Scotland

Chris's Europe Webpage

Scotland

i spent 3 weeks camping with georgie boy around inverness and then the isle of skye in scotland, starting may 25th. usually we camped in a cow or sheep grazing field, sometimes behind churches and almost always in the middle of nowhere. we both had bikes and moved our camping equipment through the rolling green hills by our own brute force. we mostly carried and cooked our own food that we bought every day or two when we came to a post office or general store. while here, i read "the motorcycle diaries" by che guevera about his travels as a 23 year old with his friend through south america during the early 50's. i was gripped by the parallels between che and myself and mesmerized by his clever and bouyant writing style.

Scotland Map

just to get a general idea of scotland. we started on the right near inverness and ended at the isle of skye on the left.

Scotland

bike portion

the bike portion starts in red and works towards purple. this is not too exact, we spent more like 10 days biking. you can also see the isle of skye better on this map

Scotland

camp 1 near inverness

the beauly firth, where the north sea comes in to a bay in western scotland, near inverness.


		farmhouse
		we camped in a cow grazing area this farmer owned. i should specify that camping on private property is allowed in scotland and most people are excited to have campers in their yard.


		bluebells
		in the woods behind our tent on our first camping day


		wooded path


		loch ness camp
		day two of camping, in a sheep field near loch ness.


		cannich cairn
		4000 year old burial chamber


		sheep field near cannich


		self portrait
		between cannich and beauly, our longest day of biking


		river beauly


		beauly priory
		built by my distant relatives in the mackenzie clan in the 14th and 15th century


		muir of ord
		the sun would set sometime around 11pm and rise sometime around 2am because we were so far north


		self portrait
		behind the church, conon bridge


		castle leod
		strathpeffer, a mackenzie clan castle

"there we understood that our vocation, our true vocation, was to move for eternity along the roads and seas of the world. always curious, looking into everything that came before our eyes, sniffing out each corner but only ever faintly - not settling down roots in any land or staying long enough to see the substratum of things; the outer limits would suffice"

-the motorcyle diaries


		beauly firth
		from the other side


		culloden battle field
		the site of the final battle between the jacobites and british, where the jacobites were ruthlessly slain and the highlander rebellion (think braveheart) came to an end.


		glacial valleys

isle of skye

"for me, the sea has always been a confidant, a friend absorbing all it is told and never revealing those secrets; always giving the best advice - its meaningful noises can be interpreted any way you choose. the fresh wind fills the sense with the power and mood of the sea; everything is transformed by its touch"

- the motorcyle diaries


		Eilean Donan Castle
		originally home to the mackenzie clan before they gave it to the macrae clan...



		...after one single macrae defended the castle from a viking attack while the mackenzies tended to some business. the macrae defender struck the king of the vikings in the heel with the only arrow left in his quiver. the king died when he tore the arrow out of his leg in anger, and the barbed tip severed an artery. the vikings fled and the castle was saved.

"the first commandment for every good explorer is that an expedition has two points: the point of departure and the point of arrival. if your intention is to make the second theoretical point coincide with the actual point of arrival, dont think about the means - because the journey is a virtual space that finishes when it finishes, and there are as many means as there are different ways of "finishing", that is to say, the means are endless"

-the motorcycle diaries


		self portrait
		heather field, isle of skye


		inverness castle