Highlands and Islands.................

Our journey from Oban to Skye was in fantastic weather and we arrived on the Isle of Skye on a beautifully rare sunny day....

The campsite was next to the Loch in a working croft so we had sheep and highland cattle in the next field. Fresh duck eggs for breakfast from the farm shop - fantastic!

Bessie is in the middle of the photo

It's a hard life!

We had a great day cycling to Skye's oldest pub (the Stein Inn)  - crab sandwiches for lunch. It was only a 20 mile round trip but included a very long uphill on the way there and a puncture on the way back!

Stein village

The Stein Inn - ready to cycle back!

On Sunday 31st July the wind blew and it rained...horizontally!!  So we had a "work day" and caught up with paperwork BUT the next day the sun shone again as we headed east to the Black Isle....We went the slightly longer way across - via Wester Ross and Loch Carron but it was worth it for the lovely views:

Our campsite was at Rosemarkie on the Black Isle (about 11 miles from Inverness).  Situated on Half Moon Bay on the Moray Firth and famous for a pod of 360+ bottle-nosed dolphins at Chanonry Point - just about the closet one can get whilst still on land.   We were lucky to arrive on one of the best days for a while to see these magnificent creatures. Malc took these photos just before high-tide when the salmon are forced into the bay and the dolphins come into feed.  They rise from the depths and grab the salmon.  Often the fish are much too big for them and they have to bite chunks off to finish them off (see bottom picture below).

This one is eating a huge salmon!

Next stop, Speyside by Craigellachie - home to about 50 whisky distilleries!!.................it could be some time before we update the blog!! Cheers!

Lochs and Mountains............

And so to Scotland....we left Keswick and travelled to Luss on the west coast of Loch Lomond.  The weather was unusually (for Scotland) fantastic.  The campsite was right on the shore of the Loch so we spent a lot of time sitting on the edge of the water watching the sun come up or go down...

Malc was adventurous enough to go swimming - it wasn't as cold as he thought!

Romours of a monster in Loch Lomond are not founded!

Great cycle paths along the Loch and into Helensburgh meant that we cycled 30 miles on Sunday. 

A lovely cottage near Luss

 The weather was so good that the Loch was full of people picknicking and swimming.

Sunday at Luss pier......

On Monday we cycled in the opposite direction to Tarbet and took a boat across the Loch - by now we had had three consecutive days of great weather..................righteous or what?

Loch Lomond sea-plane

On Tuesday 26th July we moved on to Oban..... only 67 miles away.  Again, the weather was fantastic and we had an amazing fish lunch at Oban harbour and bought live langoustine and scallops for dinner that night.  We also bought some samphir and fresh crab.......All lovely.  I underestimated my ability to cook LIVE Langoustines so Malc was chef that evening! (no trtuh to the rumour that they squeak when put in boiling water............)

Oban scenes

Our site for the next three nights was about 13 miles North of Oban in an old walled garden on Forestry Commission land. 

We took a short cycle that evening down to Loch Creran .....................................................................

It had bike paths and walking paths running next to the site. One of the paths was the Sustrans route 78 from Oban to Fort William and part of it was still being built whilst we were cycling on it!   We decided this was probably the best and most picturesque cycle path so far.  We met a few people doing  "Le Jog" which apparently stands for Lands End to John O'Groats - except that thye were doing it the other way around - 1000 miles over 2 weeks....eek!!

Malc on thre bridge - showing the way..

Stalker Castle in the Loch

What a place for a lunch stop

Lance Calthorpe (!!!) completes the Tour de Loch....

A week in Keswick

Our longest stay in the Lake District was for one week in Keswick on Derwentwater.  Val, Dave, my niece Lucy and her friend Jess joined us...although not staying in Bessie!!






Val organised the walks and our first day was climbing Cat Bells and High Spy.  We took a boat across Derwenwater and then started our walk and caught a taxi back at the end from a very nice tea shop. 

It was raining at the start but the scenery was still spectacular.  We met a few people who turned back as the rain had made the rocks slippery but we carried on. The walk was tough and we were glad of walking poles at some points and had to scramble over rocks at other times, but we all made it....eventually...




Walking up Cat Bells





Intrepid explorers!



Made it!!

The next day however was more realxing as none of us owned a pair of legs that worked properly so we drove the Hardknott pass which proved to be very entertaining thanks to Dave's driving.

Legs working again we did a much flatter walk along Ennerdale water - Dave even went for a swim as the water looked so inviting.

At the end of the week Malc and I were on our own again and walked for 9 miles around the entire lake and had our first full day that week without rain!

And now were off to Scotland.....................................