ARDNAMURCHAN

[fluffymark]

View from the cottage: Sunset behind the archipelago. Wheeeeeeeee!

After a frustrating journey, frought with rail-replacement coaches and missed connections, I met mirabehn, evil_nick, borusa, taimatsu and smhwpf in the evening at Fort William, where they’d been kind enough to meet me. Then we drove west. The country became wild. Huge mountains and lochs. Winding roads, getting smaller and smaller until they became single track. Tolkienesque might be a very good word to describe the landscape around us. Something right out of Lord of the Rings, anyway (Glenborrodale and Glenmor were hastily renamed to Glenboromir and Glenmordor by us). There is even an old volcanic crater towering over most of the peninsula. The lava from this has created all sorts of odd and wonderful rock formations. I squeeeed lots and became very excitable as everything became pretty, the full moon rose over Mull, while the sun set in a most beautiful fashion behind Rhum, Eigg, Muck and Skye. Arnamurchan is the most westerly point of the UK mainland, and we stayed at Portuairk, right near the tip, at a gorgeous little cottage placed right where the road ends an the Atlantic Ocean begins. The cottage was an old crofter’s cottage, and is now pretentiously and sweetly named Tigh na Cladach. Awww. The view north of the islands in the archipelago is nothing short of spectacular. The view west was of the wild and open Atlantic. We were right on the shorefront, and sheep came into the garden! *amused*

Rural life is lots of fun. No internet. No mobile phone reception (without climbing a hill!). No landline phone. Nearest shop is 5 miles away. The hermit within me loved it. Fresh air, lots of time to relax and flop and enjoy all the pretties around us. Everything was a bit wet and windy much of the time (although I prefer that to heatwaves) but we did get nice days, and there was a nearby sandy beach to build sandcastles on. We visited the gorgeous castle Tioram nearby, which I loved. But then I always like old castles, ruined or not. A wet and windswept ferry crossing took us one day to the very pretty town of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, where we indulged in shops and an enlightening visit to the local Whisky distillery. And other fun places too! Yay! One day I explored the nearby rocks at low tide for sealife in rockpools and other curiousities, and that was hugely fun. Another day we scrambled to the top of the nearby hill. Evenings we cooked delicious meals and stayed in. We played several board games, I won at Lord of the Rings Monopoly when my Legolas controlled Mount Doom and Barad-Dur. *evilcackle*. There was much lovely folk singing (yay Elly-singing!) and talented playing of guitars (yay Lucy-playing!) and fun readthroughs of As you like it and An Inspector Calls, the latter made possible after an epic bout of script-copying to produce a second script to read from. Yay! *happybounces*

Was sad to wave byebye to all the prettiness on Saturday, slight mishap with Air traffic control strikes, but got back eventually, via a little amorous visit to Cambridge *smallblush*. London is all wrong. It’s too hot and I’ve noticed how bad it smells again. Wah. Can I go back to Scotland now please? *hopeful*

Photos of Arnamurchan - do look, they are pretty. Also finally uploaded photos of Moscow and Berlin.

Comments

[arkady.livejournal.com]

How very Ring Of Bright Water. :-)

I miss Scotland.

[fluffymark]

ooooh. Not read that. Maybe I should. :)

I always forget how pretty Scotland is. I must visit there more often. Given a chance, I'd live there, but that'd mean finding a job I can do up there.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

See if the (mostly) lovely uni next door to me will give you a job and move to Edinburgh? Not quite out in the wilds, but much closer to them, and much, much nicer than London.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Sounds wonderful!

Gina

[fluffymark]

Oh yes! Most Pretty! We like pretty. Ok, I'm being all smug now. But it was pretty! :)

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

the crab in your picture looks a bit dead... :(

Ardnamurchan is very gorgeous. but Skye is better. :)

[fluffymark]

*nods* I looked for ages to find a living one, but couldn't, but the dead crab in the pool had some charm about it. The fishies were very much alive and swimming around in the rock pools.

Neh. Arnamurchan better. Becasue I say so. And mirabehn would agree with me.

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

no waaaaaaaaaaaaay. have you been to Skye??????

[fluffymark]

I travelled to Skye in about 1992 on the way back from the Outer Hebrides. yes Skye is very pretty but it lacked the magic and charm of Arnamurchan. Although we did stay in hotels and not little pretty cottages, so it could have been that. Or maybe is just being somewhere with Elly that makes it seem so much better. :)

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

well you should go to south skye, specifically to Tormore, where i took Elly and Nick on holiday.

but yes, holidays with an Elly are very nice things indeed.

[fluffymark]

I think it was north skye I went to. So maybe south skye is pretty. Especially with an Elly. Yay for Elly! :)

[aiwendel.livejournal.com]

sounds heavenly! :)

[fluffymark]

Very heavenly indeed! mirabehn describes Arnamurchan as a little bit of heaven. :) You would love it!

[aiwendel.livejournal.com]

I'll have to go one day! :)

[bluediamond.livejournal.com]

*squee* That's stunning!

[fluffymark]

*squeeeeeeeee* so so pretty indeed! Glad you like! :)

[rosie-rhi-bee.livejournal.com]

wooooooooow!

Those pics are beautiful. Makes me feel v nostalgic for the holidays we had there when we were teenagers.

[fluffymark]

I'd not before realised that Elly had been visiting Ardnamurchan for over 20 years now. Wow. I can see why - it is so so pretty! I'm sure I'm going to get very notaligic about the place too in years to come. :)

[bluesbell.livejournal.com]

Pretty pretty pretty!!! I want to go to Scotland again...

[fluffymark]

*smallsmile* Come and visit! What is stopping you? :)

[ebb.livejournal.com]

I miss the lake district and my scotland. My family are all up there - the mist, the rain, the dusty shades... *drifts off*

[fluffymark]

Lake District is *mine*. I grew up near there, and when I was little I was forcibly dragged up most of the hills there. But I appreciated it, because it was very pretty. Scotland is the same but on a much bigger scale. Wow. :)

[tea-at-bettys.livejournal.com]

i love the photos! Glad you had fun :-).