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Monday 22 March 2004, Strathdearn and a lot of single track roads

Scotland 2004 - part VII

Elisabeth & Teije
2006-07-23 18:03:21

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It is still cold outside and now and then it rains, but that doesn't stop us to explore new areas in this beautiful country. On our old map we see several roads on the east side of Loch Ness where we haven't been before and so we drive after a quiet morning to Tomatin (with a well known whisky distillery) where we take a turn from the A9 to drive into Strathdearn. Through this Glen flows the river Findhorn, from southwest to northeast, to enter the sea at the town Findhorn.

It is still quite foggy in the valley, but we have already seen the sun this morning. Every five minutes the skies change and the colours of the landscape also.

And again we see a lot of game, today especially a lot of deer, sometimes grazing near the road. They look quite tame and don't run away when we stop but when we get out they run away, shyly.

At the end of the glen we have to turn around since it is a dead end and halfway we take a single track road in the direction of Loch Ness. The road leads us through a desolate area and is quite bad. There is a lot of heather and the fog makes is almost spooky. Another beautiful road!

Sometimes it is very cloudy and the clouds seem to hang on the hills, then suddenly shines the sun. We don't know what to expect next, the weather is changing very fast, but it makes the scenery very interesting and the colours change while we watch.

Besides game we also come across a lot of cattle. They are unwilling to go off the road and we have enough patience to not start honking. It is always a pretty sight, to see cattle on the road, although I (Teije) am a bit afraid of cows to be honest. Elisabeth laughs at me and we make a bet that I get out of the car next time we see cows walking about freely. Of course, I loose...

On the eastern side of Loch Ness we also have a lot of roads to explore and every time we drive to the north we see near Inverness showers falling from the sky.

We drive a bit north and then south again via various roads and everytime the surroundings change totally: sometimes we drive through flat, barren looking moors, then through dense woods and sometimes along rocky meadows like on this picture. But everywhere are sheep, sometimes behind a fence but more often just roaming about freely.

The dark skies above Inverness become even darker and we see the showers coming closer. The moment we drive a bit southwards the sun reappears and when we go north we end up in the rain. There seems to be a fixed, but very narrow border which we cross now and then.

At the end of the afternoon we stop at Inverness when it seems a bit drier. But after having parked the car we start walking through the city and it starts to rain. We are forced into a pub and we stay in until it gets a bit drier.

We spend the whole evening with Iain and Cathy since it is our last night here. We have been here now more than a week and the time really must have been in a hurry. But, however we like it here and are at ease, we still want to spend a few days exploring more of the country, since there is so much we haven't seen yet. We will be back!