Travel Journal March 23, 1999
A sortie to the very north.

North Scotland

I was torn at this point. Rick had laid out a number of options for me at this point - to go north, towards the Orkneys (to be avoided if the weather was bad) and a southern route. The weather wasn't particularly good, but I wanted to see the very north of Scotland.

On the somewhat dubious theory that the weather would probably get worse before it could get better, I decided to make a quick sortie to the northernmost point in Scotland, and then return to Inverness and proceed along the southern route.

On the way I passed by a farm which had, among other things, some Llamas. However, I could not get a good picture of them without tresspassing, and there didn't seem to be anyone at home at that time.

Further north, I stopped at the Caithness glass works, a place that makes decorative glass vases, ornaments, and other glass items. I spent about a half hour in the viewing gallery watching the workers on the factory floor.

 

The landscape up here in the north is relatively flat.

I finally reached Dunnet point, the most northerly point in the mainland UK. There's no grass or trees here, only heather; The place looks quite desolate.

 

Nearby, however, were some interesting cliffs.

   

The next set of pictures were taken after I had passed Inverness, along the road to Invergarry. The landscape here is quite dramatic.

   

That night, I reached Eilean Donan castle, but it was too dark to do anything. I found a local B&B nearby in Dornie (a stone's throw from the castle), had dinner in a pub, and went to bed.