It's a Blog!

Okay, I made the first post just the map because my Compose window got hung up with all that HTML in there to read. Or something. Not sure...

If you click on "Larger Map" you can see the planned route in better detail. The insert got a little squiggled at the end where we make the trip from Kintyre to Islay.

My idea for the itinerary is:

25 May: Arrive in Glasgow. Pick up luggage and car. For some reason I picture that it will be sunny and hot and I will be feeling unwell because I spent my night on a cramped, smelly plane. It's much more likely to be cloudy and cold (and I'll still be feeling unwell). In any case, we'll make our way out of the airport to the first stop: Glasgow Cathedral. This is a Historic Scotland site that I never managed to get to in my years living in Edinburgh. From there we head north in the direction of our B&B near Glencoe (which is near Fort William) for the first night. What the day brings will depend upon how tired we (well, me, really) are.

26 May: We may try to hike near, around, if not up Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the UK. This seems a bit ambitious for a 2nd day activity. Watch this space.

From here I only have a rough idea in mind:

• From Fort William head towards Inverness, stopping at Urquart Castle along Loch Ness.
• Continue north to Tongue, turning west there to the Dun Dornaigil Broch (another missed HS site).
• Travel along the coast west and then south to Ullapool where I hear there's a great yarn shop!
• Continue south to Glenelg near Skye to see the group of brochs there. I have been there before but only briefly. It was striking and beautiful; I promised myself I would get back there someday.
• From Glenelg we'll make our way to Oban, the relatively large port on the western coast. There's a distillary there; it may be a good place for overnight if we can find lodging.
• On Friday the 29th we'll be staying in the port village of Tarbert. I've already booked this and it looks like the B&B is right on the harbor (when I'm actually over there I may start adding "u"s to words like this).
• On the 30th we make our way to Islay from Kennacraig. Then it's an entire week on Islay visiting distillaries, walking, and hopefully visiting the neighboring islands of Jura and Colonsay.
  

So it's all quite exciting really!