Scottish Holiday in June (part 3)

 I hope you’re still with me on this journey!  I know I don’t have many followers who are interested (not that many read the blog now). 

We are travelling through the Grampian mountains to get to Inverness but after leaving Aberdeen I saw signs when travelling through Alford for the Grampian Transport Museum so we had a stop there, which had quite a collection of vehicles (and Daleks).

I thought I took more photos, but David was snap happy here. 

Onwards the mountains were impressive, but the roads were good and well signposted as this was again on a tourist route. As you can see some were taken from the car

There was a viewpoint with some metal shelters to protect from the wind. It was really windy where we stopped.

Snow poles on the sides of the roads,

In the distance are the ski lift poles.

We reached the outskirts of Inverness, which was our next stop, just beside the Caledonian Canal. This is top end of the canal that links the lochs out to the sea. A walk along a little bit of the canal we saw this boat

And this oystercatcher above the road sign (there were a few around)

The next morning before heading out to drive alongside the lochs we stopped briefly in Inverness at a nature reserve where the canal drains into the Firth and the views were really good for an urban city.  A housing estate to the left of the picture below and the M9 motorway to the right.

Onwards though to the famous Loch Ness.  The first viewing point (completed with kilted bagpipe player, is this touristy, or what!) of this tranquil loch. 

It is long and there are several viewpoints along the way, but no monster, which was disappointing! As I said earlier, the Caledonian Canal links the lochs and after leaving Loch Ness behind the next was Loch Oich where at Invergarry the canal lock leads from the loch into the canal.  The Loch is fed from the River Oich over which there was a bridge and something familiar about the architecture, when we realised that it was designed by an engineer from Bath.  It was originally a road bridge, but as you can see it has the Georgian features of most Bath buildings.

Onwards to another stopping point, which is the Commandos Memorial at Spean Bridge, not far from Fort William.  The roads are quiet then getting here there are suddenly a lot of people.

Apart from the monument, there was also a small garden for personal dedications to the commando troops or soldiers lost to conflicts.

On the steps up to the memorial there were daggers cut into the steel. Looking from there apparently there was Ben Nevis, but there was cloud on the mountains so could tell where it was (somewhere over there!).

After stopping for lunch in the nearby village we continued our journey to Oban and crossing rivers this time on a couple of steel bridges. 

North Ballachulish bridge near Fort William

And North Connel Bridge near Oban.

If you think that looks narrow, it was originally a single track railway bridge, that was converted to a road bridge.

We stopped at a parking stop there to see the fast flowing river, before getting to Oban.

This was the view from our room.  In front is the train station and in front of that is the ferry terminal. So that’s how close we were to the sea.

This was the sunset on the Longest Day

I was fascinated by the building that overlooked the town. See that above all the buildings is this Colosseum-like building.

So before going onward (it was another overnight stay, wish we could have stayed another day) we had to go any investigate. Up some very narrow roads we reached this building and the park around it. It’s called McCaig’s Tower as a memorial to the McCaig family and is a spectacular viewpoint.

Inside the tower

There was a map to point out the islands

Looking post the town towards the islands 

Looking left towards the station and ferry terminal.

So there will be a part 4 (gosh, I have gone on a bit!) and that will come along soon.

Scottish Holiday in June (part 2)

 We got to Dundee after seeing the Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel (last post here).  We took the bus into the city centre to explore.  We headed for the riverside and the V&A museum, with its unusual architecture. Alongside that is the ship RRS Discovery.

The sculpture outside was of a whale (that’s the tail end) and there were whale sounds as you walk through.

View across the Tay towards the road bridge 

Outside the V&A Dundee.

The Discovery beside the V&A and reflection in the water.

An impressive building but not so impressed by what was inside. Big reception and shop area, with stairs to the year’s exhibit, which was called Tartan, about the iconic Scottish woven cloth and its use in fashion and everyday life.  That was surprisingly big and we spent a long time there. We thought there would be more of the building to explore, but that was it. Below is a punk outfit by Vivienne Westwood, below that is a Victorian collection.

Debated whether to visit the Discovery, but in the end didn’t as we looked for somewhere for lunch but didn’t get back there. A colourful pebble mosaic on the ground outside there of a Mariner’s Compass, with penguins (The Discovery was at the Antarctic).

Anyway lunch was at the city’s McManus Museum, a Victorian building with history of life and industry of Dundee.  Beautiful stained glass windows and arches which are of the Victorian Gothic style and spent quite a while there too.

The following day we went exploring in the car and after a brief visit to Forfar, we headed towards Perth and Scone Palace (we drove in Perth town centre trying to find our way out to Scone). This is the home of the Stone of Destiny (used recently in the Coronation of King Charles III). We were not allowed to take photos in the house as it is still occupied), but loads of photos outside in its extensive gardens.

I almost forgot to mention that the publishers of the Beano and Dandy Comics are from Dundee, D C Thompson, so we saw Desperate Dan and other comic characters (though not Dennis the Menace) 

Desperate Dan and behind was Minnie the Minx

The printing is done just outside the city and unfortunately the car dealer’s flags got in the way. There’s Desperate Dan and Dennis

And Bananaman

But we didn’t find anywhere that served cow pie!!

On our way from Dundee to Aberdeen we followed the tourist route which followed the east coast.  We managed to visit a heritage railway, in Brechin.

Below is the diesel engine that took us a few miles down the line and back again.

And in the town was this rather impressive drinking fountain.

We stopped at The House of Dun  and had a tour around the house and a wander in the gardens .

It was just an overnight stay in Aberdeen before going onto Inverness and following the tourist route across the Grampians. So I will leave that here and post very soon.