As promised here are more pictures of our vacation in The Highlands of Scotland.  We are always in good company as The Queen holidays at Balmoral which is not far from where we stay!

Warning:  Picture Heavy Post!

At the cottage where we stay,  is surrounded by trees and there are several pairs of Red Kites living there.

This came into the deep water Port of Invergordon on the Tuesday;  it is the fourth largest cruise liner in the World, The Meraviglia, which has a capacity of 4,500 people on board.

DH visited a few customers whilst we were up there and one of his trips was to Dunfermline.  The day was quite overcast and we ate lunch overlooking the sea and of course the seagulls were ready to help!!!

Of course in Scotland you can be driving through the middle of a town and come upon the odd castle here and there!!!

The cows came a visiting one day and this gate is the entrance to the cottage!  Fortunately the gate opens both ways so I was able to open the gate inwards and not disturb Mom, although the calf was a bit jittery!!!

As you can see from their looks they were most disgusted that we had disturbed them!!!!

The second week DH had to go to Glasgow so we went via a different route through Glencoe, one of our National Nature Reserves.  As you can see it was early in the morning and very misty and quite dark.

The mist was hanging in the valley

The Lochs around Glencoe.

The weather did not really improve all day and was quite stormy into the evening.

We found a new tea room near to Loch Ness set in the grounds of the farm.  The Ducks came a visiting!

The view out of the tea room window.

The Tea Room.

Just before we came home we paid a visit to the Fruit Farm to get some Brambles and Strawberries, so I could make jam when we got home.

Because of the very wet Spring and then very hot Summer, the wheat and other crops were all ready a lot sooner than normal and harvesting was well under way, whereas normally they are only just beginning to harvest when we travel back from vacation. 

When we travelled up we drove across the new Forth Road Bridge, The Queensferry Crossing which was opened by The Queen last year. “The 1.7 miles (2.7km) structure is the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world and also by far the largest to feature cables which cross mid-span. This innovative design provides extra strength and stiffness, allowing the towers and the deck to be more slender and elegant.”     The above picture was as we crossed the middle span.

The view from the cottage as the sun was setting one evening.

I hope you have enjoyed the trip around The Highlands, it really is a magical place and although the weather can be changeable by the hour it really doesn’t matter, when you have views like the one above and a lot of peace and quiet.

Tomorrow I will show you pictures of a surprise from the holiday!

Hugs, Susie xx