipped cream.

The next morning, we took the ferry to Mull. As we neared the castle, we saw lots of Highland cattle. Big, shaggy things, they are. Took this out of our car window with no zoom. They were just hanging out around the road.

Here’s Glengorm Castle, where we spent two nights.

This is the view from our window. The tiny white dots are sheep. And that’s the North Atlantic Ocean.

Here’s Randy pretending to fall off a hill peak.

Me enjoying the amazing view.

Here’s our shadows stretched down and out over a couple small ridges in the late afternoon sun (it stayed light until about 10 p.m. there!). The white dots down there are sheep.

Here’s a primary school on Mull. It’s tiny!

This is part of Eas Fors waterfall on Mull.

Here’s the part where it tumbles 100 feet into the ocean. Cool.

There were sheep ALL over Mull. And it was lambing season, so there were plenty of frolicking lambs, too.

We went to see standing stones that have been there about 3,500 years.

They were situated a little bit into this primeval-looking forest, where the trees were covered with moss and lichen.

Once you’re off pavement, it’s wet and muddy in Scotland!

Driving is terrifying. In addition to being on the left side of the road, many roads are one lane for two directions of traffic. Every 1/4 mile or so, there’s a passing place, with a sign…

and a small bulge in the road for one vehicle to stop while the other zooms around it.

A car or truck coming right at us–a far too common sight in Scotland!

In Tobermory on Mull, we went to hear some traditional Scottish music played by a folk band. The young crowd was tolerantly amused by this old gentleman who wanted to dance and wanted a partner!

At the B&B we next stayed at on Mull, we had a traditional Scottish breakfast of baked beans, bacon (their bacon is really like very salty ham), eggs, and toast (this toast was fried and delish). Scotland has shredless marmalade, which I loved.

Our B&B owner, Sue, had a lovely horse named Biscuit (in addition to 3 sheep, 6 guinea pigs, and 6 chickens). He was a sweetheart.

Here’s the ferry pulling up for us to drive on and head back to the mainland.

Back on the mainland, we drove to Fort William for some canyoning. This is where you climb, slide, and jump down waterfalls. Here’s Randy getting pushed by the guide on a sliding section. This was fun but rocky! I ended up with huge bruises on my hip, knee, elbow, and palm.

Here’s someone in our group on the medium jump. The big jump we did later was about a 30-foot jump, depending on the water level that day. It was amazing! The compression of your wetsuit around your chest when you jump from that height, and then the shock of the icy water after a few seconds in air–a complete rush.

Here I am at the top of a small jump. The slippery rocks we had to scramble on were much more challenging and scary to me (with my bad knee) than the sliding or jumping. Canyoning was incredible. Probably my favorite single activity of the whole vacation.

Battered and exhausted, we headed to our B&B in Fort William. This was the beautiful view from our window. It looked like we could stretch out a hand and grab those clouds on the mountain.