Wednesday 26 July

Russ looked out of our window this morning to see the view over the paddocks and saw 2 masts moving through the grass. The canal itself was not visible. When we told the hostess she recounted the story from another guest who was cycling to town past the rugby field .........whoa.......the goal posts were moving!!

We left Joan and Ron and their 3 Dachshunds at 9.20 am. One of their dogs wanted to get into the car with us and another wanted to eat Billy, my koala, who always comes out for a photo when we are leaving. We went down to the Crinan canal (referred to as one of Britain's scenic shortcuts and a haven for yachtsmen) hoping to see the locks open but were unlucky as 2 yachts had just passed through, heading the other way.

Not far along we came to a sign for Carnasserie Castle. We parked in the allotted field by the road and trekked a short steep hill about half a mile The castle was built by John Carswell in 1565. He was Bishop of the Isles and there was some Campbell connection so I took photos for my friend Beverley Campbell. The modern day stone masons who did some restorative work for the Scottish Trust in 1999 on the spiral stone staircase must truly have been in awe of their predecessors' incredible craftsmanship.

All along this stretch there were big patches of a lovely tall pink wildflowers, a little reminiscent of a common gladioli and also tall Foxgloves (these we had also seen all over Ireland and Wales). Only small patches of Heather so far though we did see some plants for sale..... a 6 pack, all different varieties for £12. Lunch was at the 'Butter Churn' at Loch Creran.

A little later we saw the ruins of several tiny stone cottages and a long view of castle ruins across the valley. Around the next bend we saw the castle ruins (Castle Stalker) on a tiny island in Loch Linnhe near Port Appin. Toward the top of Loch Linnhe looking across to the other side the atmospheric conditions were strange. We were in sun (for the first time of the day-nearly 2pm). The mountains seemed to drop sheer into the lake and were in shadow but the mist was starting to rise and there was a line about 10 feet above the water where the clouds appeared to start. We didn't know how to go about capturing the effect with our camera. We continued all the way up the eastern side of Loch Linnhe to Fort William.

We stopped for lunch, money (again), tourist information and airline tickets for our return from Edinburgh to London on August 11. We decided to travel to Skye by car ferry. This meant travelling across to Lochailort, then up to Mallaig where we found a B&B looking over the 'Sound of Sleat' onto Skye (Gaelic name means Islands of Mist).

Too much mist for good photos. We also passed a monument at Glenfinnan at the head of loch Sheil where bonny Prince Charlie's standard was raised in 1745 marking the start of the campaign that ended at the battle of Culloden the following year.

At 8.50 pm it was still hot and sunny. Our hostess is suntanned! They say it has been this hot for a few days. We tried to get accommodation on Skye at Talisker House (home of Forefather Major Donald MacLeod) but they were booked out for weeks ahead. We found another place at Portree and booked for 3 nights.

Some asides: 'Pay and Display' is the method of collecting advance parking fees in towns. Instead of using a parking metre you put it into a machine that dispenses a ticket which is displayed inside the car. We never know if we'll be in town 30 minutes or 2 hours!

Phone boxes: Lots of traditional red boxes in the most unlikely places.....by the roadsides, even in quite isolated mountain roads. (? no vandalism in the British Isles??)