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Map of NC500 trip

August 17, 2016 936 x 699 North Coast 500 Road Trip (and a little bit of Orkney) Will
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Oban, gateway to the islands, dominated by the mag Oban, gateway to the islands, dominated by the magnificent McCaig’s Tower. . #scotland #oban #mccaigstower #visitscotland #ig_scotland
Iona and its Abbey … Iona was one of my favourit Iona and its Abbey … Iona was one of my favourite parts of our trip to Mull. Driving for well over an hour from Tobermoray down to the south of Mull and then west and back north-west, skirting its fabulous coast most of the way, and taking in an amazing single-track driving road, you arrive into Fionnphort - surrounded by its stunning pink granite rock - and take the ten minute ferry trip over to secluded, peaceful, Iona. … We took the ferry unsure what we would find, knowing a little about the history of this little island - that it was the site of St Columba’s monastery, which he and 12 others founded after arriving from Ireland in 563 AD, influentially introducing Christianity into Scotland, and the supposed later burial place of many Scottish and Viking kings - but unaware of what else to expect. … I suppose I was hoping to feel something - to understand why this was where Columba chose, or why it has become such a place of pilgrimage, both religious and for those seeking a spiritual or non-religious peace. To understand why this was where Christianity first took refuge from the seas and from where Christianity would be spread to what was a pre-Scotland ‘North Britain’ in those times. To try to understand why you would choose this place as the home of your monastery, given the litany of islands all around the west coast. To understand what was so special about it. To understand why kings would be buried here. And I found my answer, more on that below. … Given our experience of visiting the Voldermort’s horcrux cave-like Isle of Staffa the day before (see the IG post before this one for that), in driving rain and mist, coming to Iona in fair, calm weather was such a Yin and Yang experience. There, you could almost imagine it a place of lingering evil, whereas Iona was like Staffa’s vaccine. … Iona’s village was quaint, a mix of local businesses selling crafts and traditional items such as jewellery and wool, diversifying/topping up their income, as Highland communities often do, e.g. selling handmade pizzas at nights. I loved it. … The Abbey that now exists where Columbia’s monastery had been is wonderful… (Story parts 2 and 3 continue in the comments)…
Fingals’s Cave and the Isle of Staffa … It’s Fingals’s Cave and the Isle of Staffa … It’s very hard to believe that people lived on Staffa, if not continuously, certainly at different times over the preceding 3000+ years. … Taking the boat six miles around and across the Sound of Mull, past seals and dolphins who are the closest inhabitants now, you begin to see the hulk of volcanic matter rise, as if from nowhere, on the horizon. Closer and closer she appears, as the waves force your boat around unnaturally - jerking its wide-eyed explorers up and down - as you arrive at the only man-made part of this incredible little island, it’s small concrete jetty. … As you step ‘ashore’ you’re met only with the blackest of volcanic stone. The iconic columns of rock are millions of years old, raised from the seabed by lava escaping, then cooling, into incredibly unusual stepping-stone like tiles on the foreshore. And it is by following these along a hand-railed route just feet above the frothing surf that you snake a safe path to the mouth of the legendary Fingal’s Cave, a natural cavern with hair raising acoustics and spellbinding colours. … What it felt like, visiting Fingals’s Cave, was the chapter of Harry Potter 6 where Dunbledore and Harry visit Voldermort’s horcrux cave. It was beautiful and dangerous in equal measure and had it requested a blood offering to enter it I wouldn’t have been surprised. … As crazy as it is to say, the most interesting part of Staffa might be its surface. Ground penetrating radar shows rig furrows - past generations had somehow been cultivating this isolated place; the audacity of that undertaking! There’s also a bothy ruins with confusing origins owing to a unique window arch that suggests it wasn’t a home or a chapel, the two most likely uses. And of course a cairn registering the highest point, and literally nothing more - an expanse of undulating volcanic, grass/covered rock in the wild grey ocean. … The happiest face of all was @atlasmackenzie’s - who found a new BFF in Watson - and who I believe has started a detective and exploring agency double-duo. … #visitscotland #staffatours #scotland #staffa #fingalscace #hiddenscotland #mull #voldermort #harrypotter
Assynt has one of Scotland’s most enigmatic land Assynt has one of Scotland’s most enigmatic landscapes, where the roads that cut the 3 billion year-old Lewisian Gneiss, and half-billion year-old Torridonian strata, offer not only vital pathways for communities but - from an artistic sense - stunning dividing lines, from every perspective. I always find myself utterly in love with my surroundings as I pass through. In the background here is the last of the Quinag range, specifically Spidean Coinich. This massif dominates the skyline as you venture these lands, and - as hard as it is to imagine now, in this rocky, barren-looking place - was once the site of ancient woodlands. From the first time I visited, with my dad, as a child, to the day I last passed through, I’m ever in awe of this rugged, unique place. … #assynt #scotland #scottish #highlands
Callanish … There are a only few places in the w Callanish … There are a only few places in the world that I’ve been and I’ve felt completely at peace, and Callanish is without doubt the one that survives in my memory as the most powerful of all. Amongst the magnitude of these mighty megaliths, I sat for hours taking in the sunset and dying light, both completely in awe of the work of our forebears in what they built here, but also at the edge-of-the-world-ness of this rural outpost. As it was then, it is now; a beacon of human connection to the land, of the power of community, of the mystery that is life and of purpose itself. I’ll never forget how I felt that day and how moved I was by the notion that my life was but a fleeting instant on the 5,000 year-old timeline of these standing stones. … #callanish #visitscotland #scotland #standingstones #isleoflewis #history
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