Landscapes
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| Beautiful scene on back road from the town to Plockton to Achmore |
Welcome to the first edition of A Wandering Melody travel blog. Those who are acquainted with Mike and I have come to know that we love to travel. Many of you share our travel adventures on Facebook, but I wanted to expand on those posts and kind of break away from Facebook all together. So, I thought a blog would meet that goal and introduce you to places you've never been or stir up memories from your own travels.
Let's get started by taking a wee adventure to Scotland, shall we? Since there is a lot to share about this stunning country, I have decided to break this journey down into 3 separate posts: Landscapes, Cityscapes, and then Castles, A Fort & A Few Things Uniquely Scotland. Of course, I want to grab your attention right away, so I'll start with the beautiful scenery. From the Isle of Skye to the Cairngorms to the Rugged Coastline and Lovely Lochs, Scotland does not disappoint in its endless beauty and breathtaking vistas.
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| Misty Mountain High |
Our journey begins on the scenic drive from Paisley to Achmore with our destination being our lodging for Isle of Skye. On this drive, we traveled on A82 along UK's largest lake, Loch Lomond and through the Trossachs Mountain Range. It was a bit overcast and rainy on the day of this drive, but kind of made for some very mystical photos.
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| Loch Lomond |
Loch Lomond
&
The Trossachs
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| The Trossachs mountain range |
Glen Coe. Sight of one of the most infamous massacres in Scottish history. Read the story on the link below:
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Link: History of the Glen Coe Massacre
At the end of this particular drive, was the village of Achmore, where we would spend 3 nights. It turned out to be the perfect jump-off location for Isle of Skye and surrounding points of interest. It also happens to be home to some of the nicest people we have ever met. Everyone we had interaction with was warm and welcoming. Our AirBNB hosts Ina and Crisedean were great fun and we felt we made new friends. Achmore itself reminded us a lot of our hometown in Virginia with farmlands surrounded by mountains. Our first night, we stretched our legs after the long drive from Paisley, and walked around the village. This turned out to be fun because we got to play with some wee lambs. So great!! I may never eat lamb again.
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| View from our B&B. Not bad eh? |
Mama Molly
&
Wee Lambs
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| One week old at the time |
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| Mike got to hold one of these cuties |
Breathtaking Isle of Skye
On the western side of Scotland is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. We were lucky enough to spend 2 full days touring the Isle of Skye. No words can properly describe the beauty of this magical place. I only hope that our pictures captured just a bit of its grandeur. Amazing place!
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| Black Cuillins Mountains |
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| Mealt Falls and Kilt Rock |
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| The Quiraing |
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| Picture perfect weather!! |
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| Nice day for a stroll in The Quiraing |
Old Man of Storr
Neist Point Lighthouse
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| Neist Point sits on the western side of Isle of Skye on the Atlantic Ocean |
From Achmore, we headed north to Inverness. It was another lovely drive. Future blogs will feature a few neat sites we toured along the way. Until then, I'll concentrate on the landscape, including Loch Ness ⇨ Upon our arrival in Inverness, we mentioned that we enjoy hiking and nature to our AirBNB hosts Bernie & Iain. (Another great couple). They suggested that we explore the Glen Affric area. Kind of like our national forests. Turned out to be a great place to explore! Thanks guys for the tip!!
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| Coire Loch |
Glen Affric Forest
Beautiful waterfalls
Huge Trees
Peaceful Place
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| Mike checking out the Sequoias |
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| Headwaters of Plodda Falls. |
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| Old Ploughman's Bridge in Carrbridge. A very popular site for tourists. |
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| The River Dee |
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| Not one, not two, but a sea of coos!! |
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| Oh Hi. You Lookin' for me? |
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| If you have an itchy bum, scratch it! |
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| Mike captured these pics on his phone. Time for me to upgrade! |
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| You can't tell from these photos, but on this day, the winds were about 40 mph. Lucky to hold the camera steady. |
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| On our drive to Inverness, we stopped at the famous Loch Ness. No, we didn't see Nessie. |
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| Dog Falls. Way back through the rocks. Forgot my zoom lens. |
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| I kept expecting to see Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man. Kinda reminded me of the forest where they met the Cowardly Lion. |
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| Plodda Falls. The tallest falls in Scotland to which you can hike. |
The Cairngorms
From Inverness, we headed toward Maryculter near Aberdeen.
A drive through the Cairngorms was like being home. Long range mountains with lots of farms. Oh, did I mention our sighting of Highland Coos? That was one of the highlights of this day.
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| The Cairngorms. The colors reminded me of camouflage. |
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| Highland Coo. Love them!!! |
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The one on the left looks a little sad.
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| Lovely scene taken from the tower of Dirleton Castle. The yellow field is rapeseed. |
Seaside Scenery
No particular order here. A few water-related photos from
around the country.
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| Bass Rock near North Berwick. Home to 100,000+ Gannetts and other seabirds. |
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| Cliffside of Tantallon Castle |
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| Here we are at Tantallon Castle with Bass Rock in the background |
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| Off North Berwick |
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| Dolphins or their tails anyway at Chanonry Point |
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| Chanonry Point Lighthouse |
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| Lovely Plockton |
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| Blackness Bay |
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| Firth of Forth Rail Bridge in Queensferry. The most iconic bridge in Scotland. |
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| Sunset at Achmore. A lovely way to end the day and this edition of Part 1. |
Until then, Happy Travels ✈ 🚗 🚢
Melody
If you like genealogy, be sure to visit my family history blog:
Branching Out
