This month’s prompt for the Photo Blogging Challenge = A Look Into My Life. Any other month, I’d be sharing photos related to birding, gardening, walking, kayaking, cycling, cooking and other activities that a part of my “normal” life. However, Mr GeoK and I traveled to the UK for most of May. That means this month’s photos provide a bit of a sneak peek for a series of upcoming blog posts, but not much of a look into my “usual” life. 😉
1. London
Our trip started with a few days in London. We last visited London in 2010, when our kids were 11 and 14 years old. That trip was mainly about museums and geocaching. This time around our focus was architectural and street photography, including two museums we visited in 2010. The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court in the British Museum is the largest covered public square in Europe, and a joy to photograph.
We squeezed in a short visit to the British Museum between Sunday brunch with friends (bonus image, taken by our server)…
… and attending a matinee performance of Standing at the Sky’s Edge, an award-winning musical with music and lyrics by Richard Hawley, telling the story of three families over sixty years living in a council housing estate in Sheffield.
2. Edinburgh
After 68 hours in London, we caught a train to Edinburgh. We toured the Castle, climbed Calton Hill, did a walking tour along the Royal Mile, photographed the architectural wonder that is the Scottish Parliament building and much more.
On our last full day in Edinburgh, we made use of the bus service to visit two places a short distance from central/historic Edinburgh. Colinton Tunnel is an old railway tunnel that’s now part of the Water of Leith Walkway. Thanks to the installation of Scotland’s largest historical mural, it’s a colorful, whimsical walk illustrating the poem “From a Railway Carriage” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
As it turned out, this was the first of three poems experienced on our travels. The second poem was “Climbing Suilven” by Norman MacCaig, read by our guide at the summit of Suilven. And I read “The Birks of Aberfeldy” by Robert Burns when we took a break while walking the Birks of Aberfeldy trail with friends.
3. Wilds of Assynt
The middle of our UK trip was a full week of guided hiking in the Wilds of Assynt, the highlands in the remote northwest part of Scotland. We joined six others to make a group of eight hikers, led by a very qualified (and patient) Scottish guide.
For us, the highlight was summiting Suilven, one of 282 “Munros.” These lofty peaks take their name from Sir Hugh Munro (1856–1919), whose groundbreaking list of the highest mountains in Scotland was first published as Munro’s Tables in the Scottish Mountaineering Club’s journal in 1891. Munros are over 3,000ft, or 914-metres.
One unique feature of the Suliven hike is the famine wall, that runs up and over the saddle. The wall was constructed by tenant crofters during the great potato famine, in exchange for food rations from the land holder.
4. A Proper Bog Hike
We ended our journey with another week of guided hiking. Our Irish guide had an easier time of it, with just four of us in the group – us and another couple who are good friends. And yes, we’re still good friends after a week of hiking in Scottish weather!
Our first full day hike in the Perthshire Highlands was Meall nam Maigheach (aka the Hill of the Hares). It was a proper bog hike…lots of drizzly rain and about 3.5 km total through soggy bog (plus another 10 km through boggy patches on an overall decent track). We were so grateful to come across a corrugated metal shelter, where we could shelter from the rain while we ate a bit of lunch. Here’s Mr GeoK at the summit, with our guide and our friends behind him, partly obscured by fog. Of course the fog and low clouds also meant no summit views for our efforts!
5. One of the Best Short Hikes in Scotland
With three of the four hikers feeling under the weather, our guide ditched the posted itinerary for a couple of days, selecting two amazing short hikes, including one through the dramatic and beautiful Nevis Gorge to Steall Falls, the second highest waterfall in Scotland.
This was a great hike, but we pushed it a bit too far… After lunch, we made a group decision to go “just a little further” to see some old shielings. Just as we reached our destination, it started to pour down rain. We all had rain jackets on, but thinking it would be a short burst, opted to leave our rain pants in our packs. That was a BAD decision. I soon had water running down my legs into my boots, as did everyone in the group. Fortunately, almost all of us had packed a change of clothes for supper, so we took turns using the van as a changing room!
All-in-all, and despite returning home with another case of COVID-19, we really enjoyed our time in Scotland and will definitely return for more highland hiking adventures!
To see more sets of five photos offering a glimpse into other participants’ lives, hop on over to host PJ’s blog. The linkup is at the bottom of his post.
And please, consider joining us going forward. All you need each month are five photos. The amount of text is up to you (and I’m definitely on the wordy end of the spectrum). I’ll post the theme for June as soon as it’s available.