Inverness castle. It wasn’t built to be lived in. It was a courthouse up until about 5 years ago when they refreshed it and turned it into a Scottish highlands museum experience.

Love the inclusion of faries and brownies in an area about local fauna.

Someone had fun making this log look like the Loch Ness monster coming out of the Ness River.

Kings cross station. Sadly, our train didn’t leave from platform 9 3/4.

We took a boat trip on Loch Ness to Urquhart castle. It is mostly a ruin on a picturesque and strategic place in the loch.

Rehabilitated church window at the castle.

Highland coos are very popular!

Bright flowers in the town center.

Map of Scottish clans. Zoom in on the yellow dot that is Inverness. MacGillivrays to the right!

Hogwarts?

View of Inverness from one of the castle towers.

Fun part of a tapestry exhibit.

Nessie 🤪

Funny sign.

It has a beautiful garden with some meticulously trimmed hedges.

Boats unlikely to be in the water again.

Thurso bridge.

A cool bench made in a similar fashion to the walls that divide fields.

Thurso beach with a cruise ship parked where we’ll be catching the ferry tomorrow.

This one was repurposed to a garden shed.

Fancy town flowers.

We have transitioned to Thurso for a night to catch the ferry to the Orkney islands. The scenery between Inverness and Thurso was beautiful. It was so calm the water was like glass.

I didn’t really see the old man in the pillar but it is impressive.

There is a distinctive pillar on the island of Hoy called the Old Man of Hoy. The ferry goes right past it.

Haggis, let alone vegetarian a haggis, is not something you see at the grocery store every day 😀.

Jessee on the ferry.

There are daunting cliffs.

It looks like a fist in salute from this view.

And future pillars.

This is the ferry we took. It was about an hour and a half trip.

The heather is blooming!

Peat. It’s largely made up of thousands of years of decaying heather.

The oven where peat is burned to basically cold smoke the barley to add flavor.

A very cool chair distinct to Orkney. The hood is made of woven grain stalks.

The first archaeological site we visited was the Broch of Gurness. The tower that the buildings center around was the Broch. A 40 or so foot tower. This was in 5000 BC. Hard to wrap my brain around.

A sampling.

The exact purpose of the site is a mystery. It’s much older than Stonehenge.

Light on the ocean while a boat was coming out of the water in a very high tech manner…

Our trusty car.

It originally had about 60 standing stones. 36 remain today.

This is the Brough of Brisay. At low tide, people can walk across from the main Orkney island. There’s a lighthouse and both Pictish and Viking ruins. The tide didn’t get low enough today for us to try it.

The Spanish and American oak sherry barrels that give whisky its color and much of its flavor. It has to be in the barrels for at least 3 years to qualify as whisky. This distillery leaves it in for a minimum of 12 years.

Lastly we visited one of the largest standing stone sites in Britain. The ring of Brodgar.

This floor is usually covered in barley about a foot deep.

Garden with a view.

Such a cute house!

More types of seaweed than I’ve ever seen in one place.

Mash tuns where the barley is added to water and yeast.

The distilling machinery where what was basically beer is distilled into liquor.

Jessee inside the tower remains.

Wheelbarrow used to move the barley which was recently soaked in water to a long floor where it’s allowed to start sprouting for about a week.

Yeast doing its thing.

Boats used by a trout fishing club.

A minion advertising for a food truck.

Sunken ship alongside one of the causeways. The causeways were originally built in WWII and called Churchills barriers. The intent was to block easy navigation for German boats and submarines to a nearby allied port. The long term benefit has been to make getting between the islands much easier.

The seaweed here is beautiful.

Inside the tomb. The roof stones were removed during the excavation and later replaced with more modern materials and skylights.

The entry to the tomb is quite low and narrow. Visitors can crawl in on hands and knees or lie down on what is essentially a big skateboard and use the rope along the ceiling to pull yourself through the tunnel.

Causeway between islands.

Lots of weather blowing through creating rainbows.

A cute coffee shop /bar in the town of St. Margaret’s Hope where we took a break after our walk.

Creative gate.

Our new and shiny wellies for walking in inclement weather.

A lovely little community garden in the same town.

Bench with a view on the path back.

The way out.

Giant blocks creating the causeways.

Jessee leading the way.

Jessee’s going in!

Gathering nook.

Our destination is the small hill to the left. It’s a Neolithic tomb named Tomb of the Eagles due to the quantity of sea eagle remains found alongside the 50 plus human skeleton remains. Quite an eternal view.

Barley and clouds.

Archeologists aren’t sure if the roofs were sod or animal skins.

These are the standing stones of Stenness. They are within sight of the standing stones we visited the other day.

We capped off the day with a pipe band performance in Kirkwall.

This is the Gloup. A sink hole that created a sea arch.

The dwellings had stone furniture like the shelves pictured here, bed alcoves, a hearth, jewelry, pottery, tools, etc.

There aren’t any square spaces or straight line walls. I love the curved organic structures.

A highland coo.

The Italian Chapel built by Italian prisoners of war during WWII. It’s made of two Quonset huts and a lot of artistry. The POW’s were here to build the Churchill barricades.

This is a reproduction of a dwelling at Skara Brae, a Neolithic Stone Age settlement exposed in sand dunes after a huge storm in the 1950’s.

Such clear water!

The settlement is along this beach about even with the people on the beach.

The hanging light fixtures were crafted from ration cans. The windows are painted glass.

The bricks are plaster painted to look 3-dimensional.

There are remains of an 11th century church on the promontory along with other structures. Not the most inviting place to live and tricky to get to up and down cliffs.

The dwelling the recreation was based on.

Walk to the cairn.

Also lots of nautical embellishments like bouys and whale skulls. I’d love to see the inside of this cottage!

This poster in the visitors center shows it in a way I can’t capture. It refers to it as a tomb, but there’s debate about that and it may actually be the equivalent of a temple.

Lots of fishing boats and the ferry to mainland Scotland in the background.

Entry.

Lots of stone construction.

This is the main historic street where most of the business and many houses are located.

Many houses have colorful flowers at the front door.

Pocket park along the road with benches and a view.

Narrow alleys run off the stree up the hill to more homes.

Houses built right on the water.

We were super lucky to come across a traditional music session in a cozy pub along the way.

We’ve been fortunate in getting to see some of the most notable archeological sites and capped things off with the best one, the Maeshowe Chambered Cairn.

They didn’t allow us to take photos inside so this is a photo from the visitors center. The doorway aligns with the winter solstice sunset and the whole chamber is illuminated over a period of a week before and after solstice in December. Assuming the sun is visible, which in winter is not frequent.

Finally, we visited some wild cliffs and an impressive rock column on the northwest of the island referred to as Yesnaby.

3-D printed replica of the layout.

Rain boots are popular planters.

Fun door accessories.

Visitor center cat 😀

Similar to a firewood honesty box.

Cute yarn shop window.

Evening at the beach.

Hot tub and bubble on someone’s pier.

Super cool garage made out of a boat.

A little pocket beach just across from where we’re staying. People were swimming there all throughout the day. It’s very popular!

There is a lot of Viking history here.

Dramatic cliffs right in town.

Main commercial street with turrets and murals.

A traditional music session. This one was drop in where anyone who came with an instrument could join in. Most of the others we’ve been to were made up of musicians who play together regularly

Fun door hardware.

Very unique honesty box for peat, once one of the primary heating sources in Scotland. It’s still used

Thousands of years of building on top of past buildings.

A bit of a Jarlshof overview.

View from the top of the Lairds house.

Yellow lichen.

Lighthouse in the distance.

I imagine the Norse had laundry too…

How many hands have ground grain with this?

Our first Shetland pony sighting.

There is a small airport nearby. The road goes directly over one end of the runway. Much like a train crossing, lights will flash and a barricade comes down to stop traffic when a plane lands.🤪

The little figure is Jessee.

Dinner with delicious local scallops and salmon.

This bird was very busy with things to do and places to go.

A bit of weather on the horizon.

Jessee made a friend. It wasn’t taking no for an answer.

Honeysuckle

Blondie pony.

So many windmills in this very windy place.

The cliffs it overlooks.

Boat planter.

The Eshaness Lighthouse.

We got a couple sweets.

Prolific daisies.

This cat had definitely seen some things.

The inside of the soap and sweets box.

Garden bike.

Minions are very popular!

The inside of the Tony’s box. Very cute.

Dramatic scenery.

Whimsical public toilets with planters made from toilets.

There’s typically a box for money with some change left out if folks don’t have the exact amount, and often a notebook to record what was bought.

And fancy use of boats.

Basking birds.

We visited a Crofthouse museum which was interesting.

The staircase which we went up to the top.

The latitude here is similar to Anchorage, New Foundland, and St. Petersburg but much less cold due to the Gulf Stream.

Someone’s cute garden decoration.

Old boats were used as roofs of accessory buildings.

The inside of the Broch.

Sunset back in Lerwick.

The main draw of the island is the Mousa Broch. It’s the most intact of the several hundred Broch tower structures in Scotland. It’s over 2,000 years old and about 43 feet high .

This is the boat we took to get to the island. They gave us a couple hours to walk around then we took it back.

There were croftwrs living in the island up into the 1900’s but no people remain.

Looking down into the middle.

Bout art/pyramid.

More ponies.

We also visited a replica of a Viking long house. There are many ruins on Unst of longhouses but none this intact.

A very sweet garden.

Blooming heather.

A decorated bus stop. Apparently the theme changes annually with the current theme being the mad hatters tea party. Plus an Argentinian Puffin for good measure.

I think this plant is in the carnivorous variety that uses the little spines on its leaves to capture insects.

There is also a replica Viking ship.

Second smaller ferry. Jessee thought it would be funny to paint shark teeth along the opening.

Jessee way down at the opposite end.

As usual, there were honesty boxes but their wares were not at all usual.

We visited a nature preserve that is home to many thousands of migratory birds at various times of year. It’s also home to various marsh and bog plants.

First bigger ferry.

Manning the rudder that has some fun carvings.

Cotton grass, my favorite.

Another bus stop had a rival Spanish Puffin.

We visited a boat center preserving the many types of fishing boats of the past.

Tiny funghi.

We arrived!

The UK’s most northern post office!

The little beach where beachcombing took place at high tide.

Our final Lerwick dinner with a lovely view complete with rainbow.

Love the snail embellishment.

The traffic cone strikes again!

These Viking hats are adorable.

Final Shetland pony.

Boats of all shapes and sizes ply the waters.

Just waiting for a photo to be taken.

The view from our kitchen window. I loved seeing what new boats were tied up or coming and going each day. That 3 masted sailing ship was something! The Northlink boat is what we took from Orkney to Shetland then back to Aberdeen.

Beach combing finds. Pottery, ceramic, vertebrae, mystery. Maybe a tooth????

We paid a quick visit to the smaller and quieter town of Scalloway that had a great little museum and some colorful buildings.

The water comes right up to the doors at high tide.

Ferry terminal windows.

One way to repurpose an unused telephone box.

Made in Shetland with Shetland wool and pattern - new hat for Anita 😀.

This building construction debris tube producing flowers is great.

Love the Legos filling in the cracks.

Bórdalo is an artist we came to know in Portugal. He repurposed trash to create animals. The unicorn is Scotlands National animal.

Very fancy!

Chill attendee.

Lots of attendees!

Hurry back.

The massed pipe band marching around the grounds. I think the small green building on the left is where royalty views the action from when they’re present.

Pointy spears and fancy dress.

There were some great outfits and hundreds of examples of tartan patterns. A great mix of traditional and not very traditional.

A hundred thousand welcomes at the entrance to the grounds.

Braemar is a super cute village with some lovely cottages.

Tug of war.

This was one pipe band practicing outside the games grounds.

It’s been used for filming in movies including the version of Hamlet with Mel Gibson.

Fish captains and Spinge Bob singing.

Stonehaven harbor buildings.

The next castle is Crathes which was built in the late 1500’s and lived in by the family who owned it for over 400 years. It’s now managed by the National Trust. It’s furnished and well maintained but not lived in.

It has a beautiful garden.

The town of Stonehaven has a small harbor with some fun sculptures.

Old and new.

Village and industry.

There’s an old fishing village on one end of the beach that is now surrounded by an industrial zone. The cottages are very atmospheric. It would be an interesting place to live.

Dog park supplies and what looks like an air control tower in the background but I think is for ships coming in and out of the port.

A few more murals.

Oil is complicated.

Maybe too many satellite dishes? These can’t all still be working?

A couple university photos for old times sake.

We saw this artist in Portugal too. More blue tiled hues there. Note the tree growing in the chimney.

When I lived here in College I could see oil rigs from the beach. Now there are windmills.

The beachfront in Aberdeen is sooooooo long.

Kings college.

Our train car on the way back to Fort William.

Going back over the viaduct.

Our train car on the way to Mallaig.

We’re ready!

The train in Mallaig.

Weather moving in.

We got a box of tea accompaniments.

A whisky and chocolate pairing.

The other Harry Potter filming location along the route is this island which was used as the site for Dumbledores tomb.

Mallaig is primarily a fishing town and also supports ferries to the islands of Skye and some of the Hebrides.

It also has ice cream!

This is the iconic Glenfinnan Viaduct. Note all the people on the hillside waiting to see the train go by.

Coos from our lodging window.

On our drive from Aberdeen to Fort William we stopped at Dalwhinnie Distillery. It’s the first whisky that Jessee liked.

The scenery along the way is beautiful. Mountains, ocean, lochs, forest.

We saw some Hoghland Cows near a castle we visited. So dang cute!

The Glen Coe visitor center has reproduced a thatched roof crofting house similar to what people who lived here would have built.

Kilchurn Castle.

There are lots of beach daisies.

This is a very cute honor box. Unfortunately it was empty.

Glacial valley.

This is part of the Three Sisters formation view. Stunning.

Cluck Norris has been slacking!

Lots of different heather blooming.

We spent a day making our way through the valley and viewpoints of Glen Coe. This is a nice small loch with a path around. Such a still moment.

Enticing side paths.

There is a lot of craftsmanship and many layers involved.

Castle Stalker. Otherwise known as Castle Aarrruggghh in Monty Python and the Hily Grail 🤪.

The light is something.

Fungi

It was a bridge day! This is a bridge we can see from our lodging in Perth. Love that they light it up at night.

The bridge!

A frog that hopped across the path.

Trail through the woods. It made good use of our wellies - it was very muddy.

We then took a fun walk through some lovely woods to a pretty magical bridge called Fairy Bridge, a random Google Maps find that was pretty cool.

Waterfall along the way.

Enjoying pizza at a pub in Dunkeld. You might not recognize Jessee without one of his jackets 😉

Mural in the center of Perth.

And lots of mushrooms.

Also forests of moss.

Scottish Gnome.

Colorful flowers outside a pub in Dunkeld.

And a surprising totem pole collaboratively carved by Squamish First Nations and Scottish artists.

Its base is hollow.

This is a huge oak tree.

We took a walk at The Hermitage nature center near the town of Dunkeld north of Perth. A nice path along the river with falls.

We also took a stroll in Birnham woods which was the inspiration for the forest in MacBeth. This is a huge old Sycamore tree.

We came back to this lovely view at our lodging. The tide had reached an equilibrium and the water was so still.

The woodlands had lots of mushrooms.

A replica of the Stone of Scone, or Stone of destiny. It was stolen in the 1200’s by an English king and taken to London where it remained until 1996 when it was returned to the museum in Perth. It was most recently borrowed and used in King Charles coronation.

Mossy Rowan tree.

There were typical beautiful colored peacocks on the grounds and also this striking white one.

The gardens were lovely and had a whole section dedicated to Dahlias.

Jessee holding his imaginary Scepter and crown.

Yarn bombed post box.

Pup getting a ride.

There’s a bespoke Sporran maker in Perth who makes very untraditional sporrans like this one. Hilarious with the traffic cones which are famous in Scotland for ending up on the heads of statues. A sporran is an accessory to a kilt.

We’ve seen some fun art like this knitted Nessie.

It’s in an enclosure to protect it from vandalism.

Pretty viaduct.

Mountain rescue diorama on the edge of a building.

Woodlands

Hay bale tower.

These falls and tree in the middle of the river are in the town of Killin..

Success! Ice cream at a local dairy.

Fungi

See the sporran on this carved bagpiper as an example.

We visited what is likely the oldest tree in the UK. The Fortingall Yew at several thousand years old.

We visited the Perth Museum with the actual Stone of Destiny but no photos were allowed. We were able to photograph a cast of the largest Salmon I’ve ever seen that weighed 64 pounds and was over 4 feet long!!!! Caught by a female fisherperson on the river Tay in 1922.

The hotel where we’re staying.

Neon unicorn at the museum.

We paid a last visit to the local dairy with delicious ice cream.

And a drowsy pig.

We ended up in Edzell where Jessee’s parents were stationed for several years in the 1960’s.

The next was a small but mighty garden named Branklyn garden. They had a lot of unique things flowering and a number of fruit trees mixed in.

The bar at the hotel which won an award several years ago for the most bottles of whiskey on hand. This is just one wall of four.

An arch over the road entering Edzell.

The first garden highlights the many many types of heather found in Scotland. We’re lucky to see it at a time of year when most types are blooming.

A funny sheep at the farm.

Strawberry and Nutella flavor with a stick of tablet (Scottish fudge).

View from the cottage looking back to the castle.

Garden wall.

A summer cottage in one corner of the garden.

Tower spiral staircase.

There are salmon that spawn here.

This would have been a very fancy room with plaster on the walls and wood paneling.

The formal garden.

We took a nice walk on a riverside trail that is reached by going through a blue door in a wall. Very fairy tale like.

There’s a pretty wetland area around the Kelpies with lots of birds.

Some in their natural state.

Finally we visited the old Stirling bridge. This location was where William Wallace led the successful battle.

Some in metal.

View from the bridge.

The bridge had a couple sleepy dragon guardians.

We were there in the day but apparently they are nicely lit up at night.

His sword is very long. He must have been quite tall for it to not have drug along the ground!

They’re super visible from the freeway and part of an extensive park and pathway along the canal.

There were a lot of thistles in our wanderings today. Some in stone.

A fun end to the day was learning that we were awarded tickets to a home Wrexham match in October through their ticket lottery system. We’re excited!

Wallace led a movement for Scottish independence in the late 1200’s and had a significant although temporary victory.

View of the bridge.

We also visited the Wallace monument in Stirling dedicated to William Wallace, the Scottish hero who was the inspiration for the movie Braveheart.

Multiple bridges- for people, traffic, and trains.

View of Stirling from the monument.

This is Victoria street which was possibly an inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

The required cones on the monument.

The top of the Royal Mile from the castle at the top to Holyrood palace at the bottom.

So many locks.

Scary plague doctor statue. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in the under building tour but this was okay.

The Walter Scott monument.

The castle was undergoing some post Fringe Festival event take down so not super photogenic.

There are some fun buildings in Edinburgh.

There be dragons in doorways.

Very colorful shop fronts.

Coffee and cake break! Lemon Blueberry which is a favorite.

Fancy ceilings.

Trying out the throne for size.

Boats travel along the elevated canal channel and are lowered down to the next level via the wheel.

Many unicorns

Tea and cake break!

We made a visit to the Falkirk Wheel. An engineering marvel and the only boat lift of its kind in the world.

Tunnel approaching the wheel from the boat level perspective.

Boat sitting in the bottom compartment that had just traveled down.

River house boats are available to rent to vacation on and travel through the canals. Kind of like an RV on the water.

The great hall where lots of feasting took place.

And lions.

Possibly the most perfect dandelion ever.

Dining area with our drinks.

Restaurant Welcome Area

Really good apple pie and Chantilly cream.

We took a nice walk afterwards through a raised bog, marshes and birch woodland.

Fresh sourdough, scallop ragú on toast, tomato broth. All delicious!

The ferry.

Lots of fungi.

Small beach.

Looking toward Inchcailleach, our destination.

Pier on the island.

Cute house near the ferry.

A very cute gardening oriented honesty box on the drive back to Stirling.

Smaller beach.

The ferry waiting area.

There are two paths on the island. One that is a loop and one that goes to the highest point. We choose the loop.

So mossy!

Enticing path from the pier.

Fun sclptures along the path between the cottage and museum.

Twa dogs.

His desk and chair in later life.

The chieftain o the puddin race (haggis isn’t the most artful sculpture subject).

A wee timid mousie.

Childhood cottage.

An interesting face on a building across from the Burns cottage that is in no way related but was unusual.

The grocery store closest to our lodging. Small yet a great selection.

In our experience so far, about 50% of the bus stops here have supplemental seating.

Sunset clouds.

Part of a sea urchin shell.

Lots of different stones used in the construction.

Slightly less windy inside.

Swans managing the wind.

Our distillery destination.

View from the grocery store.

Info about the Lochranza castle over the years.

This string of connected cottages is called the twelve apostles.

Sandwich shop art.

Tasting.

Swingset with a view.

Ferry not going anywhere soon.

The drawing room.

Goats Fell peak from Broderick.

Kitchen.

Painted window at a museum.

Mushroom sculptures.

It rains here a lot.. ferns growing from moss on a tree branch.

A Bavarian summer house in the surrounding woodlands.

A refresher on fan secret language for your next ball.

The castle walled garden.

Beautiful little shell.

The castle seen from \240Broderick.

Dining room.

The ceiling is pinecones!

Cake honesty box.

There were a lot of plants from all over the world including this Bromeliad that I didn’t know could live outside the tropics.

A very Scottish vehicle!

The entry hall. Yikes!

The ferry in Broderick was back in action today.

Boardwalk along the Broderick waterfront.

The top of the waterfall before it goes over the edge.

Waterfall viewpoint.

The area along the trail used to be a quarry.

Cool driftwood bench.

A few examples of art/writing. People love their cats and dogs!

Sign along the trail.

It has some impressive carvings on its interior walls.

Every surface is covered.

Creative bus stop along the way.

Enjoying tea and blueberry lemon cake.

The secret library. It was built from trees that fell during a windstorm in 1998. People are welcome to take and leave books but the main emphasis seems to be on leaving art, letters, poems and creative writing.

Afternoon sun.

Zoom in for the bee, snail, bug and dragonfly.

Two different islands in the distance. One flat, one pointy. The pointy one was apparently a very big and active volcano millennia ago.

Sunset.

Very cute bird.

There is a lovely cafe at the start/end of the trail.

Group 2

Group 4.

Standing stone map and explanation.

Fingals cauldron seat group.

Abandoned farm in the middle of the stone groupings.

Offering left in stone crevice.

Our seats with a view of the torrential rain and very high tide. No seals unfortunately.

I loved the knitted fish.

Cozy fire back at our lodging.

A number of the walks we’ve been on in Scotland have wee coffee stands out of trailers in the walk parking lot. A great way to end a walk.

The gate at the restaurant where we had dinner. There are a lot of seals in the area which are often lounging on the rocks across from the restaurant.

Another bus stop with supplemental seating.

Interesting pairing of Octopus and cactus.

Path through farmland.

A gnarled Rowan tree.

This is what remains of a burial cairn site.

Yummy fish dinner.

Beautiful scenery.

More ponies on the way back.

The retreat center.

Quite a lovely path to walk along.

Only to turn a corner of the path and find a whole herd on the beach.They like to eat seaweed.

We saw the goats, ponies and sheep.

There are a series of Buddhist rock carvings/paintings along the path.

Holy Isle info.

Looking back at the postcard town of Lamlash where we boarded the ferry.

And some carnivorous bog plants.

This guy was impressive!

One of 2 lighthouses on the island.

Lots of fungi.

The Holy Isle from Lamlash.

It has quite a view.

I visited the retreat center vegetable garden.

Greeter sheep lounging in the sun. \240

Boat house window findings.

The wee boat that brought us.

The Holy Isle at sunset.

Beach sheep.

Ponies! They are born almost black and change color as they age until they are white later in life.

I was super excited to see a goat way up on the hillside. Basically a white dot.

Headed back to Lamlash.

Pretty river as we wrapped up the walk.

A print we bought of the cottage. Part of why we did this walk. Also, how can one resist visiting a fairy Dell, gateway to Faerie?

That path looks sure to lead to elsewhere.

Our destination of a cottage next to the Fairy Dell.

I think this is part of the unconformity.

We passed several houses at the start of the walk. Many of the houses in Scotland have names and a plaque of some sort with the name at the front of the property. I liked the painting on this one. It may mean Little Gannet in Gaelic, although there aren’t any Gannet birds in the painting so I’m not confident in that.

Fun amended sign at the start of our walk.

There were even magical looking mushrooms.

Part of the path on our walk to the Fairy Dell.

The Fairy Dell. Aptly named.

Also this seal statue.

Another less fanciful and more scientific sight along the way.

Beach in front of the cottage.

Unique post box near our lodging.

Cute row cottages.

View down to Broderick from the String road.

Lots of rubber ducks.

Anchor planter.

Our departure ferry. We were sad to leave Arran. It’s been lovely being here.

Pink Elephant car wash??? An old Seattle classic business. Very curious where this came from.

The weather as we waited for the ferry.

Hay bale art.

There were some creatively painted bus stops in the south of the island.

Quirky old cedar tree.

The lake.

They are very good at bench placement here.

Shades of gray.

This is called the Hundred \240Year sculpture celebrating 100 years of the existence of the National Trust in 1995. They manage many of the special outdoor and historic places in the UK.

The inverse coloring of most of the sheep that we see.

These are some trees along the lake that seem to have lost the ground beneath them, exposing the roots.

An Ent?!?!

Cute honesty box/fox.

This is the Ashness Bridge just above Derwent Water lake. It’s very picturesque.

Yew berries.

Also interesting at the grocery store. Frozen bulk pastries that are take and bake. Genius!

View from a promontory called Friars Crag.

Historic Keswick.

For those who worked or shopped at REI prior to the mid 90’s… before Gu and power bars there was Kendal Mint Cake. Basically a sugar cube shaped like a candy bar with strong mint flavoring. Apparently from this area. I’ve seen the bars in the grocery store here. Liquor is a new take on it.

Possibly my favorite knitting ever.

Tree lined path.

Modern farm shop sales setup with mainly eggs and goat’s milk soap today.

Crammock Water lake in a calm moment.

This area hosts both Buttermere \240village and lake.

Bend in the river.

A spinning wheel of ice cream!

This sign doesn’t mean that red squirrels are dangerous but that they dart across the roads and pleas don’t run over them. We haven’t seen one yet…

A tree rich in fungi.

Jessee got mint chocolate chip and I got marmalade. Yum!

Something about stone steps beckons me to follow.

Pub dinner.

Another tree host.

And found the truck!

And pretty incredible close up.

So much moss! The fungi on the tree were about the size of frisbees.

We saw several fungi along the way. This one was about the size of a volleyball.

Beautiful trail.

View from the boat.

Lots of coves and promontories.

A prolific apple tree.

Keswick boat launch.

They were the size of golf balls.

Near our starting point.

Our boat.

Mountains and marsh.

Very cute amenity in a park between our lodging and the boat launch.

Lakeside sculpture.

We heard that there was an ice cream truck up the hill from the lake along our planned route so we tackled the climb up.

Fancy hotel at one of the boat stops.

And had ice cream with a view. Strawberry for Jessee and Sticky Toffee Pudding for me.

Pretty shrub.

This was the size of a serving platter. All big ones this walk.

There are also alpacas on the estate.

We noted all the boots hanging outside a pub in town. Not sure if they’re hung after reaching a certain milestone of having climbed a certain group of peaks. We need to go inside and ask.

Cake and tea break!

The peaks here look mainly like this and not pointy.

We also visited Lingholm cafe and garden located on a large estate.

Silly sculpture, not a Peter Rabbit character.

It was a bountiful garden that supplies the cafe.

Some of the first fall foliage we’ve seen.

While in England we thought it would be appropriate to see an English period drama and went to the small movie theater in Keswick. It’s a perfect little theatre.

Bellatrix Potter, who wrote the Peter Rabbit books, was from the area and spent holidays on the estate. She wrote some of her stories here. Hence the Peter Rabbit sculpture outside the walled garden.

Estate entry gate.

Espalier pears.

And apples.