Around Alligin

Saturday was a low-key relaxing day that we didn't venture far from Alligin. 

We went for a walk for some fresh air and beach combing. 

Stumbled onto an old outdoor church ruin. 

Took a coffee break at the Torridon general shop for some homemade cakes. 

Stopped in at the very posh old Torridon Hotel to look around.  

There were lots of dead animals and whiskeys. 

Then we took sandwiches to the waterfall for a picnic lunch. (Yes, we had dessert first- then lunch)

The later explored the shore along the village in search of sea creatures. We were like little kids at the petting zoo. 

It wasn't adventurous but it was a nice relaxing day before Barb and I had a day of traveling. :)

Cruising Torridon- land and sea.

Friday was a relaxing day and less strenuous than Thursday.  Eileen planned a surprise for when her friend Matt would spend the day with us.  I already knew Matt from the last time I traveled in the American southwest. He's a lot of fun for an Englishman ;). So, it's funny that the surprise was let out repeatedly at our arrival in the highlands.  First Eileen's dad mentioned it when he picked us up from the bus station. Then her mom at the house mentioned it.  After that, just about every family member or friend we met spilled the beans. That's just small-town life.

After a relaxing morning we drove through some incredible landscape to a great sea side lunch.

We took photos from the car.

The clouds gave way to some sun and we decided to eat outside at a seaside pub called Applecross. 

Matt & Eileen are OLD friends from college. The flag was for the food we ordered to arrive at the right table. 

I enjoyed my fresh scallops (with roe still attached) on wild rice topped with "bacon" which turned out to be deliciously cooked pancetta. SO GOOD. 

After lunch we strolled along the beach and enjoyed the smell of sea air and explored the various fragments of  creatures we found in the low tide. 

Later in a nearby village of Shieldig our "surprise" was a boat tour of the loche and sound.

Eileen booked us on a two hr cruise on the Seaflower. We had a great time seeing the landscapes from the boat as well as a variety of animals.

We had the honor of sitting on the upper deck.

Clouds came and went threatening dramatic sky photos. 

For some reason there's a puffin painted on this rock (above)

In the end, we saw seals, porpoises and various sea birds - all of which I found too difficult to capture in photos.  So take my word for it. 

Dinner on our way home at the Torridon Inn was delicious. Barb ordered what seemed an unending pot of mussels. And being barb, she counted them. Apparently there were 110 in total!  She ate most of them. 

My "farmer Dan's Coo steak pie" was really great and much bigger than I first thought.

(Look mom, I'm eating vegetables like a good boy).  "Coo" is how they refer to the highland cow raised in these parts.  The pie was filled with nice chunks of delicious animal seasoned with a savory brown gravy that was spiced just enough to make me wonder about the recipe. I could make out nutmeg, a slight amount of heat and hints of cinnamon even. It was hearty heaven.

Back at Eileen's parents home, at 10:30 pm this was the light we still had:

We finally headed off to bed closer to midnight to this: 

*it's a bit grany but Eileen and Matt are in the foreground on the right side.

Beinn Damh!

I woke after a refreshingly solid 8 hr sleep in this cottage offered by neighbors of Eileen's parent just a couple doors away.  Thank you Joan & George!!!!!

"Sunny Banks" - I think all the houses in the highlands have names.

This is the house John and Marie live in nearby. Everyone has a great view from every window:

Today's adventure was a hike up the mountain across the loche called Beinn Damh which is the view directly across from Eileen's family's village. 

We climbed up the higher visible peek on the right side of this mountain. 

The first part was more like a Tolkien novel. It is lush and wooded with old growth and trickling streams of delicious clean water that we drank.

Soon enough we were climbing up the base of the mountain where nothing grew taller than the heather which makes  these hills green. It was a bit challenging for having a path of loose rocks and gravel or boggy peat, not to mention that it always felt a lot more steep than it looked. 

We had lunch after the bulk of our climb at a location  Eileen identified as the "saddle"- a level expanse that connects the two peeks.

The view was breath taking from the Saddle, though I'm not entirely sure if that was unrelated to the demand the climb had on my lungs.

You can see parts of the Isle of Sky in the hazy distance.

After lunch we pushed on to the peek that offered us the view of her village, Alligin.  

It was quite steep at times :

Alligin is along the distant shore directly behind Eileen. (above).

There was kearn at the top, which is a collaborative stack of rocks marking various climbers presence.

This one was fortified with cement and had a flagpole. 

Heres a 360 degree view from the top, where Eileen hasn't been since she was 13 yrs old. 

In the end, we can claim we climbed 2,700 feet up. Our knees ached, our legs felt like rubber and our reward was a cold beer at the Torridon Inn just near the base of the mountain - where we saw this:

(*we actually chose a peek a couple hundred feet lower than the tallest, for preference to see Eileen's village)

This is great:
Eileen's Aunt and Uncle ran into us after our hike, and joined us for a drink and showed us this photo on their camera they took a couple hrs earlier when they saw us way up on top of the mountain when they were chatting to Eileen's Parents about in Alligin:

not a bad camera from so far away, eh?

Later Eileen's mom made a feast of a dinner party that included smoked salmon on a salad, roast venison with mashed potatoes and a tasty pickled cabbage dish that I had third helpings of. Followed by rhubarb custard and a cheese board from our Tain visit the day before. :)

It was a very good day.