Its strange getting used to not having any internet when you are used to constantly checking whether people have contacted you, how Bozo is messing up again, what evil things Priti racist Patel has done again etc. But little things like not having the temperature on your watch are weird to live without too. But thats what you get when you have away from it all and it does allow to get plenty of reading done.
As with other countries weve visited we spend a lot of time before and during our trip learning the local accent and lingo. Scotland has been no exception and there have been lots of seeing someone called Jimmy and excessive and elongated use of the word wee (as in small as well as sometimes is a wee wee). Strangely the locals dont seem to talk like that.which is odd.
No, hang on, one more thing. What I also like about up here is that people are sensible about wearing masks rather
not giving two hoots about anyone else. Its like theyre considerate of others rather than thinking theyre being oppressed like lots of the dumb and dumbers down south. I think Ive only seen one person in a shop without a mask so lets take it that she was medically exemptor she was English.. No wonder the cases and deaths have been so much lower in Scotland than England.
We had been looking at taking a ferry to one of the Small Islands as Im sure you recall but booked ourselves on a ferry today to, well, Scotland. Inverie is on the mainland but there is no road that runs to it so, unless you take a very long walk, everything gets there by boat. Including us.
We booked ourselves on a ferry for tomorrow (more on that tomorrow of course) before jumping on the wrong boat. We jumped off the wrong boat and waited for the right boat which arrived shortly after and soon we were heading out on the right boat across the sea from Scotland on our way to Scotland. The journey was a bit chilly but, as it
On arrival at Inverie we were met by marching bands, a red carpet and the King of Inverie came to meet us to invite us to a royal ball at his grand lodge. Or there was a smattering of people and a dog. Ill let you decide which.
People do live in Inverie and have cars to get around what is a pretty small but spread out place. Some houses are quite a way away from any others that you have to be pretty confident in your solitude to live there. First you live somewhere only a boat can reach and then you build a house a mile away from anyone else. Sounds tempting doesnt it?
But then, what do you do when you want a night out? Theres one pub, billed as the remotest pub in Britain (closed today), one shop, no cinema, definitely no gigs beyond some crappy covers band occasionally in the pub and probably crap internet. Later at the port we saw parcels and post being loaded and uploaded from the ferry including some Amazon
We chose to do the Knoydart in a nutshell walk although we still have no idea why its Knoydart and not Inverie but hey. We set off up a steep hill, so some things are very normal here, and got some great views from up above. We found a car that looked like it was being eaten away or had been bitten by a but it was probably just rust. Later we found an old Singer sewing machine just sitting on a tree stump in the middle of the woods. Strange.
The walk took us to a campsite (closed) where we used toilet and then sat and had some lunch overlooking the sea and beach with mountains behind us. Most convivial. And hey, look at us, bringing food AND drink on a day out.although if the ferry office lady hadnt mentioned it..maybe we wouldnt..
We continued our walk up a river side and then into a private estate where there was an old cemetery. Claire did some slow shutter speed shots on the river while I did a bit of reading and
taking some photos. The water was and a wee bit different from the canal behind our house where a couple of weeks ago I spotted a large bra floating by.
