3 St Helier's Road,
London E10 6BH
0181 556 8928
E-mail 100575.440@CompuServe
August 26, 1995.
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Dear Nan, We got back from holiday in Scotland last weekend, so this week has been very busy, catching up with everything we missed while we were away. Two weeks in Scotland was remarkable this August. The weather was drier than I have ever known it in the Highlands. You could see from one side of a valley to the other nearly all the time. The skies were pure blue and it hardly ever rained! | Click for next picture  |
Click for next picture  |
Generally Scotland is very grey and very wet. The Scotch mist rolls across the road a few yards ahead of you completely obliterating the nearby hillsides. But not this year. The only draw back was the midges! The West Coast of Scotland is famous for midges. They bite you all the time, especially in the morning and the evening. This year even the locals were complaining about them!!! Goodness knows how they manage to wear kilts! |
| We went to a Ceilidh (this word is said Kay-lee) , which is a kind of barn dance, and Laura joined in and did some Scottish Country Dancing. At the Ceilidh the locals had one fear. Outside the hall there were swarms of midges and they didn't want them to get into the hall! | Click for next picture  |
Click for next picture  |
The next day we went to the Highland Games at Lochinver. Here men in kilts threw large pieces of metal long distances and over tall bars. They also threw telegraph poll sized logs called Cabers. Down the other end of the field teenage girls danced various country dances, including an odd one called an Irish Jig during which it looked like they were threatening to hit the audience. |
| Arthur has been a vegetarian for years but recently he started eating meat again, though usually just pork sausages. He doesn't seem to like any other meat. At the Lochinver Games they were selling Venison (deer meat) burgers so we bought him one. He tried it but didn't manage to finish it! | Click for next picture  |
Click for next picture  |
A little later in the holiday we went across the ferry to the Isle of Skye and went to a restaurant where Arthur insisted on having a fillet steak. This time, however, he did say he liked it and managed to eat most of it. It's not easy for him. He still has a brace on his teeth and chewing things can be difficult. Still the brace may come out later this year. We hope so. |
| After the restaurant, when it was starting to get dark we got back into the car and drove to a nature reserve on the Isle of Skye where there is a place where you are supposed to be able to see otters. To get to this you have to drive down a windy single track road across completely desolate moor side and hilltops. We saw something move, which might have been a otter but it was quite a long way away. Then when it was dark we got back into the car and began driving back down the road towards the ferry. But this time every few yards the children spotted a toad on the road! There were hundreds of them and something was attracting them onto the road. Perhaps they catch moths or flies which fly above the road? Anyway we had to drive very slowly along the road in order to spot the toads and drive round them. Sometimes there were two in the road at the same time and it was impossible to steer the car past both. So we stopped the car and the kids jumped out to lift them to safety on the roadside. We eventually got back to the ferry in the pitch dark. It was quite a sight coming across the water from the Kyle of Lochalsh, with all its lights ablaze. | Click for next picture  |
Click for next picture  |
When we got back on the mainland it was getting quite late and the roads were almost empty. Twice we stopped because there were deer on the road! This was a very long day because we were staying in a tiny hamlet in a bay at the end of a single track road. When we set off for Skye we had to drive about ten miles along a narrow road to the major road, itself quite a small country lane. Anyway about five miles along the first road there was a bridge and work was being carried out on this bridge. When we arrived at the bridge there was a queue of cars (a rare sight in the Highlands) and the person in the car at the front seemed to have the opinion the road was going to be blocked all day while they did some work on the bridge. As it happened we waited about an hour while a lorry carrying a huge girder used the narrow track to bring this section to fit into the new bridge. Then they allowed us to pass and we were off to Skye. |
| We also went to a deer park where some of the deer were almost tame. Laura stroked one which came up the fence and then started to walk round the field. She walked through a gate and to her surprise came face to face with two stags! She had walked into the deer ensure by mistake. | Click for next picture  |
Click for next picture  |
We also saw a fair amount of Highland Cattle, lots of sea birds (including oyster catchers), and buzzards which we kept on thinking were Golden Eagles. The buzzards had a high eerie cry like an eagle, but were only about half the size of an eagle. I think you had to get up into the mountains to see a real eagle. But in the valleys we saw lots of pied wagtails. They waited at the road side until the car approached and then flew into our path, trying to distract our attention from a nest nearby. Sometimes when one gave up flying in front of the car another would take over. Miraculously we never hit one of these birds, but they did fly very close to the car. At Gairloch we went walking in some gardens which are a bit like Kew Gardens. This part of the North West Coast of Scotland is supposed to benefit from warm weather thanks to the Gulf Stream, which runs up the coastline here keeping the water warmer. That's the theory and certainly they do seem to have lush vegetation, but when we paddled in the sea the water seemed to be extremely cold. Colder than you'd find it in Norfolk in November. |
| I am sending you photos of Arthur and Laura taken in Scotland. The one of Laura was taken while she was doing some field work for Geography. Next year Laura has to take her GCSE exams! The one of Arthur was taken in front of a huge waterfall which we had to trek about two miles along a narrow path to reach.There are lots more photos and when I come to see you I will bring them all. In the mean time I also enclose the latest copy of Yours. | Click for next picture  |