Scotland, day 7, back on the mainland

[low_delta]

After leaving Islay on the ferry in the gale, we headed north on the mainland.






We went up a side road to check out this little swing bridge.


It was built in 1871, to replace an earlier bridge.


Here's how you open it to let your boat through. The crank is leaning up against the bottom. You attach it at the top, and turn the spindle until the bridge swings open.


Dunadd. Today someone told me you can go to the top of this rock. I didn't know it was anything important, I just thought it looked cool and took a picture as we drove by. (click to embiggen)
Originally occupied in the Iron Age, the site later became a seat of the kings of Dál Riata. It is known for its unique stone carvings below the upper enclosure, including a footprint and basin thought to have formed part of Dál Riata's coronation ritual. On the same flat outcrop of rock is an incised boar in Pictish style, and an inscription in the ogham script. The inscription is read as referring to a Finn Manach and is dated to the late 8th century or after.


Then we came to Kilmartin. We saw the cemetery, but had seen quite a few of them already, so it wasn't a high priority to see. But we were stopped by flooding a little way past the town, so we went back to town and parked in the only place there was, which was by the church. So we decided to go in.



There was a small stone building, constructed to shelter some medieval tombstones. There were a couple of older stones inside the church, but it was closed for a funeral.




You can see the flooding. This was in September, before the bad storms of October.










It looked like someone had piled sticks inside a stone enclosure, but I finally decided a bush had grown out of it, and someone had cut it all off.


Loch Linnhe




Argyle Square, in the town of Oban.


The harbor. (click for big)


The town is on a little bay which is in a strait off the larger sea loch. Here, you can see the island of Kerrera, and the Isle of Mull in the distance.



We had lunch in a pub by the harbor, then stopped in at the distillery shop. Nothing much to see - or taste, anyway.






Then we drove on up Loch Linnhe to Fort William. We got checked in at the B&B, and since we still had daylight, we drove over to Glenfinnan to check out the monument.


This was near where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard, and gathered the Clans together for the Jacobite Uprising.






The light just then was amazing. It didn't amount to as much in the photos.


I had seen pictures of this bridge, and The Jacobite steam train on it, and thought it would make a great photo. But it was raining, and everything was muddy, and it was a long walk, and it was getting late, and we hadn't had dinner, and there was no train. It wasn't until after I got back that I learned this was famous from the Harry Potter movies.


I didn't actually enhance the color much.

Comments

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Wow! Some really gorgeous scenery and charming and quaint villages. I can't imagine life there during a wintertime, but these shots make it seem idyllic, aside from the flooding, which seems easy to avoid.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I get the impression that winter is not too bad at lower elevations and closer to the sea. But they can get locked in by snow, up in the mountains.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I like the moodiness of the rainy pictures.
Scotland is good for moodiness.
:)
I didn't know you'd be in Fort William. A friend of mine lives there!

LOVE those medieval tombstones!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

That was our stop for the night. Checked in, saw Glenfinnan, got dinner, bedtime. In the morning, Neptune's Staircase, Ben Nevis Distillery, out.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

It wasn't until after I got back that I learned this was famous from the Harry Potter movies.

I KNEW that thing looked familiar! And the Isle of Mull sounds familiar too, I will have to look it up and see why I "know" of it. So many of these pictures are gorgeous, but that first one just takes my breath away.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'm not really familiar with Mull.

Thanks!

[promiseoftin.livejournal.com]

So green! Love love love!