Driving About the Highlands

Christa flew into Glasgow. It was a direct flight from Orlando, so ideal for her first trans-Atlantic adventure. But Glasgow is at least three hours from Inverness, so we had a trek back. We drove the long way home by Loch Lomond, through Glen Coe and Fort William, and along Loch Ness so Christa could have a nice introduction to The Highlands. The next day, we took her around the Black Isle and areas a bit further north and east so she could get an even better taste. We made new discoveries along the way. And of course, saw spectacular scenery. This is Scotland, after all.

A shot from the car as we headed home from Glasgow. The unique play of light is something I love about Scotland. On a cloudy/misty day like on our trip home, the clouds will break in places and you'll have bright spots on the hillsides and mountains.

I believe these are foxgloves. The vast array of flowers here continues to enthrall me.

The theme of our itinerary was the United Kingdom across the ages. Of course the Clava Cairns were on the agenda. I've posted about them before, but I still can't help taking photos when I'm there. The atmosphere pretty much demands it.

Another play of light. This time the brighter sun beyond the dense tree covering. at Clava Cairns.

Of course we took one of the cruises on Loch Ness. Nessie couldn't be bothered to make an appearance (which was rather rude), but we still enjoyed ourselves. How can you not with this view? Yes, I live here. That fact continues to amaze me.

A shot of the ruins of Urquhart Castle.

A panoramic on the road above the Dornoch Firth.

A normal shot taken further up the same road.

A rather picturesque old church.

We were venturing in places we'd never been, and I honestly cannot remember where we were when I took this. Maybe Tain? We were traveling along the other side of the Dornoch Firth, so it could be Tain. Or at least somewhere near there. The photo isn't very clear. My iPhone 7+ has a better camera with an optical zoom, but it still gets crappy when you venture into the digital zoom like I did with this photo.

Same village. Different view.

This is the Mermaid of the North in Balintore. There were quite a few art installations along the waterfront, but the rain started pelting it down so I didn't get any good photos of them. She's quite lovely, though.

As we drove along, Steve noticed a standing stone sheltered within a glass box. Of course we were intrigued, so we parked and walked up the small hill to the stone. It turns out that we had stumbled upon what is known as the Pictish Trail. The Picts lived in this region from around 300 AD through 900 AD. The trail is a series of Pictish stones scattered around the region. Some sites feature basic, unworked stones that have various symbols carved into them. However, others are real works of art with elaborate symbols carved in relief on rectangular stones. This stone is one of the latter.

This stone, known as the Shandwick Stone because it's in Shandwick (not overly creative, I know) features a large cross as well as more traditional symbols, such as the crescents and knotwork on the lower left. St. Columba, was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland during the 6th Century. The work on this stone illustrates the Picts' absorption of the Christian faith into their mythos.

As we continued along the road, we came upon Nigg; specifically Nigg Old Church. The church's primary claim to fame is this exquisite Pictish cross slab.

The other side of the stone.

We had a wander around the lovely old church. This area upstairs is the Poor Loft. I mistakenly thought that meant this was where the parish poor would come to worship. Actually, this and two other poor lofts that are no longer in place were used to raise money for the poor. The wealthy parishioners would rent the pews. It gave them visible prestige (they were wealthy enough to have their own private pews in their own private loft) and the money went to help the poor of the parish.

The pulpit.

A better view of the decorative window above the pulpit.

Yes, I climbed into the pulpit. And there I saw this prayer book that remains in use despite it's advanced age.

One of the more interesting stones in the church yard (or kirk yard, to be more accurate). Don't be fooled. That skull and cross bones motif does not mean a pirate is buried there. That's a symbol found on medieval graves called the memento mori. It's a Latin phrase that essentially means "remember you must die." It's difficult to tell with all the moss, but there's a relief of a bell under the crossed bones. That's a symbol of the mori bell, or passing bell, that was rung at funerals. I think it was added here to supply emphasis to the memento mori.

The kirk yard was very picturesque.

Some of the table graves with a bit of the church wall in the background. That part of the church dates to 1626. Some additions and alterations took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. But the area has been a place of Christian worship, as evidenced by the Pictish cross stone, for over a millenium.

I saw the sign denoting "The Cholera Stone," but could not figure out what it meant. I assumed it meant the headstone behind it and that this was perhaps a mass grave resulting from the cholera epidemic. Some later research revealed I was wrong yet again! During the epidemic of 1832, a church elder saw a vaporous cloud coming out of the ground in this spot. Thinking that it was a cloud of cholera, the elder threw a blanket over it to keep it from escaping. A stone was then placed over the spot to trap the disease. So the cholera stone is actually the slab only partially visible in front of the sign. Of course now we know that all the stone covers in the world wouldn't have stopped cholera. It's a water-borne disease resulting from drinking polluted water.

This is a photo from our Skye trip that I forgot to add to that blog. This is overlooking the beach at Staffin where we found the dinosaur footprint.

And here's a panoramic snap of the harbor in Portree, where we stayed.