I'm getting better & better at taking pictures from a moving vehicle - judging the gaps between trees, getting shutter speed just right, being quick on the trigger... significant improvement. Yesterday we had a rental car in order to drive to Glencoe, a place not really all that feasible to get to (& back) by bus, but a place we were keen to see nonetheless. Meredith did the driving, and I'm sure you can imagine that it was rather tense. Traffic circles (roundabouts) are not few are far between as they are at home, rather they are at virtually every intersection. They come fast and furious. I'm not sure if my headache comes from being a passenger running that gauntlet, or from a dehydrating day, but today I was definitely happy to again travel by train.
The journey itself was lovely, and once we got out of the town it was one road and smooth sailing (mostly). We stopped a couple of times when the beauty of the scenery was too much to merely be enjoyed in passing. The best place we stopped along the way was a moor, with it's delightful mounds of grass and it's soggy ground. We explored a bit. Found some curious plants, and some lichen-y rocks, and some good views. The land is more mountainous than anything we'd seen thus far. Mounds that may actually warrant the name mountain.
We discovered this first hand when we did a short hike near the three sisters, up to a hidden valley, "Coire Gabhail." It was lovely & rocky, but where in our landscape, we would have Aspens, here were Birches, as well as higher (in elevation) than aspens would get. There were also many ferns, and many plants I didn't recognize at all. We followed a creek up and had an excellent view of the trail below. I think my favorite part of seeing a place is seeing the landscape. For me it means a better sense of what the place is like.
Here are some photos...
(I realize that I have gotten a day behind in the reports, but our time has been pretty packed. I think I am currently suffering from lack-of-introvert-time that even gummy bears can't cure - I've tried)
Wonderful! Is does sound exhausting. Thanks for taking the time to share.
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