Rua Reidh

July 27, 2010



Today's walk of about 8 miles started off near Gairloch, on the high coast of Rua Reidh. We started off high and walked across the moor, descended to the beach, then ascended to the moor again to finish at the lighthouse. It looked as though the sun was interested in making an appearance early on, but then the clouds returned. Then the sun came back out. Then it poured - but we'd found shelter at the lighthouse at that point, just by a minute or so!


I think I could have stood on the top of that moor listening to the wind blow through the grasses, taking in the changing horizons for the entire trip. It was magical, perhaps finally providing my literary memories with the physical backdrop for the many heroines running bravely (or brashly) across the moors in driving thunderstorms, escaping from horrendous conditions or running from marauding soldiers. Such were the episodes in some of the books of my youth, and now even though with short hair, standing in my hiking pants and boots and with a pack on my back and a decidedly 21st century attitude, I could briefly envision life in the 18th century. What a trip down an imaginary memory lane! But that's what this place did to me in an instant.

little lachan on top of moor


lily-like bean plants that had already bloomed

view north

We had to follow Angela's footsteps as nearly as possible because the ground was so soggy and she didn't want us sinking in the muck. There was still plenty of "shplick! shplock!" to be heard as our boots strove to disconnect from some puddles. Soon we could see down to the shore with the striking cerulean blue of the shallow water highlighting the coastal rocks.

Camas Mor

Halfway down the slope the hill leveled out a bit, and as it had just started raining, we found shelter in a stone bothy for lunch. It was a cozy little place that suited our group size well, and had places for up to 6 to sleep. A big fireplace and several wine bottle candelabras added to the warm atmosphere of the bothy.

the bothy - note rocks anchoring roof

Refreshed, we continued in a zigzag manner down the very steep hill. Angela showed us examples of solifluction, which creates a look of mini-terracing as one of the first stages in erosion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifluction

down the hill

and up again

We hung out on the beach for a short time. Angela told us that up until a couple of years ago it had been an all sand beach. Now there were 12-20' deep ridges of rocks that had been brought to the surface during wild winter storms. They undulated along the entire beach, mimicking the wave action.

As we prepared to climb up the hill, someone saw a juvenile golden eagle and I think I was the only one who never saw it. But I heard it was stately!

The walk southward gave us such beautiful views of the coastline, which had some splendid arches and colors. Erosion has provided Scotland with quite the creative pallette! I could see where many of the colors in fashion had their start in natural settings such as this.

Camas Beag

Common Hawker dragonfly on the heather

The lighthouse came into view and Angela ran on to get the van. We explored the rocks that jutted out from the water, a seal was seen, and I watched a large, dark cloud approach us steadily. We all reached the lighthouse just as the next downpour happened and then Angela drove off to take us to our next adventure!

Rua Reidh lighthouse designed by David Stevenson,

the uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson

Next we drove to Inverewe Gardens where the gulfstream provides enough warmth for a large assortment of plants to grow. They had huge flower beds of crocosmia, chocolate cosmos, asters, dahlias, roses, and many others. The large pond had both white and magenta water lilies, and a smaller pond had a collection of jack-in-the-pulpits and other carnivorous plants. This garden was created in the mid 1800s http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/land/inverewe.html

Inverewe Gardens


magenta water lily

a very large-leafed plant!

It was back to the hunting lodge at Gairloch for dinner. After hanging up wet clothing in the drying room, we met for wine in the bar where I had a nice conversation with an older couple visiting the area from Edinburgh. They were very interested in the places we had hiked and where we were still planning to go. Soon enough we were taken to the dining room, past numerous hunting pictures and a few sets of large antlers mounted above fireplaces and on walls.

This was the dinner of the trail names. In no certain order and with limited identification - that's up to each of us, I think - here's the cast of this hiking trip:

Twix Queen

The Moine Thrust

Aquavit

Twix

Craghopper

Walter Wall (a great story!)

Green Shovel

Alpen

Bog Asphodel

That'll do!

July 26, 2010

Man, can Stuart WHISTLE!!!

We started the day with a field trip to see Angela's Stuart and his sheepherding dogs. It was an amazing treat to see him work the dogs on command! When we drove up you could see the thought balloon over all the sheep's heads read, "Oh, jeez, more tourists - now those dogs are gonna chase us all over the place!" And those dogs did, nipping at the air (well, most of the time) around the sheep, rounding them up, herding them from place to place, keeping them in a cohesive group. It was fascinating to watch. And Ruby captured all our hearts, especially Jessie's, who immediately asked if she could take Ruby home with her.

Ruby daydreaming of when she'll be big enough to herd the sheep.

The dogs did their work with a graceful discipline and swiftness that belied any primal urge to chase these sheep up any hill and dale. Tia was experiencing an adolescent bout of "I don't heeeaaaaar you!" with some of Stuart's commands, but he won out at the end and she finally grokked the "that'll do!"

Mac concentrating

Ti-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

That'll do!

After this wonderful entertainment we took off for Inverpollaidh National Park to hike up Stac Pollaidh, "Peak of the Peat Moss". It started raining and out came the backpack covers, as it drizzled for most of the way up. We were unable to clearly see the greatly eroded and fascinating formations that make up the crest of this Torridian sandstone hill (an example of the pink sandstone is seen in the step in picture below).

pink sandstone

A decidedly mysterious fog enveloped us off and on, allowing us to catch brief glimpses of a bevy of little lachans on the back side of the hill, just before we climbed up the last part. A few midges enveloped us as well, but bug juice helped keep them at bay. Some heather and tiny St. John's Wort still bloomed and I found a couple of lupines just past their prime, but what was most prevalent were the sandstone shapes. It was unfortunate that we didn't get to see these huge sandstone outcroppings strewn across the face of the hills in all of their glory, but Steve and I did get to clamber to the top and look down a sheer cliff. I think we all marveled at the balance of these structures with regard to the physical forces of wind, rain, and ice throughout the ages. At this point it started pouring.

looking down the sheer cliff in a break from the deluge

Looking across the loch from the top of Stac Pollaidh, the ever-changing light illuminated and then darkened a beach of peach-colored sand, evidence of runoff from the sandstone. Along with the intense green of the landscape, it was also of a deep jewel-tone.

Halfway down the hill I realized that I couldn't find my lens cap. Again. I'd not mentioned the other 3 times that I thought I'd left it somewhere but I couldn't find it in my pocket (mainly because I was looking in the wrong pocket!) It did resurface, but this game of hide and seek and ultimate hide of that little disk of plastic soon took on a life of its own with me. Of course I had a leash for it...at home on my kitchen counter. At any rate, my cameras got soaked and I had to figure out some ways to dry them out. I won't go into those methods here because I'm sure that very serious photographers would cringe at the techniques used, but they worked to no detriment of my equipment!

lovely loch under the clouds and rain

Surprisingly, no one wiped out on the way down - it was WET and we were pretty soaked. There was a warmth in the air, though, so we had no problem hunkering down to devour our brie and whatever sandwiches in the parking lot. Another group with some members very loudly protesting the wearing of netting against the midgies was starting out, but we hollered that they'd appreciate the effort later. Scottish midges found us delicious, so we spoke from experience.

Next stop, a geopark that had some interesting artwork depicting different geological stages in Scotland's history. Of particular note is the formation of the Moine Thrust that through great amounts of diastrophism and folding over of earth through the ages, combined with erosion and created some of the remarkable geologic edifices that we hiked around. The name so enthralled one of our members that much to our amusement he adopted it as his trail name.

This globe of slate was around 7' tall. Rachel was very taken with it and gave the Earth a warm embrace in the rain.

Geopark Earth made of slate

And what trip would not be complete without our own "OMG, it's a double rainbow! What does it mean?!?!?" This was a stunning sight and we stood in awe at the vividness of the colors.

With a nod to Yosemitebear YouTube user, "OMG, a double rainbow! What does it mean?!?!?"

Dinner for me was venison with chili and chocolate sauce - wow! - followed by a lovely interlude of hanging up laundry to dry in the drying room.

Scoraig, Ullapool, and Apple Pear Crisps

July 25, 2010

I’m very partial to breakfast and all the places we stayed started the day off in a divine fashion with sizeable feasts of yogurt, cereal, fruit, eggs, tomatoes, prunes, toast, bacon, OJ, coffee, and pots of tea. This inn was no exception. I knew that I would not starve on this trip.

Fog covered the mountain Angela wanted us to climb today, so we planned to drive along Little Loch Broom today where we would start our hike to the crofting community of Scoraig.

First stop was a beautiful little waterfall at Corrieshalloch Gorge. We crossed a suspension bridge that had a bit of a swing to it, then walked along the path to an observation deck. Then we piled back into the red van, a skill that we continued to hone throughout the trip.

Green heather added a tweedy texture to the rolling hills with their outcroppings of slick black angular rocks as we drove past in the grey weather. It was a mist on and off type of day. Soon we arrived at the car park where we began the hike up a slight incline. It was quite rocky and a little muddy and the path was lined with heather, gorse, peas or possibly scotch broom, and my favorite bog asphodel. The rhododendrons (the Washington state flower, by the way), were done blooming. We became accustomed to seeing white lichen in large blotches on the exposed gneiss as well as yellow and green lichen.

I've never seen moss so intensely dark green that it was almost black while still maintaining a rich deep emerald tone. I found it an incredibly beautiful color. Fog hugged the top of the hills across Little Loch Broom. We could see our destination 4 1/2 miles away and admiring the scenery as we walked by helped that distance seem shorter. We passed by a couple of waterfalls and I found many little flowers to take pictures of. I don't know what this flower is but I thought the details were so pretty!

One of several waterfalls along the way. We stopped for sweeties here on the way back!

A group of cows heralded our arrival at the Scoraig community by nonchalantly watching us go past. I never got the story on this totem pole but coming from the Pacific Northwest I found it an interesting decoration!

Since we still had some distance to go, we stopped at the lighthouse for lunch. It used to be a working lighthouse down on the shore but was moved up and made into a museum of sorts that told some of the history of this crofting community. I loved this lunch - the thickest slab of brie I could dream of with a healthy dollop of Dijon mustard on a roll, potato chips (oops, crisps!), and an apple.

We soon arrived at Kathy and Allen's home. They were originally from Tasmania and are both weavers. Kathy has a garden in the enclosed porch off their front door where she grows stunning bunches of grapes from the rafters. Visiting houseguests from Tasmania warmed us up by their hospitality and steaming cups of tea. Some of their woven goods were for sale, and most of us left with our daypacks a little heavier than when we arrived. I can't wait to wear my new wool hat!

An extremely sturdy loom with heavy weights for the warp. Beautiful!

Socks and sweeties, dark chocolate-covered ginger - all homemade.

Local fishing boat

The hike back allowed us to see the loch from a slightly different angle, and we made it back to Ullapool in time to write a few postcards and walk down to Ladysmith for dinner. Angela couldn't join us because she had to prepare for even more hiking after our trip, so we promised to be on our best behavior. Not sure if we accomplished that particularly well, but our conversations and laughter seemed to entertain the nice Edinburgher couple celebrating their anniversary. The major bonding came when someone 'fessed up to having sore feet and being very tired. There was a collective gasp of "oh, I'm so glad it's not just me!" that flew from our lips like prayers to the god of Ben-Gay.

Our very good-natured host took our bottle of wine to the kitchen to open it but we didn't see it for about 15 minutes. It was funny - food kept coming out from the kitchen, but not wine - and we were just about to ask about it when he returned with our bottle, now quite chilled (thank you!) and ready to open. Ordering dessert was amusing. Jessie asked to have the apple crisp just like she'd had the night before. The host looked blankly at her. She said that she'd really liked the apple crisp last night and was there any left because she'd like it again. And he continued to look at her, finally saying, "we didn't have apple crisp last night, we just had apple pear crisp". Now it was our turn to look puzzled because a couple of us thought he'd said the night before that they had apple crisp as well as apple pear crisp. And no one had detected the pear in the crisp (which was very delicious, by the way!) So Jessie asked if she could have just apple in the crisp and he said yes, as long she had it with pear. The timing of the delivery and glances of faux understanding made this exchange really quite funny and I'm afraid I don't do it justice here. But suffice it to say that with that crisp revelation and the choices of ice cream, ice cream and custard, or just custard, I'm surprised that he could keep our order straight!

And I had the chocolate fudge cake with ice cream. Divine.

Off to the Highlands

Loch Broom from hike

July 24, 2010

Robin and Nicci were kind enough to fill me with pancakes and bacon and then send me off to Waverly Station to catch the 0833 train to Inverness. Not noticing that 2 trains were parked on the same rail, I almost boarded the train to Aberdeen were it not for a very kind lady who pointed me back a few train cars. While waiting for the doors to open so that I could board the right train, 3 folks with daypacks that looked ready for hiking and suitcases walked up, and they were 3 members of our group, Fran, Jen, and Tom. There’s an interesting method of showing that seats are reserved – a little ticket with the seat number and date is fitted into a slot on the back of a seat. Fran gave up her 1st class ticket to sit with us, an act that eventually got her a free cup of coffee from the steward whose future was probably not to be as a Starbucks barista. We settled into watching the scenery as we crossed the Firth of Forth and headed north.

Stand of birches as seen from one of a couple of unplanned stopsEntering the Grampians

Kirkcaldy, Perth, Pitlochry – where we entered the Grampian Mountains – past Aviemore and the Cairngorms, a lovely place where I’d hiked in 2005 – and then to Inverness. As one is wont to do on 3 hr train trips, one visits the loo. In this case it was a space that had a circular sliding door to accommodate wheelchairs. Entering it was easy enough and Jen provided us with instructions when she returned to her seat. Tom then went back there and after a couple of minutes I happened to glance in that direction to see if there was a line, but all I saw was an elderly Scottish lady with her hand over her mouth, eyes wide open in surprise. Turns out that the automatic lock was finicky and basically didn’t work, and she opened the door on Tom. Woops.

But the loo wasn’t done with us yet. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere we came to a stop a couple of times – there wasn’t a rhyme or reason and it didn’t appear to be to allow another train to pass, but I didn’t think much of it. During this time it was Fran’s turn to visit this technological wonder and see if the door would lock, but she had to wait for a young man traveling in 1st class to be done. He seemed to move quickly away from the sliding curved door as I later recalled, disappearing behind the doors into the next section, much like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.

All of a sudden we heard a banging and loud knocking on the door as the conductor yelled through the door, “Madam, you cannot hit the emergency stop button! It causes us to stop and this wastes time! You must open the door immediately! Let me in! Do not hit the emergency stop button!” After about 15 seconds Fran emerged from the fancy loo, hands in the air saying, “it wasn’t me – I didn’t hit the button!” Now we knew why the previous occupant left in such haste. He had.

Despite the unscheduled stops, we arrived on time and since it was still early so we grabbed a bite to eat at The Filling Station amidst many kilt-clad bagpipers and drummers – there was to be a parade and several WWII veterans proudly wore their kilts and regalia as part of the celebration. I didn’t find out exactly what was being celebrated, but it was quite well-attended by people from all over the area. I will never tire of hearing bagpipes being played in practice or in concert, the music enhanced that day as the notes echoed off the stones of the plaza.
After walking back to the station we met the remainder of our group – Rachel, Larry, Jessie, and Steve. Angela found us all together and off we went for the first hike of our adventure! The first adventure was packing the back of the van and then arranging ourselves, and we got rather good at this for the duration. Sitting in front with Steve and Angela provided some time to discuss hiking in Ireland which Steve had just done, as well as some of our PNW hikes that I’d done with a friend of mine, Gary, who had done 2 different hiking tours with Angela.

It was grey and 50 degrees in Ullapool, not unlike the unseasonally cool summer we’d been having in Seattle. We drove along Loch Broom to the location of our first hike, the dark color of the loch reflecting the changing shades of pre-storm light in the brooding skies. Angela identified many plants for us along the way including the very prickly gorse. There is a local drive to plant stands of native trees in a park-like setting along the route, which was very pretty. Angela also pointed out gneiss outcroppings and the peak of Stac Pollaidh that we planned to hike to tomorrow, weather-permitting.

Before turning in at the Riverside Guesthouse, a comfortable B&B with great breakfasts, we had dinner at Ladysmith. This was the beginning of a series of dinners for the entire trip that more than satisfied our hikers’ appetites. It was a delightful restaurant.

Edinburgh to Rosslyn and Back Again

quote on wall outside Parliament

July 23, 2010
Our breakfast group from Canada, Mexico, France, and Denmark discussed the many places people had been and how great the local bus service was. Not having ridden an Edinburgh city bus before, I opted for a trip To Rosslyn Chapel on bus route 15 that Robin recommended. Initially – and unfortunately – seated on the top deck in front of an American woman who not only sneezed and coughed incessantly in my direction, but also proselytized to her seatmate all about American politics in terms of absolutes that made me cringe, I made a dash to a seat towards the front of the double-decker bus. There I met Eko, a young Japanese woman who was traveling around Scotland for a couple of weeks, and she filled me in on some of the details of the chapel. See http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/ for more information and pictures on this intriguing structure!

We arrived in time for a lovely tour by a docent who not only gave us the mere facts about this 500 yr old beauty of a chapel, but also informed us of the meaning of its presence to the local area. After suffering the ravages of weather for several hundred years as well as the unintended ill effects of renovation in the 1950s, the sandstone of the chapel was now sufficiently dried out and an all-encompassing scaffolding was starting to be dismantled. In fact, the docent remarked with a look of sheer joy on his face that a sunbeam came through one of the windows during his talk, the first time that had occurred in 13 years. Of the many unusual architectural characteristics of this chapel is the fact that there are Christian, Pagan, and Masonic symbols throughout the church. Some may remember seeing them from the movie “The DaVinci Code” that included a scene from the chapel.

Photographs of the chapel were prohibited, but below is a postcard of the apprentice's column. Here is a list of the remarkable details that I found interesting:
~ details of corn/maize in an archway. Keep in mind that this chapel was begun 50 years prior to Columbus’ 1492 journey to the New World, so that begs the question - how did they know about this North American crop, corn?
~ angel playing bagpipes. One of the dearest images I saw both at Rosslyn and at St. Giles’ High Kirk in Edinburgh
~ angel hugging the Gospel
~ stars, crescent moon, and sun motifs on the ceiling, as well as the rows of forget-me-nots, roses, and lilies
~ several green men, longtime Pagan symbols
~ musical notes in the form of carved tubes decorated with different Masonic symbols
~ statue of the murdered apprentice, his weeping mother, and the guilty party condemned to forever gaze upon the incredible masterpiece of a column carved by his apprentice in the master’s absence
We finished our tour of the chapel with sausage and haggis sandwiches, Eko’s introduction to traditional Scottish cuisine, and headed back to Edinburgh. I was in good exploring company!

Eko wanted to find the Elephant House, the tearoom where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books. We did locate it and sat at table 9, where Ms. Rowling wrote. Scores of muggles wrote many fond messages on the walls of the loos, thanking her for that splendid series!

Table 9

Visiting Scotland entails walking, eating, and drinking, then repeat the cycle, and we began the next escapade of the day by walking by a very entertaining and charming street performer, our king in shining armor. Along with many children and their stuffed animals, we were knighted by him.

Across from him was the stately St. Giles High Kirk, which is worthy of a much longer visit than we could get in that day.

It is a beautiful church inside and even with the steady tourist movement you could sense an ability to find peace within. On down the street we walked to the Parliament building where the top quote is located – very cool architecture! – and then climbed to Arthur’s Seat and the Salisbury Crags. The weather was gorgeous with a deep blue sky that complemented the sunset-drenched rocks of the crags. It was a nice bit of exercise that of course had to be offset by a nice dinner at The Abbey Bar (and its menu of 50 Scotch whiskies). I had the Scottish game casserole which included in its delicious brew venison, partridge, duck, wood pigeon, pheasant, hare, and rabbit in a red wine sauce. It was a very pleasant ending of a fun day sightseeing with a new friend, and we parted ways with each other’s contact info. Amazing how small the world can be – residents of Seattle and Yokohama meeting in Edinburgh!

Salisbury Crags

Eko and me at The Abbey

Scotland Hiking!

July 21-22, 2010

It was time to travel again and this time I signed up for the REI Scotland Highlands and Islands hiking tour. Being 8 time zones and 20 hours or so of travel time away from Scotland determined my early arrival in Edinburgh, which left plenty of time for my body to catch up to the right continent.

When seated in pre-hinterlandia in the back of a plane with only 10 minutes to catch your connecting flight across the Atlantic, you hope that your body catches up with the right plane. It did, but only after a sprint to the gate.

I stayed at a beautiful B&B with wonderfully gracious hosts – The Elmview B&B in the Tollcross area south of Edinburgh Castle, across from The Meadows. Randy and Nicci, my wonderful hosts, are great sources for local information and ideas of what to do. And the breakfasts were divine.

Off I went exploring one of my favorite cities in the world, first to the Castle to visit the humble St. Margaret’s Chapel and the beautifully solemn National War Memorial.

http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/index/tour/highlights/highlights-scottish-national-war-memorial.htm. Inside were a couple of areas dedicated to wartime nurses in various organizations, and I found the whole memorial to be very moving. Afterwards I walked to the National Museum to see the Lewis Chessmen, a collection of 12th century Scandinavian carved walrus ivory chess pieces that were found in Uig on the Isle of Lewis in 1831. I love the expression on the Berserker, as seen in this postcard:

photo courtesy of National Museums Scotland

I finished the day off with haggis, neeps, and tatties and more walking.