We have just returned from a 10-day trip to the Glasgow area of Scotland. The trip was split into several distinct parts….. exploring the Highlands, sightseeing in Glasgow and Dunoon, and one lovely day riding the “Jacobite Train”, also known as the “Hogwarts Express”!! I can’t wait to share it all with you!
Let’s start with the glorious Highlands. I have now seen them and…..
They met all of my expectations!!
The hiking was sometimes very hard, as I stumbled over tussocks of grass and stepped ankle deep into holes filled with freezing cold water…..
….but the scenery made up for all of the hard work!!
The thing that surprised me most was the diversity of the environment.
In most places, we were in view of one of the 30,000 Lochs (lakes) in the country….
Some were tiny. As a kid in Texas, we would have called them a “stock tank”. But others were enormous and the far bank seemed to disappear magically into the distance…..
Many areas were covered in forests….
…. others were rocky plinths with no vegetation to speak of…..
…..and some were simply rolling hills of scrubby grass…..
One of the most interesting things that we stumbled on was this rock hut, high up on one of the mountains…..
(Don’t you love the sheep in the background?)
The builder of this hut uses it as a spiritual retreat, and we could see evidence of his shrine inside the hut…..
Apparently, he is now well into his 80’s, but he still comes here often!!
He also erected this Gaelic Cross that is visible from many areas of the Highlands…..
I will leave you with one of my favorite phtos……
This is Bruno, next to a rock cairn that our guide, Martin, is building. He adds a new stone to it every time he is at the top of this particular mountain.
Many cairns are built as a marker of gratitude and I have to say that I am truly grateful for our days in this glorious area of the world!!
There’s lots more to see, so keep coming back!!
Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!
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