Exploring the Area

Since we managed to get all of our administrative stuff done on Thursday, we had Friday free to explore. We took a drive around Loch Ness, and then headed toward the coast and visited the towns of Nairn and Elgin. Although I would have liked to stop and look around, the main point of the trip was to get a feel for the area and figure out where we would like to live.

Our route took us around Loch Ness. This was one of the first glimpses we had of the famous loch.

Here's another. We came this way because Drumnadrochit is one of the areas we thought would make a nice place to live. We decided that while the drive was gorgeous, it was too arduous. The speed limit is 60 mph, but there are so many foreign tourists unfamiliar and apparently uncomfortable with driving on the left side of the road they maxed out at 40 mph. And they'd go super slow around the many turns. Steve couldn't stand dealing with that twice a day, five days a week. So Drumnadrochit is off the list.

A better view of the loch. 

We drove all the way to Fort Augustus, which is at the end of Loch Ness. Then we swung back around on the other side of the loch. The plan had been to drive along the loch on the other bank, but we misinterpreted the route provided by the GPS (known as satnav here in the UK) and we ended up going through the heart of the Great Glen, instead. I'm not complaining. We enjoyed incredible scenery like this.

It's a panoramic taken from the same spot. I see many a ramble here in our future.

My regular readers (Ha! That's so funny saying that!) may recall a blog I posted about war memorials when I was in the UK in 2013 doing dissertation research. The world wars remain a significant part of the British psyche and are commemorated in a variety of ways, from memorial oblilisks to parks to special events. This is an excellent case in point: We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and we came upon this memorial dedicated to the local men who lost their lives in World War I.

We crested a small hill and saw this. Could that red object in the distance be what we thought it was?

Yes, indeed. It was a functioning call box. Out in the middle of the Glen on a single-track road. I suppose it makes sense, though. It's not like we had cell signal out there.

This isn't a very good photo. I was at my iPhone's maximum zoom. It's a viaduct off in the distance. I like viaducts. Viaducts are cool. 

After we left the Great Glen, we went to the coastal resort burgh of Nairn. We were going to walk along the beach there, but we were starving. I thought we would go back after we ate, but we didn't. So I have no photos of Nairn to share with you this time. I do, however, have a few shots from Elgin Cathedral. We only walked around the outside, opting not to pay to go inside the ruins. Especially since (a) it was about to rain and we didn't yet have rain coats and (b) we'd already been a few years ago with Steve's folks. I'm sure we'll return at some point, though, and climb the tower to the observation deck.

The cathedral dates back to the 13th century. Look at the detail on the archway.

You can see the gray clouds descending upon the ruins and the adjacent churchyard.

We took the main road back to Inverness. This isn't a good photo because we were zooming along and it took me a moment to get my phone on and up. But this was what I believe to be a rapeseed field. You can see the golden color in the back.

Our little excursion showed us that we don't want to live in or near Drumnadrochit. We do like Nairn, even though the traffic was thick and slow (the result of it being the summer and a beach resort, methinks). We also like Elgin, but it's too far of a drive. Steve would be stuck with a 50-60 minute commute each way.