Thursday 31 July 2014

To post or not to post...... that is the question

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


               













                           


       

                     









               




2 comments:

  1. Stunning, beautiful and I am very jealous, you looked to have had a amazing time in the most beautiful places, so glad you shared...
    Amandaxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have visited your country and enjoyed the beautiful scenery but that was a stunning display of photos.
    Merle............

    ReplyDelete