Scottish Pines v Plantation Pines

Not all in the highlands of Scotland is beautiful. There are acres and acres of pine plantations and, as in Victoria when the pines or blue gums are harvested, the various stages of growth and harvest can be a horrible blot on the landscape.

There are signs of hope. We visited the beautiful Loch Maree and apparently it's one of the more pristine lochs. Scottish Pines that are hundreds of years old are growing on islands in the loch. I have read that a lot of Scottish Pines were cut down during WW2 to make ammunition boxes.

And in other areas we have seen areas of hillside fenced off from sheep and deer and Scottish Pine plantations well established. Apparently only 4% of Scotland has natural vegetation, and in Ayrshire it is worse - only 1% of natural vegetation there. Sounds like the Western District of Victoria! At Muirkirk, where my father's Wyllie ancestors lived, a small woodland of trees is being maintained.

West Scotland

The two-day trip from Thurso to Lochgilphead, down the west coast of Scotland, was awe-inspiring. I want to do it again immediately.

The A68

The weather forecast wasn't good and we were heading north into it. After leaving lovely Durham, where my Nana Wyllie's grandfather (James Taylor) was born, we had to decide whether to go to see Hadrian's Wall on the way north or leave it until we came back down south. The distance wasn't great so we (i.e. I) decided to go and have a look. You wouldn't believe the personal discomfort I went through in order to get this photo. The wind was appalling and I couldn't keep raindrops off the camera lens, and my umbrella turned inside out. Phil stayed in the car. If the weather improves we'll probably have another look on the way back down south.

It didn't stop raining all day and as we crossed the border to Scotland we started getting snow. We were quite delighted by it all.

And then the wet snow got heavier and heavier and the roads were flooded, the windows fogged up, rivers were running fast and hard and the roads were very slushy. It wasn't as much fun by then. We'd already arranged to go to a farmstay B&B near Edinburgh and when we got to Gifford, their village, we had to go through floods in their high street. Once we'd settled in we went into the village pub for a meal (our experience of pub meals is very positive by the way) and had to brush snow off our car windows in order to get back our very comfortable and warm B&B.

Everyone we spoke to says this is unseasonally cold. We know why our ancestors left.

PS Most of the photos above were taken through the car window. I wasn't getting out. No way.