Turns out my trip to the Carsaig Arches yesterday gave me a pretty good sunburn and was rather draining, so today was an off-day, the "weekend" of my vacation. After a good relaxing sleep and a few hours of generic web surfing in the hotel reception area, I decided to merely drive a scenic loop through highland country.
The route was clockwise from Fort William into the Cairngorms National Park to Pitlochy, stopping at The Queen's View (overrated) then back through Aberfeldy, the waterfall at Killin, and up through Glen Coe Pass back into Fort William.
Luckily the weather was sporadic cloud so the scenery was very good. One interesting thing of note that as a tourist you never "expect" is that there is a very significant logging/forestry industry in Scotland. The timber in the glens is actually quite massive (Caledonian pine, etc.) and they are actively logged and managed. Many a "beautiful vista" is marred by the fact that the lower hills are completely clear-cut of forest. In other views, you realize that all the tree canopies are in a fixed pattern -- ie it's regrowth.
So it's a bit detracting, but despite the fact that most of these would be Million Dollar Views in North America, it's just working countryside in Scotland. Of course, it's much more "interesting" navigating the Scottish roads when there are frequent logging trucks! The upper hills are scarred by peat harvesting as well, but at least that's mostly less apparent than clear-cutting.
Another interesting thing is the BBC. It's fun being able to just drive around appreciating all the views, and alternate between a live studio discussions with classical violinists, a full treatise of the ceremonial Balaphone of Mali, and similar enlightening discourse...
The intent is to summit Ben Nevis tomorrow -- however the weather does not look good, with a forecast of consistent gale-force winds at all altitudes, heavy rain, and no visibility. Too bad I was singed today, as today's forecast for Ben Nevis was excellent (breezy, a few clouds, frequent clear summit) -- http://www.bennevisweather.co.uk/weather.asp
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