A little piece of heaven...
Hike, boat, nap, dinner, hike...repeat.
That sentence up at the top there - I wouldn't mind that being a routine for a while. It is absolutely gorgeous up here - even if it is completely isolated - and this isn't even as isolated as it gets or as we are going to get. On the map below you can see where we are and what our view looks out to.
Our plan was to go and walk through the town of Mallaig. Take a hike and then get on a boat for a nature seeing tour. The harbor is small and cute.
Sometimes I get fixated on certain objects and love to take tons of pictures of them - this time is was these three boats - I think I just liked the colors. There was also a small lighthouse near the opening of the harbor.
Like any good directions in Scotland, the ones to find the start of the hike were, erm, interesting. "The start of the walk is next to the bungalow which is adjacent to the 'Springbank' Guest house; there is a sign indicating 'Circular walk'. The path has a roughly paved surface at first; as it passes up behind the bungalows it passes through a gate." But amazingly, they get you there after a few minutes of searching. Let's be honest, there is a roughly paved surface on both sides of the place, this entrance was actually further down than it said it was and there were gates on all of the properties - but we're awesome, so we found it. Duncs insisted on walking the initial part - actually, he would have walked the whole thing but we would have never made it to the boat tour.
The boys found a caterpillar on the road. No one wanted to touch it - especially Malcolm. Neil was worried that it would get run over so he eventually did pick it up and get it to the side of the road.
Walking seems to be such a part of the culture here - I would love if it were more so here. They do have ticks but it is not as bad as it is at home. We would be out more - but when I think about the differences between here and home, it is much less crowded, there are paths everywhere and they are accessible, the cross the country, they skirt across people's property, it is just part of the culture and it is more laid back. It's much more simple. I could probably get used to this - I don't know if I could get used to the amount of rain and incessant sheep and cow shit.
When the hike was finished, we headed through the town and headed to go to the boar ride. Waiting for the ride sucked. There were a lot of bees, no one wanted to be still and the dock area had nothing to stop you from plummeting into the oily port water below. That's another thing about Europe - safety standards are not like at home. I have written about this on previous trips but it always makes me laugh - the policy seems to be fuck it. If you're an idiot and fall off the side of something its your fault. We put up a sign and you chose to ignore it so, enjoy your death!
We got on the boat and grabbed our spot. The boys immediately started to charm some older women on the tour. Before we even left, we saw a jellyfish (who didnae look so good) and there was a seal swimming around. On the ride out, it started to get a bit more windy and everyone put their jackets on. We were able to head out to an island that the seals all sat around and sunned themselves. They were pretty inactive. We saw a bunch of porpoises swimming around and a minke whale. For the record, I ate minke whale when we were in Iceland. It was cubed and tough. You can skip it, it wasn't that exciting.
I could get used to this little piece of heaven.
That sentence up at the top there - I wouldn't mind that being a routine for a while. It is absolutely gorgeous up here - even if it is completely isolated - and this isn't even as isolated as it gets or as we are going to get. On the map below you can see where we are and what our view looks out to.
Our plan was to go and walk through the town of Mallaig. Take a hike and then get on a boat for a nature seeing tour. The harbor is small and cute.
Sometimes I get fixated on certain objects and love to take tons of pictures of them - this time is was these three boats - I think I just liked the colors. There was also a small lighthouse near the opening of the harbor.
Like any good directions in Scotland, the ones to find the start of the hike were, erm, interesting. "The start of the walk is next to the bungalow which is adjacent to the 'Springbank' Guest house; there is a sign indicating 'Circular walk'. The path has a roughly paved surface at first; as it passes up behind the bungalows it passes through a gate." But amazingly, they get you there after a few minutes of searching. Let's be honest, there is a roughly paved surface on both sides of the place, this entrance was actually further down than it said it was and there were gates on all of the properties - but we're awesome, so we found it. Duncs insisted on walking the initial part - actually, he would have walked the whole thing but we would have never made it to the boat tour.
"To continue the walk, continue on the main path which now begins to descend. In good weather there are great views ahead across Loch Nevis to the mountains of Knoydart"
The boys found a caterpillar on the road. No one wanted to touch it - especially Malcolm. Neil was worried that it would get run over so he eventually did pick it up and get it to the side of the road.
Walking seems to be such a part of the culture here - I would love if it were more so here. They do have ticks but it is not as bad as it is at home. We would be out more - but when I think about the differences between here and home, it is much less crowded, there are paths everywhere and they are accessible, the cross the country, they skirt across people's property, it is just part of the culture and it is more laid back. It's much more simple. I could probably get used to this - I don't know if I could get used to the amount of rain and incessant sheep and cow shit.
When the hike was finished, we headed through the town and headed to go to the boar ride. Waiting for the ride sucked. There were a lot of bees, no one wanted to be still and the dock area had nothing to stop you from plummeting into the oily port water below. That's another thing about Europe - safety standards are not like at home. I have written about this on previous trips but it always makes me laugh - the policy seems to be fuck it. If you're an idiot and fall off the side of something its your fault. We put up a sign and you chose to ignore it so, enjoy your death!
We got on the boat and grabbed our spot. The boys immediately started to charm some older women on the tour. Before we even left, we saw a jellyfish (who didnae look so good) and there was a seal swimming around. On the ride out, it started to get a bit more windy and everyone put their jackets on. We were able to head out to an island that the seals all sat around and sunned themselves. They were pretty inactive. We saw a bunch of porpoises swimming around and a minke whale. For the record, I ate minke whale when we were in Iceland. It was cubed and tough. You can skip it, it wasn't that exciting.
On our evening hike, we headed to Camusdarach Beach. The walks and the scenery is just absolutely amazing. The water is stunningly blue and it looks like the water that you see in the Caribbean. I want to be able to just hike and take off and disappear for a while - no responsibility other than to survive the hike, get to the next stop and then repeat. I don't know that there is anything that I can do that would explain the beauty - I don't think that my pictures even do it justice - perhaps in twenty years when I retire and can travel without have to follow kids and keep them from falling into the ocean or eating sand.
At the end of the hike, we came across this old building. I'm guessing that it was an old fishing bothy at some point but it has since been abandoned.
We tried to take nice pictures but they couldn't contain themselves and wanted to get right to the silly faces - this was the best we could muster.
At the end of the evening we headed back to the house and just chilled out and watched a bunch of the Hobbit - the boys stayed up until 11 - which would prove to be a mistake as it led to crankiness, but at least I didn't let them stay up until midnight when the movie was over.
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