31st July 2014
At this time of the year we're mostly away in our motor home and this year we've been discovery and walking S.W. England for a month from the middle May, followed by a month in Scotland and the Orkney Islands. The weather and scenery has been superb but I find that in general we're covering the same old topics with just a few variations and do people really care about the wonderful time we've had and the beautiful scenery we've been walking in? With this in mind I haven't posted much on my blog this year, I've been concentrating more on my film making.
Here are just a few of the 100's of pictures we've taken in this beautiful country of ours. Firstly just a few shots from Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in late May & early June.
Bluebells in Dulverton Woods Somerset
Tarr Steps on the River Barle Exmoor
South West Coastal Path between Lynton & Hunter's Inn
Waters Meet near Lynmouth
Cloud street over S.t Ives Cornwall
St. Ives Cornwall
Fresh Crab Salad
Scones,strawberry jam and clotted cream tea
St. Michael's Mount at Marazion Cornwall
The Gardens
Mousehole near Land's End Cornwall
Sennon Cove near Land's End Cornwall
Walk to Land's End
The famous signpost
Dartmouth Devon
House & gardens Coleton Fishacre
Cape Cornwall
BlueBell at Cape Cornwall 1st June ....late flowering
Also Primroses in flower on North facing cliffs
Three-Cornered Leek or another name the Triquetrous Leek
Old tin mine at Botallock North Cornwall coastal path
A good site for the sunsets
And now north up into Scotland
A visit to the Royal Yacht Britannia
The Queens Bedroom
St .Andrews
People from all walks of life enjoying a painting holiday
The famous 18th green at St.Andrews
Camp site at Rosemarkie
Rosemarkie on the Moray Firth a good location for Dolphin spotting
Top of Scotland John o' Groats
The cliffs at Duncansby Head
Sunset at John O' Groats at 10 45 pm
Ready to sail to the Orkney Islands
Stromnes with its unusual paved streets
Across Hoy Sound and the Island of Hoy
Stones of Stenness
Ring of Brodgar
Stormy seas at Yesnaby
The Scottish Primrose (Primula scotica) which grows only in Orkney Caithness and Sutherland and no where else in the world is a great rarity.
The plant is no more than 1 inch high
The cliffs at Marwick Head
Birsay a small village near our camp site
Sunny skies and clean fresh air perfect for motor homing
We met this man (a freelance film maker with his mobile studio)
The Churchhill Barriers to stop enemy ships attacking our anchorage during 1940-45
The Italian Chapel built by the Italian prisoners of war (1940- 45)
One of the many ancient (5000 years old sites on Orkney)
Scapa Flow
Gunning emplacements overlooking Scapa Flow
Sailing back to Scrabster Northern Scotland past the Island of Hoy
The Old Man of Hoy sea stack
The estuary at Tongue on the north coast of Scotland
The mountains around Loch Eriboll, the path of the past glaciers can be clearly seen
Pitch for the night at the side of Loch Eriboll
Moving on to Durness the N.W.corner of Scotland with its wonderful beaches and flower covered headlands
Northern Marsh Orchids
Grass-of- Parnassus
White Field Gentians
Hundreds of Heath Spotted Orchids
Heath Spotted Orchid
Miles of unspoilt beaches
Just south of CapeWrath we stayed overnight at kinlochberve
Otter along the Beach
Bog Asphodel
Some unsettled weather as we drive south to the Summer Isles along narrow roads
The Summer Isles
Overnight stay by the sea near the Summer Isles
Driving south to Poolewe near to the famous Inverewe Garden
The camp site at Pool
Loch Maree
From Loch Maree we climbed a mountain trail into wild country at the back of Beinn Eighe
Picking the Billberry
Moving west through Glen Torridon and the herds of Red deer
The quite village of Shieldaig on the coast
South again to Morvich and the Five Sisters of Kintail Mountains
South again through Fort William to Glencoe
The road climbs through Glencoe to the wild expanse of Rannoch Moor
The impressive Buachaille EtiveMor
Overnight stay at the Glencoe Ski
To gain height we're cheating a bit today we're taking the chairlift to around 1800 ft which leave us around another1850 ft to climb up the ridge to the summit of Meall A Bhuiridh at around 3638 ft.
View over Rannoch moor from the chairlift
The summit 3638ft
The wild expanse of Rannoch Moor
Still some deep patches of snow which were turning pink because of the algae which grows on the snow, I've seen this in the Alps. Some of the snow in the gullies was around 30ft deep Below the melting snow Marsh-marrigolds were in flower normal flowering time at lower levels is around April.
Pink coloured snow
An alpine I've yet to identify
Marsh-marrigolds
Butterburr
Heath Spotted Orchid at 3000ft
On this picture there are at least four or five Ptarmigan well camouflaged against the rocky background
The last view of Buachaille Etive befoer we drive south for our final 2 nights in Tyndrum
Tyndrum for 2 nights
Our last walk ....... a 9 mile section of the West Highland way from Tyndrum to the Bridge of Orchy follow in the railway line to Fort William. This was a lovely easy walk just following the glen.
Bridge of Orchy for a Bar Lunch
The Highland Express coach back to Tyndrum
Look at the weather forecast it's time for home
Across the Erskine Bridge in Glasgow heading south for England and home
At this time of the year we're mostly away in our motor home and this year we've been discovery and walking S.W. England for a month from the middle May, followed by a month in Scotland and the Orkney Islands. The weather and scenery has been superb but I find that in general we're covering the same old topics with just a few variations and do people really care about the wonderful time we've had and the beautiful scenery we've been walking in? With this in mind I haven't posted much on my blog this year, I've been concentrating more on my film making.
Here are just a few of the 100's of pictures we've taken in this beautiful country of ours. Firstly just a few shots from Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in late May & early June.
Top of Scotland John o' Groats
The Scottish Primrose (Primula scotica) which grows only in Orkney Caithness and Sutherland and no where else in the world is a great rarity.
The Churchhill Barriers to stop enemy ships attacking our anchorage during 1940-45
Just south of CapeWrath we stayed overnight at kinlochberve
Some unsettled weather as we drive south to the Summer Isles along narrow roads
Driving south to Poolewe near to the famous Inverewe Garden
From Loch Maree we climbed a mountain trail into wild country at the back of Beinn Eighe
Moving west through Glen Torridon and the herds of Red deer
The quite village of Shieldaig on the coast
South again to Morvich and the Five Sisters of Kintail Mountains
South again through Fort William to Glencoe
The road climbs through Glencoe to the wild expanse of Rannoch Moor
To gain height we're cheating a bit today we're taking the chairlift to around 1800 ft which leave us around another1850 ft to climb up the ridge to the summit of Meall A Bhuiridh at around 3638 ft.
Still some deep patches of snow which were turning pink because of the algae which grows on the snow, I've seen this in the Alps. Some of the snow in the gullies was around 30ft deep Below the melting snow Marsh-marrigolds were in flower normal flowering time at lower levels is around April.
