Whoosh!
Woke this morning at Loch Maree which by virtue of being to the east of us meant we had sunrise over it which was beautiful. I know the indian summer is gorgeous and all, meaning DJs everywhere are playing Boys of Summer, Summer Lovin’ and Walking on Sunshine constantly but it does make for a hot nights sleep in a campervan which has been cooked in and has four people sleeping in it. We’ve made room in the van for all these bloody coats and put up with them in the way all this time ready for Scotland, knowing we’d be needing them now and no mistake!
Ok, my attempt to show the downside failed then? 😉
Ady was doing a hand wash of pants so took it down to the lochside for a final rinse. I decided it would be nice to have a wash in the loch (and shave my legs too actually if we’re being frank about such toileting habits) so Scarlett and I went down too and had a paddle / wash / wade / shave at the same time. It was very gorgeous and a bit mad and I do have pictures to upload at some point. And here they are!
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We listened to Popmaster (Ady won, he did really well on the bonus questions) and then did the Woodland Trail walk of the reserve we were at. There are two trails – woodland and mountain. The mountain trail was a 4 plus hour trail and recommended day sacks with layers of waterproof clothing and food supplies, which much though I am sure would have provide a sense of achievement and some gorgeous views isn’t really my idea of lots of fun – I like walking, not climbing ;). Also there has been broken glass in the last two car parks we’ve been in so Ady is nervous about leaving Willow for prolonged periods incase of break ins. Plus we don’t actually have a day sack 😆
The Woodland trail included plenty of uphill-ness and took about 90 minutes with stopping for admiring the view and reading from the booklet at each numbered stopping point. The trails all around the highlands are excellent, filled with information, pointers towards stunning viewpoints and with really good footpaths etc.
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We arrived back at Willow and headed off to the next stop off which was still in Beinn Eighe, this time at the actual visitor centre. We did toilet emptying / water refilling and then went in to watch the film and do the indoor exhibits – loads of interactive stuff including a couple of games on touch screens about the geology of Beinn Eighe (proved how much the kids have been taking in this week, they did really well at that :)) and one all about deer which Scarlett and I did and now know loads more about Roe Deer, Sika Deer and Red Deer. There was a senses game with stuff to listen to, smell and feel, some identifying different birds beaks and more. All very good.
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Back to Willow for lunch as we were all hungry by then and then we got out to do the three trails there – the small picnic trail about what various birds eat, Davies read all of those signs 🙂 Then the Rhyming Trail which had clues to riddles to identify various plants and animals and finally the Wee Trees trail which had a story book to read along the way telling various chapters at various points. This was another uphill walk but again with excellent paths and plenty of benches and viewpoints to catch your breath :).
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It was getting late when we left there and we had much debate about what to do next, so headed for Torridon as there was no internet signal in the area and much as the walks are excellent we were ready for a change of scenery again. We found Torridon but it proved far smaller than expected and the Deer and Countryside Centre was just a tiny building which looks like it may not sustain an entire days visit.
We ended up seeing signs for Applecross and deciding to head for there as it is on our list of places to visit anyway. Our loose plan is to go to Inverness next Monday once rent has gone in and we are solvent again as the kids need shoes, my phone is due an upgrade (and I want a new one!) and I need some new jeans so we need a proper retail destination for at least a couple of hours so we are hesitant about heading to Skye just yet, particularly without much in the way of cash.
We were struggling to find somewhere suitable to stop, Ady was fretting about petrol, I was frantically trying to connect the Mifi and the kids were all out of charge on their DSs when suddenly we saw a golden eagle on a fence post right infront of us. We stopped, but sadly another car (the first we’d seen in *miles*) came the other way and spooked it. It did land fairly close, enough to get a blurry picture, but it was our closest encounter to date which was more than enough to bolster us all again :).
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We quickly found a parking spot after that and despite the mist having rolled in and obscured the view I know we are looking down on a large chunk of sea below us so hopefully it will be clear in the morning. We had dinner and my Mum rang so we all talked to her for a bit, then Eduardo rang so we talked to him ;). We have a vague plan tomorrow to maybe find a campsite for one night to charge everything back up again properly, do a wash, have showers and a night of lights on instead of torches so if we find somewhere for under our £20 budget and where the Mifi picks up signal we’ll go for it, we’re thinking maybe Applecross campsite.
When I speak of Salsa you did not speak of the shiny eagles! I would think that the place of shiny eagles would be a good place for Eduardo to come and Salsa!
Comment by Eduardo — 24 October 2011 @ 1:20 pm
Eduardo, *any* place is a good place for Eduardo to come and salsa!
Comment by Nic — 24 October 2011 @ 10:12 pm