a scottish christmas

i have to admitt that the idea of spending a christmas away from family and friends at home was a bit daunting but the highlands of scotland were too tempting to pass up so plans were made way back in october for a visit - we found a great little cottage online, booked train tickets to edinburgh and a car for the remainder of the journey

the train trip was interesting as we took the overnight service from euston station which put us in edinburgh around 5:30am on the 21st - we booked super cheap tickets and so only got a seat instead of a sleeping berth but the car was almost empty and we were able to stretch out on two seats each making it relatively comfortable - once arriving in the city we hung around the station waiting for things to open up so that we could eat and then caught a taxi over to pick up the rental car - out initial views of edinburgh were somewhat limited as the sun was just coming up at 8am but the sight of the castle up in the old town perched upon a sheer rock face was more than a little impressive and we made plans to take some time on our way back through town to take a closer look

after picking up the car and getting some route advice from the attendant we took off towards inverness up over the forth river bridge and via the cairngorm mountains for our first taste of the rugged scottish landscape - we were hooked instantly as we came across views such as these:





after a quick stop in inverness for some groceries we made the final leg of the trip up to the cottage arriving just before darkness enveloped us (at 3:30pm!) the cottage itself was nestled in perfect solitude in a glen (valley between two mountain ranges) about 15km from the main road up a single-car lane so it was important to get there before dark as there was no way that we would have found it otherwise - the cottage itself was classic highland made from fieldstone and perched on the edge of the mountain overlooking the valley and the river meig below:



we spent most of our time during the week touring around exploring the local area both by car and on foot, a short walk up the valley from the cottage revealed this stunning view:



further up the glen at the end of the public road lies a rather large lake (loch beannacharain) with a private estate at its western-most end and flanking montains to the north and south - we spent an afternoon driving up the road to this spot and exploring the surrounding hills on foot spotting a few deer in the process but i wasn't able to get any useable shots of them as there was so little light :( but i did manage to get a shot across the lake towards to west:



taking a driving tour of the area one day we happened upon a wonderfully bleak and barren landscape on a plateau called "the aird" that reminded me distinctly of county donegal in ireland - a small lake was nestled amongst gently rolling hills covered in bog heather turned a beautiful shade of brown in the winter sun - we stopped here for lunch and of course a few pictures:







a short drive down the side of the mountain into the valley below revealed an entirely different view and temperature, it dropped nearly 8C! indulging my penchant for exploration we decided to take a small back road up the valley following the river (affric glass) which ended up revealing the origins of its name rather quickly:



being a mountainous area the highlands are dotted with numerous waterfalls, rivers and lakes, the first is a real interest of mine and i was able to get a couple of shots on a cloudy day of the one closest to the cottage - mind you the descent down the slippery moss covered sides of the river was rather treacherous but it was worth it as i was rewarded with a remarkable viewpoint:





on our last full day in the highlands we took off in the car again and caught this on the way out near the man made lake supplying local hydroelectric energy:



then we headed out to the black isle which is contained between two small bays on the east coast but we were thwarted by some really heavy fog and decided to head back inland again but this time towards easter ross in the north east - we drove all the way up to the end of yet another one lane road parked the car and headed out on foot towards the forest but turned around rather quickly when it was decided that it was too cold and headed for the hills instead as they were still bathed in late winter sunshine - on the way we came across a young sheepdog escaped from the garden and having a ball rounding up the sheep in the neighbouring fields, much to the embarassment of her farmer master who wasn't having much luck rounding her up:




but once we got climbing we kept ourselves warm anyway and only noticed the cold again once as the top of a rather high rise at the foot of beinn tharsuinn at 692m:



looking back towards the black isle and the coast in the distance we could see the entire valley and the heavy fog still in the distance:



sadly though the week came to an end much sooner that either of us would have liked and it was back to edinburgh and then onto london - but as we had planned we spent some time wandering around edinburgh before catching our train - the city is magnificent with the old town perched up on a rocky rise with the castle peering out over the entire city - the old town is exactly that and remains pretty much unchanged since ancient times save for the obvious modern upgrades such as electric lights and stop lights making it easy to envisage the inhabitants of late doing a good old pub crawl and then stumbling back down the narrow steep closes to their beds in the city below - at night the castle is lit up like a chistmas tree and i was eager to get a few shots in while meaghan was shopping, it was difficult though to get a good vantage point as the streets were quite busy but these give you some idea of the imposing nature of the buildings themselves:





so, now we're back in the city and although we're enjoying some more vacation time before we end up back at work i know we're both dreaming of our next visit to the highlands :)

ps. if you want to see the full book of pictures from the trip you can see them here