scotland, part 3

[kirkcudbright]

Double dose tonight, because I've been remiss.




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Kylie grooving on the flowers at McCaig's Folly in Oban. They're clearly related to bleeding heart, but they don't have the characteristic heart shape in the blossom. I admit I boosted the red levels, but the face was just plain over-exposed. But I like the effect.

The Isle of Kerrera in Oban Harbor, viewed from inside McCaig's Folly. If you want to see the outside of the Folly, you're just going to have to go to the above site. The short story of the Folly is that a local banker, one John Stuart McCaig by name, commissioned his own private Colosseum, at least partly to provide work for unemployed stonemasons. When he died in 1902, the project died with him, and only the shell remains.

Dunollie Castle, just outside Oban. There have been forts and castles on this site since the 7th century. The current heap dates from the 14th century, and was abandoned in the 18th century. There's a narrow lay-by for parking, a steep scramble up the hill, and signs at the top saying "Private Property - Unsafe". Which is British for "if you get hurt, it's your damn fault." A French family was having a picnic.

Close-up of the window, just because I like ivy. The French family let their kids climb the ruined staircase inside the ruined keep, to have their pictures taken in the window. But Francie wasn't keen on that.

The Fairy Glen, near Uig on the Isle of Skye. Here I'm just going to crib from the guide book: "About a mile up the single track road you enter an eerie, mysterious world of perfectly conical hills, some up to 60 ft high. It's almost inconceivable that these are natural formations and the inevitable mist adds to the spooky strangeness of the place." If the pictures seem a little dark, it's because of the "inevitable mist".

The aforementioned single-track leading into the Fairy Glen. The guide book, by the way, was Footprint Scotland, from Footprint Books. They include a lot of information about local walks of all lengths, while still being closer to a conventional travel guide than to a hiking guide. They also include a lot of off-beat, off-track curiosities like this one. Aside from having the worst index in the known universe, I like this book.