I slept a lot better last night. It was quieter in my new room on the back of the building. We were to be on the road by 10, so I was mostly packed last night and just had to do my yoga, shower and have breakfast (same again!) and I headed downstairs to wait for the group.
Don and our Glencoe-based local guide Karl picked up two vans and met us at the hotel. We piled all of our gear (my duffel was hardly the biggest/heaviest!) into the back and off we went around 10:45. I rode shotgun with Don. The hardest part was getting out of Edinburgh. Once out of the city proper it was fairly easy driving, although I wasn’t doing it, I was the able navigator (which really meant just keeping an eye on Karl in his van!)
The skies would rupture with downpours in the blink of an eye and be gone again just as quickly. We saw three rainbows in the space of about 45 minutes, and even got to see where they touched the ground! No, none of us got out to check for the pot of gold. Karl is being nice when he says this week’s forecast looks ‘mixed’. We all know the remnants of Hurricane Melissa are knocking on the doorstep and whatever storm that just hit home is probably right behind that. We’re to dress for rain tomorrow, so we’ll go out anyway. But all that aside, what I saw of the Highlands today is beautiful. A lot of the drive reminded me of route 2 in northern MA, which is the Mohawk Trail. Winding, narrow roads lined with rivers and streams and waterfalls, and edged in the remains of fall’s foliage. It is really pretty.
We got to a lunch stop at about 1 pm. I had a cheese toasty and a chocolate raspberry shortbread dessert with a bottle of water. The stop had cafe/restaurant, gift shop, liquor store and outdoor gear outfitter, so quite the mishmash of things to see and spend money on, but it was good to get out and stretch our legs.
We got back into the vans and arrived at our Glencoe home, the Isles of Glencoe hotel. It reminds me in a way of Fawlty Towers, although not so faulty and without the misadventures of Basil and Sybil (RIP to Prunella Scales who only recently passed away!). It’s quiet, clean and somewhat newly renovated, right on the lake. The view out my window is of the lake and a boat moored up right beneath me. The peaks of the Highlands lie beyond that. I will do fine with this location!
We dropped bags and dressed a bit warmer and headed out for our first bit of photography at a deserted church in Ballinchulish. It too was right on the lake and has a small cemetery around it. I told Don I’m here to work on my weak points, which is to say landscape photography and a lack of a creative eye. He gave us some tips on not trying to capture the entirety of the site, but find a piece of something that interests us and focus on that. I was interested in the living things among the dead. The different colored lichen on the stones, the sprig of fern finding a will to live among a dilapidated tile roof. And then I found some birds in the nearby bushes. And off I went. I got four new life birds out of that stop, and was easily able to identify them by call or photo using my Merlin app. A thirst for wildlife is never far from of my blood.
We met just before dinner for drinks. Don convinced me to try 1880 Gin, which there are several types of. I went for their navy strength to start and it was pretty good. I think maybe it was a bit overhyped today when we were talking about it, but it was a nice Gina. I want to try their smoky gin, which I’ll have the chance to do over the next couple of days.
Dinner was a three course set menu from which we could choose one of three options for each course. I had the goat cheese and beet salad for the starter, hake with white wine sauce and roasted potatoes, and a slice of salted caramel tart. All of it was very tasty and it was a nice meal with the group.
Karl and his daughter Inna gave us a slide show of the locations he has scoped out for us this week, the weather, and the plan for each day. I’m excited at the prospect of it all, weather depending, but also of the potential for how much I can learn. Fingers crossed!
