Scotland 16-24/09/2021
We made 2 overnight stops on our way north. The first was at Bempton in Yorkshire, where a Black-browed Albatross has been seen on & off for the last month or so. We arrived 10 minutes after it flew away out to sea. We stayed in a guest house hotel in East Ayton near Scarborough, where we encountered the first of 3 road closures that interfered with our northward progress.
We visited our cottage in Cumbria on 17th, but the main road from Scarborough to the A1M was closed so we had to make a long slow detour via York and it took 4 hours to get across the country. Happily we found the cottage in good order and continued north to Tyndrum, with heavy traffic south of Glasgow slowing us down a bit. We stayed in the Muthu Ben Doran hotel, where I had a cold shower as the room had no hot water. Dinner was amusing as we watched 2 east European waiting staff trying to cope with far too many tables for two people. After dinner we switched rooms to one that did have hot water. Next morning I discovered that the kettle in our new room didn't work. When I mentioned this to the reception staff she didn't think it necessary to apologise.
On 18th I did a Munro - see next page. Then we found that the road through Glencoe to Fort William was closed due to a major accident and the traffic on the A82 through Tydrum northbound was at a standstill. We took the long detour across to the A9 via Loch Tay, adding 50 miles and an hour to our journey. Eventually we arrived at the holiday cottage we are sharing with Gaye Alan and Jocelyn near Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness. While at the cottage I managed another 5 Munros; the first 2 with Alan. The clouds covered the tops of all of them, but I enjoyed being in the hills. |
On 21st Alison, Gaye, Jocelyn and I went to Chanonry Point on the Black Isle to see the Dolphins.
On 23rd Alison, Gaye, Jocelyn and I went to Arriachan Gardens on Loch Ness
On 24th Alison, Gaye, Jocelyn and I went to Glen Affric
Moth trapping didn't produce much of great interest apart from this Green Lacewing nymph