Tested by the elements

Sunday, November 1

What an amazing night’s sleep!  It was so quiet here it was almost deafening, but for the downpours that hit overnight and tapped me awake on the roof windows.

We met at 7:45 for breakfast.  It was continental with hot and cold options.  I went for yogurt with berry compote, two small croissants with jelly and marmalade and OJ and coffee.  That lasted me a few hours until I found some Scottish gin fudge which tided me over until lunch (sooooo good, believe it or not!)

We were really challenged by the rain this morning.  All the weather apps kept telling us a break was coming and it would eventually stop for the day, but that stopping point was elusive.  And we did have some clear patches, but they seemed to hit while we were engrossed in ‘fallback rainy day activities’ or lunch.  Our timing was just off.

It stopped raining so we decided to visit Signal Rock which was an area where the clans would light a fire on the mountain to alert the highlanders when an invasion was going to happen.  It is a nice nook at the foot of a few overlapping mountains and a stream running through it.  The area however has gotten so much rain in the last couple of weeks that the stream is practically a river, and a loud one at that.  It was a bit of a slippery scramble through some thicket, mud, and rocks but we all found our footing right at the river’s edge just in time for the rain to kick in again, so then it became and effort of putting rain gear on our cameras, pulling up hoods and securing them against the wind.  I didn’t love the shots I was getting or the fact that my gear was getting soaked, so I headed back into the trees where it was less wet and found a footbridge over the river that I took some shots at.  By then everyone else was ready to head back to the vans and lunch, so off we went.

Karl has a few “rainy day” activities in his back pocket in the event that it’s just too bad to be out at all.  One of those is the Glencoe Cultural Center.  This was a good stop because it explained that the area is actually a caldera and then covered its often sordid history, which includes locals fighting off the English as well as intra-clan battles.  There was also a thatched cottage to visit and a ton of local birds that I had fun identifying with the Merlin app and trying to photograph.  

After our time here we went to Karl’s cafe and gift shop for lunch.  I had no expectations for lunch but I was simply blown away.  I had a flatbread with vegetarian haggis, Brie and onion jelly that was just fabulous, and incredibly filling.  I was really impressed how good it was.  We noticed though that while we were eating, the skies were brightening and things were drying out.  But we were committed to lunch and there was no rushing the group at this point.

By the time we left lunch it was coming down again.  And when I say raining and “coming down”, I mean it in not a friendly, gentle shower way (which I think we’d all be fine in).  This rain was bucketing down.  There was some discussion about what we’d do next but Karl thought we should head to Castle Stalker ahead of sunset with the hopes that we might more brightening and dry air by then.  So off we went.

We arrived and it was indeed dry but overcast.  No worries, we gathered our gear and headed to the beach.  The castle is on a tiny island out in the bay with the mountains of the highlands behind it and, hopefully, the sun setting just to the left of it.  It stayed dry for about 20 minutes while we got to move around, shoot lower to the water and then it started to rain again and with the wind it was blowing directly at us and into our lenses.  We all turned our backs and protected the lens and the rain passed quickly.

Then a crack in the clouds started right where we guessed the sun might be.  Don got excited that we might see sunset after all.  The sun’s rays streamed out of the crack and it was almost as if the late autumn sun was still warm enough to burn off more of the clouds.  We were all shooting like mad, getting the light and its reflection off the water as best we could.  And this brightness lasted all of 3 minutes when the sun dipped below another deck of clouds and the rain picked up again.  It looked like it might clear up again but we all headed back to the vans to get warm and dry and wait it out.  In the end, it only got darker so we headed back to the hotel.  All told though, it was a really spectacular sight.  And I got to try some black and white photography that I hope turns out well.

I took a hot bath and hung anything wet on either the towel warmer in the bathroom or the radiator in my room.  Nothing was too soaked so it all dried quickly.  I am really happy that I have my lined rain pants and the waterproof shoes because I think if I was soaked through I’d be really miserable. 

Dinner tonight was a superfood salad (quinoa, butternut squash, spinach, cranberries and a yogurt dressing), the same hake entree as last night (the other choice was pork or a garlic gnocchi, and I didn’t think garlic in a van all day tomorrow was a nice choice!) and sticky toffee pudding for dessert.  It was all really good.  Tonight I tried the 1881 Rafters gin in a martini.  It was billed as a smoky gin and I have to say I really didn’t like it.  I didn’t finish it and replaced it with the 1881 Rhubarb and Rose gin, which was a nice upgrade.  

Don and Karl had wanted to take us to a pub for some music tonight but all of us are tired and still not warmed up yet so it was off to bed instead.  Karl says tomorrow is a “biblical washout” as it’s officially the rest of Melissa hitting here, so he’s digging up some more rainy day stuff for us.