Sheigra to Durness, Scotland Week 50 20th April 2012
                 
The diagonal line is the Glencoil Thrust Plane.

One lot of rock slid over another lot of rock when yet another lot of rock pushed up from underneath.

Off the picture to the right, which was facing into the sun, is also the Moine Thrust Plane.

The whole area is a geologist's nightmare.

 
Just content to smile and be happy.
 
Our three mountains from the previous night as we crossed the Kylesku Bridge.
 
Took a small road to the west where boat trips to Handa Island are available.

Not enough early birds for us.

But there in the distance, way to the south, is the Old Man of Stoer.

Its taken us a few days do drive from there to here.

 
On the east coast the lobster pots were some new fangled steel design. Here they were the old traditional design I remember from my youth.
 
Heading towards Kinlochbervie.

Every corner holds something new.

 
Kinlochbervie is a trawler port with fish market.

Heavy trucks to transport the fish south.

Not a fish and chip shop in sight.

 
Occasional signs of small churches. Not the lavish affairs of further south.
 
Sheigra.

About as far north on the west coast as we can drive.

There is a road to Cape Wrath but that involves a small boat from Durness then someone's mini-bus for the last 12 miles.

 
We aren't too sure how land ownership is organised in this part of Scotland.

We see mention of estates, some of which have become trusts. We see crofts and fields. Then open peat moorland. And we suspect common land.

There was a sign at the entrance to this part of the bay asking us to avoid the wet bits so they could recover.

This young lady cycled down from the village to near our truck to use her mobile phone.

We weren't so lucky, wrong network so no signal. 

 

 
There weren't a lot of people about.

A couple of people drove down to walk their dogs.

Tardis is the white spec in the middle of the green.

This is the only bay we found that was accessible and didn't have a caravan park.

The patch to the right was accessible by driving through the creek. There were tyre marks from a tractor but the crossing looked a bit tricky, and we didn't need to, and it looked like the grass needed to recover.

 
A day at the seaside.

A bit cool for swimming.

We walked a couple of km over to Polin Beach.

We think the mountains in the distance are Foinaven and Arkle. We lost our money on the Grand National the years the horses named after the mountains won.

 
Pretty!

Whenever Ali points and says "pretty" I get to take a photograph.

Too idle to walk back and take one of the patterns in the sand she was pointing at.

 
We walked back over the top instead of round the edge.

No paths but easy going through soggy peat.

Until the stone wall that is .... but that's a story for another day as they say.

 
Picture perfect.

Just a bit cold.

 
We moved on after a couple of days.

One of the problems with single width roads is that ..... they are single width.

Not a problem, time has little meaning for us. Smiles all round until the truck was loaded.

 
Smoo Cave with Durness in the background.

There's a small band of limestone that extends southwards.

 
The river enters the cave from the top.

Low tide and nobody around so no trip deeper into the cave.

Met a couple of Aussies from Perth here. They noticed the Queensland plates on Tardis.

 
Heading south this outcrop into Loch Erriboll (sp?) is probably more of the limestone. Previously quarried and what looks like a kiln.
 
From the causeway across the Kyle of Tongue.
 
And further south another non-ostentatious church.
 
I want one!!!!

We camped by the side of the road just south of Altnahara.

This very capable vehicle had hydraulic motors driving all the tracks. The tracks seemed to twist lots. Very good at steep boggy bits of peat. 

One person working on his own bringing cut logs down from the hillside.

There's a lot of forestry in this part of Scotland.

 
It must have been getting a bit boggy. He used the lifting arm to grab some waste wood and carried it to the boggy bit. Laid it down and drove over it.

The tracks on the trailer are tilted at about 45 degrees.

 
This deer appeared from the forest.
 
So I went deer stalking.

It stood very still once it spotted me.

Got to within a couple of hundred feet before it got upset and ran away.

Across the river, so I let it go!

 
King of the glen!
 
But I still want one!!!!!
 
Isle Of Skye, Scotland Week 51 21st - 23rd April 2012
 
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