2018 Scotland - Taking the higher road, to the Highland

After a full "English Breakfast" at the Angel Inn, we took a last look around quaint Alston and the little pub before heading north through the moors.

Breakfast was an Atkins practitioner's dream and a vegetarians nightmare. The mystery dark item is black pudding. The propriatress was evasive about its composition (congealed blood, barley, meal and spices) until after we ate. 

We motored up through Glasgow and through The Trossachs National Park to the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. It's the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area, cutting a long north-south scar across the fault that divides Scotland's lowlands from its highlands. The road that parallels the western side of the lake is a bit of a thrill ride, with frequent signs cautioning one in alarming detail to slow down in the curvy sections, as oncoming traffic in the blind curves may be in the middle of the roadway. I tend to hug the left edge while driving here anyway, but with little or no shoulder on the narrow road it was a rather intimidating.

We stopped at the village of Luss, site of an ancient settlement and rebuilt in the 1800s with sandstone and slate cottages. It's quite touristy now, but a pretty place to see the Loch and explore (once we secured a parking spot). 

Lydia had haggis on a Scottish roll for lunch. I was less daring with a banana and a roll with bacon. We passed other lakes as the topography continued to evolve.

Finally we came to Glencoe Pass, one of Lydia's bucket list places, with sweeping, dramatic views and the site of an infamous massacre. We spent an hour or so walking into the valley.  

A busload of Italian tourists erupted into the valley. I was so glad to be traveling with a party of two!



We'd learned yesterday that you can walk or camp anywhere in Scotland, even if land or an access road is posted "Private". We saw walking trails throughout our drive, and cars pulled off just about anywhere that offered access. Sometimes a solitary colorful dome tent hugged a flat area below a rocky outcropping. It's obvious people take advantage of the accessibility and raw beauty of these highlands

We finally reached our B&B in Kinlochleven after 7 pm. It's a nice little town, again with a good tourist business. Our host, Paddy, said he's full up for about half the year. In the winter, with a growing skiing and ice climbing clientele, things slow down a bit. We walked on a footpath through the woods into town and had dinner at a nice little restaurant above a pub.

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Interesting Encounters department: When we vstopped to look at the old church in Alston (congregation size: 38 people) last night, someone invited us to come back for fish and chips and beer and something else (we couldn't catch the last word). Well, we both like fish and chips and, figuring it was some kind of fundraiser and having no other dinner plans, we wandered back to the church 30 minutes later. We ordered and paid for our fish and chips, which they were getting from a take-out chippery down the block - the only restaurant we'd seen in town besides the pubs. There was side table set up with an impressive collection of beer, porter, wines, hard liquor, etc. Then we were asked to pick a hymn for a sing along. Turns out that the "something else" was hymns!

We saw the posting on the way out after singing and supping.