50th birthday holiday

50th Birthday Holiday 15: Homeward Bound

An account in three parts of the return journey from the far west of Scotland to my home in eastern England,, by way of a conclusion to my series about my holiday around my 50th birthday.

Welcome to the final instalment in my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around my 50th birthday. The previous post dealt with the birthday meal, which was the last significant event of the holiday itself. This post looks at the journey home.

ACHNOSNICH TO CRIANLARICH

To combat the perils of Sunday travelling (necessitated by my birthday itself falling on a Saturday this year) I had limited the train part of my journey to Crianlarich, a junction station where the routes from Oban and Mallaig meet on their way into Glasgow, although I could have got significantly closer to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula had I trusted the Mallaig branch to be running. Thus for the first part of the journey I would be travelling in my parents car, sharing the back seat with my bags. We had decided that we should aim to be away by 9AM, to ensure getting to Crianlarich in good time. I did not have a booked seat on either this train or the connecting service from Glasgow to Edinburgh, but I did have a booked seat on the train from Edinburgh to Peterborough, and to make that I had to make both previous trains. We had a smooth journey to Crianlarich, though the sight of a crowd of people outside the station caused a bit of worry. It turned out that they were waiting for a replacement bus as a train heading towards Oban had malfunctioned and had to be pulled from service. There was thankfully no hint of trouble affecting services heading into Glasgow. Because of the role Crianlarich plays in this section of the railway the arrival of the service coming in from Oban did not end the wait – we still had to wait for the service from Mallaig to arrive and be coupled to the other for the onward run to Glasgow.

Here are my photos from Achosnich up to and including the platform at Crianlarich Station…

CRIANLARICH TO EDINBURGH

The run from Crianlarich to Glasgow was smooth but left me only a few minutes to make the change of trains at Glasgow Queen Street. The run on to Edinburgh was also smooth, and at Edinburgh Waverley I had the luxury of time. Owing to the station cafe at Crianlarich being closed and there being no other opportunities en route it was not until Waverley, around about 4:30PM, that I had the opportunity to get food. Safely ensconced in my booked seat for the long, though fast, run to Peterborough, and thus knowing that I would be home that night, I phoned my parents to let them know that all was going to be OK.

Here are my photographs for this section of the journey:

EDINBURGH TO HOME

The Edinburgh to Peterborough run was smooth, though a trifle crowded. Just south of York I visited the buffet car for further sustenance. Owing to the fact that Sunday night train and bus services overlapped very poorly I was making the journey on from Peterborough by train on this occasion, which meant a change at Ely. Fortunately there were no issues at any stage, and it would have been about 11:15PM, somewhat more than 14 hours after setting off from Achosnich, that I got back to my home in North Lynn (the train to Lynn arrived there at about 10:50, but when tired and carrying holiday baggage the walk from the station to North Lynn is not as insignificant as I generally consider it).

Here are my photos from Edinburgh to home…

50th Birthday Holiday 14: The Birthday Meal

Continuing my account of my holiday in far western Scotland around the time of my 50th birthday with an account of the birthday meal.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around my 50th birthday. Following on from the post about the morning and afternoon of the day itself (Saturday 31 May) we now deal with the evening, when we having the birthday meal.

MINGARY CASTLE

The birthday meal was booked for the Mingary Castle restaurant, and it seemed logical to arrive a bit early and have time to look at the castle and its grounds. In appearance Mingary Castle looks much as Tioram Castle, at the extreme east of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, would had it not been allowed to fall into ruins (check this post from three years ago for more about Tioram). There are some splendid sea views from the grounds (while the castle does have windows they are effectively functionless). There is also an interesting little display near the car parking area including sculptures of two frogs and a bench on which three monkey sculptures sit side by side, one seeing no evil, one hearing no evil and one speaking no evil. Inside the castle is quite impressive as well.

THE MEAL ITSELF

There were some things that would be served anyway, and we had to choose two course out of three from a set menu. Since the starter was entirely tomato based we went for the main course and the dessert. When it came to drinks they had beer available – I chose a local product called Dark Mile, which proved to be excellent. The meal was magnificently cooked, especially the lamb for the main course, which was done in three different ways.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from the evening…

50th Birthday Holiday 13: Portuairk Walk

Continuing my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around my 50th birthday with the first of two posts about the day itself.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in Scotland around the time of my 50th birthday. We have arrived at the day itself, the last full day of the holiday.

THE BIRTHDAY MORNING

Saturday May 31st started with heavy rainfall. I had brought my sister’s present to me with me so I would have something to open on the day, and my mother had brought a card from an aunt. This card is splendid, and now has its place in my collection of railwayana. The present from my sister was an incomplete scorecard from the legendary 1926 test match at The Oval, where England secured their first Ashes series win since before WWI. From the parts of the scorecard that were pre-filled in and the additions by its original owner I deduce that whoever it was attended days two and three in person but was not there for Australia’s final collapse on day four, though they definitely knew about it since at the bottom of the scorecard there is in big red characters (probably by way of a marker pen) the result: England won by 289 runs. There is a detailed account of this match written pretty much contemporaneously since England chairman of selectors at the time Pelham Warner wrote a book about the 1926 Ashes, “The Fight For The Ashes 1926”, a copy of which is in my cricket library.

PORTUAIRK

In the afternoon the weather cleared up, and we walked to Portuairk and did some exploration of the seaside there. This helped us work up an appetite for the birthday meal, which will be the subject of the next post in the series.

PHOTOGRAPHS

To view pictures at full size click on them/ If you open the first picture in the gallery you can view all of them, including an option to do so as a slide show. Here are the photographs that relate to this post…

50th Birthday Holiday 12: Sanna

Continuing my account of my holiday in the far west of Scotland around the time of my 50th birthday with a post about our visit to Sanna.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around the time of my 50th birthday. This is the third post about the activities of a fairly busy Friday (May 30th), following on from the account of the Glenborrodale Nature Reserve walk and a post about the activities of the middle part of the day. This post covers our visit to Sanna.

AN OVERVIEW OF SANNA

Here is a map showing the location of Sanna:

This map, cropped from an image of a larger map, shows the location of Sanna and some other west Ardnamurchan landmarks, including the port of Kilchoan, the lighthouse and Achosnich, where we were staying.

Sanna is right in the heart of a ring of mountains created by volcanic action many millions of years ago, and is considered a site of Special Scientific Interest. This is also an area where crofting is practised, which means that sheep graze on the open land. As a visitor then (not applicable to us as none of us are pet owners) it is your responsibility to keep your pet under tight control – your right to have your pet run loose ends well before the crofters rights to have their sheep graze in safety begin – and if your pet is making trouble it may well be shot and you will have no redress. In addition to this the basic general rule of being out in the green places applies: take nothing except photographs and leave nothing except footprints.

WHERE THE LAND MEETS THE SEA

Although Sanna is about as far from the birthplace of golf as one can get while still being in mainland Scotland (St Andrews is on the east coast of Scotland) the land in its vicinity is very much of the type of which that game was first played – the word links in its golf context derives from the terrain in question linking the land and the sea. It must be acknowledged that although I would regard building such a thing there as an act of desecration that the grassland around Sanna would undoubtedly make a very challenging golf course. There is a splendid river mouth very close to Sanna – it formed the furthest limits of our exploration. Some of the buildings in Sanna are quite interesting, but the true delight of the area is of course its scenery. There are detailed information boards about the geology of the area, to top up what I covered in this post. I enjoyed my visit and would recommend a visit there if you ever in the area (it would be an absurdly long detour if you were not already in the area for another purpose).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from Sanna.

The western half of the Ardnamurchan peninsula as viewed from space.

50th Birthday Holiday 11: the Middle of Friday

The middle part of the Friday of my birthday holiday – Camas Nan Geall, Kilchoan Jetty, an abortive attempt to access Greadal Fhinn and a successful location of St Comghan’s church.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around the time of my 50th birthday. This post follows naturally from its immediate predecessor in the series.

CAMAS NAN GEALL

We had passed this on our way to the nature reserve and wanted a closer look, so on the way back we stopped there. We did not go all the way down to the seaside, but there was nevertheless plenty to see. We encountered a group of birdwatchers who had eyes on a white tailed eagle (it was too distant to be seen without binoculars). We had prepared sandwiches for lunch and I ate mine here.

KILCHOAN JETTY AND AN ABORTIVE WALK

We needed to visit the shop in Kilchoan anyway, and Kilchoan Jetty is very close to the shop. We also attempted to visit an old burial site called Greadal Fhinn but that proved abortive.

KILCHOAN OLD CHURCH

We were able, after a small amount of confusion over how to access it, to get to the old, now ruined, church of Kilchoan, dedicated to St Comghan. The new church and accompanying new manse have car parking space, and the walk up to the old church, which goes through two fields and along a stretch of what was once the old manse’s driveway. The site is very attractive and commands some splendid views. St Comghan started life as an eighth century prince of Leinster, but fled his native land and came to Scotland. The church named in his honour served Kilchoan for at least half a millennium. I end this post at this point, because our final port of call on this day, Sanna, merits a post of its own.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from this part of Friday…

50th Birthday Holiday 10: Glenborrodale Nature Reserve

Continuing my account of my 50th birthday holiday with an account of the walk around Glenborrodale nature reserve.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around the time of my 50th birthday (I was away from 25th May to 1st June inclusive). We are now starting to deal with Friday May 30th which was a fairly busy day.

WHEN WEST IS EAST

Glenborrodale is itself pretty far west, and the nature reserve is west of the village. Thus most people approaching the nature reserve do from the east, to the point that the directions in our booklet of walks for getting there assumed as a default that everyone would be approaching from the east. However, we were actually approaching from the west, which meant that the instructions for getting there had to be mentally flipped – we had to realize that we were going to see the nature reserve before we saw the village it is named after. Here is a map plus some supplementary detail:

This map, extracted from the information board at Strontian, shows the whole Ardnamurchan Peninsula. We were staying more or less at the point where the road to the lighthouse diverges from the road to Portuairk, right at the western end of the peninsula, while Glenborrodale is in the south-eastern corner of the peninsula. This was actually the furthest east we travelled on any of our excursions during the week.

THE WALK

The walk is circular, ending with a stretch along the road to get back to the car park. The nature reserve part of the walk starts with a long ascent, then a brief flat patch where one walks on boardwalks (these boardwalks are superb, and made the walk much more enjoyable than it might have been). Then there is a long downhill section back to the road. There are information boards at various points along the route about what you can see. This nature reserve is under the aegis of the RSPB and they have a section about this walk on their website. I did not manage to spot a Violet Beetle, but I did get one green bodied dragon fly and three common/ highland darters in the course of the walk. I thoroughly recommend this walk should you be in the area.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is my gallery from this walk….

A brightly colour butterfly resting on a dandelion.

50th Birthday Holiday 9: Achosnich and Portuairk

A look at the areas closest to where we were staying. Most of the pictures come from two walks to and from Portuairk, but some were taken through the car window, and some just outside out converted caravan.

This is the ninth post in my series about my recent holiday in Scotland. Achosnich, where we were staying can barely said to be a place at all – about five houses clustered immediately above a road junction where the road out from Kilchoan splits into two, one leg going up through Achosnich and on to the small seaside village of Portuairk and the other going to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse and the westernmost point of mainland Britain. The photos in this post were mainly taken during two walks on the Thursday, when the weather was too bad to permit major excursions.

A CONVERTED CARAVAN

The main body of the house in which we were staying started life as a caravan. To make a house of it a porch area/ utility room was added to one side of the centre of the building. This, which also houses a washing machine and drying frames, is reasonably spacious, as are the dining and living room areas, though the kitchen is cramped, and no more than one person should be trying to do things there at any one time. The main bedroom has a small amount of space around the bed, and has been painted an unappealing shade of purple. The second bedroom has a not terribly large bed with some space its foot, and a wardrobe and two drawers in one corner (these, and the frame of the wall mounted mirror are painted the same shade of purple is as on show in the master bedroom). There is just about space between the side of the bed and the wall of the bedroom to sideways shuffle along the side of the bed. The shower room has the shower cubicle itself, with a good strong protective curtain, and a tiny anteroom area where one towel can be hung on the rail. The lavatory and bathroom sink are in a similar sized ‘room’, with both being more like cupboards than real rooms.

THE WALK TO PORTUAIRK

The walk to Portuairk features some excellent views, and Portuairk itself is a very scenic village. The road continues at sea level until the start of a footpath the leads to MacNeil Bay. On these occasions I did not spend much time in the environs of Portuairk, though there will be another post later in this series from an occasion when I spent longer there.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the pictures for this post…

50th Birthday Holiday 8: MacNeil Bay

Continuing my series about my Scottish holiday with a post about a walk to MacNeil Bay.

This is my eighth post in my series about my holiday in the far west of Scotland around my 50th birthday (a full week – May 25th to June 1st inclusive). It follows on from the visit to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse.

THE WALK TO MACNEIL BAY

The path we followed left the road a noticeable way back inland from the lighthouse. MacNeil Bay was the first destination, and had we felt like doing so we could have walked on to Portuairk. In the event, the walk down to the bay and a bit of time spent there was amply sufficient. MacNeil Bay is very beautiful, and we were there in good weather.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from this walk and the bay itself…

50th Birthday 7: Ardnamurchan Lighthouse

An account of our visit to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse and its surrounds, with a ohoto gallery.

On Wednesday afternoon we visited Ardnamurchan Lighthouse. This post looks back at that visit. This is a transition point in one way – after spending most of yesterday travelling I am back home in King’s Lynn now.

THE WESTERN TIP OF MAINLAND BRITAIN

The lighthouse, a Stevenson design, is reasonably impressive but hardly distinctive. Behind the lighthouse there are some stunning views, and a small exhibition about some of the sea creatures that can on occasions be seen in this part of the world. There are also a few other bits, including an area where stone was once quarried (if there is one thing other than water that this part of Scotland has in abundance it is stone).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from the environs of Ardnamurchan Lighthouse

Me, standing as far west as is possible in mainland Britain.

50th Birthday Holiday 6: Travelling on the Waverley

An account of my voyage aboard the paddle steamer The Waverley, complete with photo gallery.

This is the sixth post in my series about a holiday in the far west of Scotland. Additionally I scheduled a post to appear this morning, on the day itself, as I could not be sure how many (if any) posts I would be able to put up during the holiday itself. My previous post in the series was about the paddle steamer The Waverley, and now I follow up with one about our voyage aboard that ship.

ABOARD THE WAVERLEY

We boarded the Waverley at Tobermory and 2:15PM on Tuesday May 27th, and were aboard for approximately three hours. In that time the ship should have travelled around the Isle of Muck and back to Tobermory. However, the sea was rather rough, and the ship’s captain wisely decided that this plan was not safe under the circumstances. The voyage took in Loch Sunart instead (Loch Sunart is a ‘sea loch’, which is the same thing as a fjord). I spent most of the voyage outside on deck, enjoying the views, though I ventured inside on a few brief occasions – making sure I saw everything of interest inside the ship, and also using the fact that engine was viewable, and that this was the warmest area on board, which meant that it was suitable when a quick warm up was needed. The voyage was great fun, even with the route having to be altered.

PHOTOGRAPHS

These are the pictures I took while on deck during this voyage…

	GP on A Cornish Christmas 1: A Curat…
	Renegades Blown Away… on England Fightback Comes Too…
	The First Two Days i… on A Successful Auction
	Marizanne’s Mastercl… on From Victory to Rout in Two…
	From Victory to Rout… on An Extraordinary Opening …