Scotland-land 2025

A new quiet adventure starts, on October 03, exploring my Scotland addiction. Having just returned from New Zealand South Island, where comparisons are made with Scotland, let me explore that notion first. Bits of what the kiwis do good…

Does Scotland have glaciers ? No

Does Scotland have calved eery-blue baby icebergs ? No

Does Scotland have Puzzle World, where illusion runs amok ? No

Does Scotland have young haughty POINTY topped mountains ? No-ish

Does Scotland have ancient rainforests shared with S America ? No – ye but……

Does Scotland have kiwi birds ? Hey thats going too far, it may not have them,

but it has puffins… so there !

So NZ can stand tall in the scenery arena. But fear not, over the next 5 weeks I will try to impart some of the magic that only Scotland has. Ancient time worn (not pointy) landscapes and lots of mood, colourful forests and weather. And let it answer its own special defence.

OK now we is in merry Scotland

Arrived just in time for a wild weather event, the gently named Storm Amy, who came in from the Atlantic with hobnail boots, and 150km winds and trashed the place here and there. Very naughty.

On the way to Skye, wanting to be in my little cabin before storm, I just had to make the detour to the “fairy forest” what I call it. Here we can straight away discuss the most serious difference from NZ. Sir Peter Jackson chose amazing NZ places to backdrop his Lord of the Rings Movies. Mobs of MOOD and character and attitude. But we must not forget that mr Tolkien was a European. The visions he had were based on European habitats, which of course are the only places orcs, elves and trolls actually lived. Look at the next two pics. Proper god fearing evergreen ancient forest….

deep and meaningful and very colourful, even with the autumn only just starting, and with narly branches reaching out like limbs of the Ents…

and just in case you accuse me of too much whimsey, I actually met an Ent deep in a forest on the Isle of Mull some years ago. Behold the narly lovely dude…

and below, does NZ have real ancient bridges under which dwell real trolls, hhhmmmm ?

Arrived on Isle of Skye just in time for a serious ferocious storm, nicely named Storm Amy. 160km per hour winds did all manner of unkind damage. So it took the yukky weather from the Atlantic a few days to pass. But before I forget, to get to the north, you pass through a very majestic and tragic valley called Glencoe. The hills have very deep and meaningful character, and always present interesting moods (without being young and pointy), lo and behold

and on Skye there are the rounded domes of the various Cuillin hills.

and to another, not hilly, phenomenon in Scotland. Coastlines of sea lochs sometimes have these very super green little islets of peat, with grass that can handle a LOT of salt, with a pattern that shows its progress towards the sea.

Weather. In Scotland the saying is, “if you dont like the weather, wait 20 minutes”. It is very changeable, and whether its horizontal mist, or bright sun, always interesting. See the view from Sligahan with the tail end of the misty rain, followed by the BIG change, yes, about 20 minutes later…

And lets not forget what else Sligahan is famous for. A wonderful hote/pub, with literally hundreds of species of lovely whiskeys as far as the eye can see.

Another day, another pottering about. This time to the Applecross area, a peninsula with the village accessible by crossing mountains what do not look like good road material. See looking up to the crest from the start of this fabled road (arrow), and then looking back down from the crest. Its one of the great roads, like The Great Ocean Road, only without the sea, and with mountains, and zigzags, and single lane scary track… and….

Skye is often called the ‘misty isle’. A nice term for clouds falling down and dragging their bums along the ground. Today on the great single lane mountain goat track to the Kylerhea ferry, one cloud did just that and improved the day with mood. This is the point where the single lane track plunges down the steep bits to the little straight between Skye and the mainland. All the better to see cars coming up the track…

So another day – and the mist is just lifting on a rare magic day – one thing uncommon in Scotland, are days that are zero wind. Suddenly you get two Scotlands for the price of one, with glassy waters…

and then all reality went out the door…

… which is a good segue to the last bit of the day, passing by the Sligahan River I was transported to 1968, and was accosted by unreality loving, genuine ooommm singing gentle cult nutters. Go figure

In the north of the Isle is a little coastal village of Stein. It has the oldest continuously working pub in this part of Scotland. About 250 years of cute history. Outside is a door made for the smaller humans of the time, I have to stoop to get in. Inside it is full of very sweet spaces more comfy than living rooms. And great cider on tap.

I have had two sunny sunrises since getting to Skye. The scene outside my cottage captures the subtlety of these events. The first had very soft pastels of mainly blues, foggy bits hiding the islands behind. The second was more dramatic, with a great deep blue receding cloud-bank in the background…

Leaving Skye today. Just a little note about my friends the trees. On one little coastal bit are trees that have ages ago been ‘coppiced’ Chopped back over and over to get more wood from them without actually killing the tree. It results in very tortured groobly trunks like so

and the other tree story is about the humble larch. This is one of very few real pines that lose their ‘leaves’ in the winter, first going deliciously yellow. This genus of tree – Larix – is found in the upper targa forest areas of Canada and Siberia, and those forests are so huge, that is it is actually the most abundant tree in the world.

From here on, on the mainland. Mallaig area first on west coast. There are several little Isles in the area, but the ferries do not take tourists to them. Instead there is a tiny boat that does take you to a remote village, accessible only by boat or foot. Behind it is a huge area of wilderness, foot only access. Inverie is cute and self sustaining, with its own little hydro scheme and dedicated locals.

Humens go to the sea in ships

Note on the big scene, a little white blob on the left that looks like a wee lighthouse. It is actually a giant statue of Mother Mary, put there by a Lord somebody, who wanted to show that there be proper god fearing catholics in the area. He wanted marble, which proved too heavy to bring, so it is made from boat grade fibrglass – LOTS of it.

Spent a rare sunny day walking the coastline, hoping for an elusive otter view. Not seen. But a pheasant came and shared a proper Scottish Mcvitties biscuit with me

Another day, another northern place, on the way to Ullapool. My obsession with Scotland has resulted in testing every B road in whatever area I stay. In this manner I found, many trips ago, a truly awesome secret place. An estate where hide the bestest trees in Scotland. I went to the ‘big house’ this time and met the gardner. Just had to know more about this gem. The estate has been in the same family since 1730, and unlike other Farmer Joes, the Lairds of this place have had a love affair with trees, planting magnificent stands, now 300 to 150 years old ! Including the rare ash trees, with their fabulous griping hand-like roots. Indulge me to show a sequence…

And the oaks are really out there. It would take a whole scout troop to join hands to encircle these 300 year old trunks.

After all dem trees its time for a bit more of locale. Here N of Ullapool, there are grand vistas of ancient granite mountains. See this view first…

and a gentler more watery feel here in panorama mode…

and in dem landscape there be a cute castle – ruin of course – always more rustic and moody. See the cute way a later Laird added a square tower over the round tower.

Well that was a lot of sun, and now its gone. Autumn rain in squalls is the norm for now. In this weather it was time to visit a local arboretum of sorts. 130 years a go an intrepid tree loving lord, travelled the world and brought back seeds and seedlings of all his fav trees. They are all now big old growth, and the forest is old enough to lose any feel of being planted.

Giant sequoia trees next to cedars of Lebanon and all sorts. Among this mossy world is also the kingdom of the fungi. Right season for their abundance…

And as time passeth, the weather is getting closer to winter. Two first events for the season occured in the last two days. One was hail – but not as we know it. In Scotland hail is micro sized, like someone throwing sand at the windscreen. Sweet and fun. Here be the storm dancing across the landscape

and then inevitably, the moutain tops copped their first snow. Always beautiful. Wish we had this in Canberra, where the temperatures are colder, but no reward in the dry air.

There is a waterfall near Ullapool, where I is, which lives in a fabulous very narrow canyon, possibly a geological fault line as well as water action. Note the eeeny weeny bridge for scale.

Sunny afternoons are rare and portend great scenes with the horizontal light. Those very sweet larch trees were at it again. First a forest, and second, one individual choosing to show a zen bush-stroke

Next day the clouds were high, but a very cold wind kept us on our toes. Even the mountain needed a cotton wool beanie to keep warm.

Before leaving the far north, see the interesting weather coming in over the cute castle, as I was driving away.

So its goodbye to the western highlands and hello to a village in the Cairngorm National Park, SE of Inverness and home to patches of the old Caledonian forest. From here I also wanted to explore the north facing shore, E of Inverness. An area of old villages, big sandy beaches, and the community of Findhorn. This is a name that means a lot to us oldies who read about it in the 60-70ties. It attracted pre “new-age”, new age humans who were also practical – unlike the Kuranda, Nimbin mob who were mostly pot heads, conspiracy toting layabouts. Findhorn created a community that persued and invented techniques to be truly sustainable. The UN still lists it as a serious sustainabiity project. Yes among this diverse mob were UFO channelers who built a landing strip for flying saucers, but the organised main mob got on with a bit of a utopian try. The place was also famous for the large veggies they grew – which some ascribed to ‘lay-lines’ silliness. But the orignal locals knew was due to the very fertile river delta and the truckloads of horse shit they donated to the hippies. So below a vignette of scenes, from the imposing Foundation hall to a cute bubble at the cafe.

Couldnt help the last litle pic of a sign at the local shop – of course…

Hold press – I forgot to include the pic below when still in the west, in a vallage called Poolewe. Now the Scots free presbyterian church is known for its hilarity and wantonness – not, so it was fun to see this sign on the gate of the minister near his church. I asssumed on the other side of the fence was an old codger on a creaking rocking chair with a 12 guage across his lap…

Right back to reality in the east. Here in the Cairngorm National Park area and bits to the north, is a fantasy land, making driving dangerous as you are mesmerised by the silly beauty. Words could never convey the ooommpf to your soul

These forests are a mix of larch, birch, beech and other fun European tree names. But in this area also hide patches of the OLD Caledonian forest, with the dominant tree being the Caledonan pine, Pinus sylvestris. A slow growing, narly, not straight, building timber ready, Pinus radiata. Here around several lochs are the largest stands left of the 1% cover they have today compared to the prehistoric times, when they covered at least half of northern Scotland. See the playful way the few original old girls (probably about 400 years old) grow their branches and fat trunks.

Below one of the gals even did loop the loops with its branches, like a demented bonsai. They are probably sleeping Ents.

After all those trees, another rainy day, so an indoor experience beckoned. A right proper whiskey distillery visit. This area is festooned with them, on the boundary between the ‘highland’ whiskeys and the ‘speyside’ lowand ones. I chose the smooth sherry cask aged TOMATIN. Whiskey has only 3 ingredients – barley, water and yeast, and after a very complex journey, a clear liquid is put into the ageing barrels that give it the flavour and colour. From charred ex bourbon to solery sherry or pure oak and mixes therein. Below the giant vats where malted barley meets water

and later the lovey shiny copper vats where the distilling happens twice

…when the steamy mix leaves the building – top left – it gets passed through the cold condenser – seen on the ground here, and turned back to liquid and put into more vats to do it again. But below is where the magic happens. Anywhere from 3 to 50 years of flavour infusing from the barrels. As they age the whiskey evaporates through the wood – its called the ‘angel’s share’ – so that the older barrels have less liquid to bottle. (the aroma in the ageing shed is amazing). See next to me is one barrel with 1975 on it – 50 years old. A 50 year old vintage was released last year. Only 100 of the 500 litres was left in the barrel, so only 120 bottles exist, at a cost of a mere 18,000 punds each.

Scotland waited to the end to turn on a show fantastique. There are sevaral little lochs in the area around Aviemore, with different patches of old forest, including pre industrial ancient trees. On the last day, I visited the Loch Insh. It was a grey day, but towards sunset, the winds dropped and first a mist formed, and later reflections made their appearance, and

… and then the magic of late horizontal sun on one side and a storm cloud on the other. The word contrast does not have enough oompf to descibe it

thanks for travellling with me, goodnight