Slow Road to Scotland - a photo on Flickriver

            Monday: Tell Ali we need to set off by eleven in the hopes that we might actually get away before twelve.  We’ve been stuck in those rush hour traffic queues on the M4 near Newport enough times before.  It’s the morning of the official opening of the new dual carriageway from Chivvy to Carland, almost four years in the making and six months behind schedule.  The journey takes ten minutes.  It was an hour and twenty just a few days earlier when we were heading for Dartmoor.  Arrive in South Wales just after four and join a long line of motorway traffic near Newport.  Normally we turn off at the Celtic Manor Resort in the direction of Abergavenny.  Not today though.  Arrive at hotel a little after five.  Dave and Gareth appear and park next to us before we’ve finished carrying our stuff up to our room from the van.  Ali says she’s been looking forward to a romantic minibreak with three old men.

Tuesday: It’s hot.  Sultry in fact - more like the Mediterranean than South Wales.  Drive Brenda down the narrowest and twistiest road we can find to the National Trust gardens on the west side of Cardiff.  Stagger around in the blazing sunshine looking for shade, whilst attempting to dodge the flies.  Return to hotel via a different route, stopping at discount store for additional cold water storage flasks.  And a case of beer.  Later, join Dave and Gareth for the evening’s outing to Cardiff.  Large, loud and live, the Foo Fighters are in town.  Head for Wetherspoons before going to the stadium to lubricate senses at reasonable rates.  They’re charging nearly eight pounds a pint in the stadium.  Eight pounds for goodness sake!  Arrive back at hotel a little before midnight.  Ali, who showed no interest in attending a concert with seventy-thousand other people has left me some cherries for supper.  

Wednesday: It’s even hotter.  Possibly the warmest day of the year so far, and prickly humid to boot.  After breakfast, say farewell to Dave and Gareth as they head for home.  Only one old man left for Ali now.  Check out, not forgetting to say goodbye to the hotel cat.  Buy a USB charging fan at Aldi along with food shopping.  After two nights of full Welsh breakfast hedonism, things are about to get a little more spartan.  Ignore the motorway option and then get stuck in heavy traffic at Hereford.  Somewhere along the lines, the local team lost the “United” from their name - presumably when they went into liquidation some years ago.  Push on to Shrewsbury and stop at Attingham Park for another National Trust history lesson.  Stand before the stately home watching housemartins swooping in and out of the eaves where they’ve made their summer nests.  Still, the heat burns and broils the landscape throughout the sluggish afternoon.  Decide on a whim to go to the Peak District for bedtime.  The Roaches Road is the perfect spot to spend the last hours of the evening, wandering up Hen Cloud after supper, before settling down for a peaceful night.

Thursday:  Cooling at last.  It’s time to return to the motorway and knock down the miles.  Lorries swelling in size as they rush past towards the big northern cities, Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.  As Preston disappears into the rear view mirror, the traffic eases, and after Lancaster the big views appear before us in the windscreen.  Cumbria, wild and elemental, the last English county, stretching between us and the border.  Stop for lunch and a desperately needed coffee at Tebay Services as the heavens open and soak the outside world as far as we can see.  Where tonight?  There’s no real plan, but it seems sensible to find a campsite for a reset.  The next shower may be a day or two away.  Make a booking and continue north towards Ayrshire.  We’re tired now - the last section along bumpy B roads seems to go on forever.  The rain falls hard throughout the evening and into the night.  Brenda’s got a leak in her roof where the extraction has recently been installed.  We tape a sandwich bag beneath the offending area to catch the drips.

Friday:  Colder.  A man we speak to at the campsite in the morning is heading home after a very wet month in the Highlands, and the forecast doesn’t look promising.  I close my ears as he describes the three breakdowns in his elderly Talbot motorhome, trying not to imagine how to handle the fuel pipe giving up the ghost on a steep climb out of Assynt or Torridon.  North again - always north.  Glasgow, the Erskine Bridge and then Loch Lomond, furious white crests riding black wavelets as the wind tries to drag the steering wheel from my hands.  The drive along the loch is seemingly endless, especially in the final narrow winding miles towards Inverarnan - “oncoming traffic in middle of road,” the signs warn us.  Heavy showers, chased by urgent squalls bathe the road ahead of us; the road that seems far busier than last time we were here.  Arrive at the Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum - a fish finger sandwich and chips - the portions are as generous as they ever were.  Bridge of Orchy, Loch Tulla, reminding us of those grand hiking adventures from earlier visits.  And then the famous one, leading down towards the Buachaille and the head of Glencoe.  Stop at every layby, the breath once again taken by bewitching bright light piercing filthy dark clouds.   We’re nearly eight hundred miles in, and not far left to go.  From Fort William, head northeast towards Inverness along the Great Glen.  Our friends are nearby now.

We’re back in the Highlands, brooding and magnificent, dark mountains bearing down upon us as we go.  It’s the first time we’ve been here since we hiked the West Highland Way, six highly eventful years ago.  We could have raced up here like demons at the wheel, but when there’s a slow road to be taken, it can offer so much more.

Taken in: UK / Scotland / Highland (show map)

Taken on: June 28, 2024

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Camera: Canon EOS 200D, f/8.0, 1/500 sec, 50mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 200D
Lens:	EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	-2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.4 (Windows)
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