Landscapes, midges and tourists

 

Neither words nor photos (and we've taken hundreds of them) would be enough to describe the beauty of the Scottish landscapes. On the West coast, they are even more impressive. The mountains are steeper, more rugged so it's a succession of cliffs dropping into the sea, of peaks and summits, of rivers cascading down the slopes but still some beautiful beaches and charming little fishing towns. As very few trees grow on the mountains, it's a true spectacle to watch the shadows and the light dancing on the hillsides:

Or to follow the course of a river or stream that dug it's way through the soil, sometimes cascading down in beautiful waterfalls: 

And the weather is really with us. We have been extremely lucky even if for the past few days it's been more British like, with an everyday cocktail of rain, clouds and sun. But the grey weather just adds more charm to the sights, like here at Eilean Donan castle.

But as we don't live in a perfect world, Western Scotland also has a local product that is much less sympathetic: the midges. Midges are a small, tiny insect that is very voracious and that doesn't sting, but bites! And they are around all summer long... But we knew about them so we came prepared:

Nevertheless, we still got a taste of them. We quickly understood that the screen we installed in our sliding door didn't keep them from coming in and we litterally got invaded one morning. It also seems they much prefer maple syrup to Chartreuse liqueur because, as I look like I have the chicken pox, Jérôme only has a few bites 😲. But now we've gained experience and were managing them better👍.

As the West coast is so beautiful it is also very, very popular and draws a lot of people, particularly this time of year. We were sold by many on the beauty of Skye island and it is in fact a wonderful place but the crowd unfortunately took some of that away for us. Same for Eilean Donan castle, Fort William or Glencoe valley where the buses lign up and the car parks overflow. And we feel it has an impact on the locals. The welcome is not as warm, there is less authenticity and we feel they a getting exceeded and we can't say we blame them. After 3 days on Skye we were fed up so imagine 3 months ... 

But we were still able to get away from the crowd and find some quiet spots. We admit though looking forward to September when all kids will be back in school. Athough then it might be the retirees who come tumbling down, it may be worse  😂.  

To see the map and more photos: https://sodeslau.travelmap.net/my-map

Jérôme & Sophie