After being happily car-free for more than two years, we all of a sudden realised that we really wanted to have more freedom to explore Scotland and to see more of its wild and hidden places… in the best of affirmations, less than a month passed between making that decision and finding a perfect little van for ourselves, not for city driving but just for weekend hikes and camping and we are very happy that we made the decision! We’ve already got quite friendly with our “Munro”, heading out of Glasgow almost every weekend since, and it’s already enabled us to visit friends on the west coast, with more visits planned soon… Crucially for me, self-employed and working from home, it’s really creating a break between the end of the working week and beginning of the weekend, something I’m not very good at. So it’s a wonderful thing. And, just so you can see how wonderful, here are few highlights of the first couple of outings in Munro!
Rainbow over Loch Lomond
On the way up to Skye- Eilan Donan, one of Scotland’s most photographed views
Eilan Donan
One of the five sisters of Kintail
The view from Glenelg to the five sisters of Kintail
For all the HP fans: the Glenfinnan viaduct
In the hills of Ardnamurchan, looking to the west coast
As I said, another thing about Munro is that he enables us to visit friends around Scotland and the UK and I was especially keen to visit my friend Debbie and her husband John in Ardnamurchan. Deb has been extraordinarily supportive and generous since we met not long after Scotto and I arrived in Scotland and I really wanted the chance to spend some time with her (although on one of the world’s most beautiful train lines, Ardnamurchan is so beautiful that you want to cruise along the tiny coast roads and really take in the views, either in a car and on foot if you have the time!).
We timed our trip to combine it with a workshop run by Plantlife Scotland on lichens and the Celtic or Atlantic rain forests of the west coast of Scotland and so met Deb and John at the Ariundle Centre in Strontian. We spent the day learning about lichens- the complex, almost magical way that these organisms come about and the intricate relationships that they have with the plants and environment around them- and collecting and dyeing with some of the windfall species found in the rainforest. There are so many different species of lichen in this habitat…
A mini forest of lichens!
Lobaria sp
Dog Lichen (because of the “teeth” on the underside)
Macro closeup of the tiny fruiting bodies of Cladonia sp.
Lobaria pulmonaria (Lungwort)
Beautiful white crusty lichen and moss
And here are a few moments captured in the dye studio:
Preparing Bog Myrtle and Usnea dye baths
Fleece dyed with Lungwort, Usnea and Bog Myrtle
Usnea sp (Old Man’s Beard) and a small sample of fleece dyed with it
Yarn dyed with Lungwort
It was a wonderful day and a lovely way to share some time with new friends!
Next stop… who knows! But I know it will be somewhere beautiful- pretty much all of Scotland is stunning : )