Scotland 6 - Ballachulish

Today's before-lunch hike was in town! No need to load up our minibuses, we just bundled up and walked out the door. A quick cut through town, and up into the woods. The woods are very nice, very springy, and of course, very squishy with damp as well - reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest. The trail wasn't that long, but there was a surprising amount of elevation, and suddenly we were stepped out of the forests onto a winsome overlook with the town laid out before us, a quarry to our right, and a rainbow over all.  

So we hiked to the quarry! It was pretty cool, but unfortunately all the exceptionally cool parts (like the waterfall and main slate face) were fenced off. [Edit here]. The slate mine was the largest in Scotland, and the key industries in Ballachasdf. This massive hole produced ~2,000,000 tons of shingles over it's life [which means 15-20 million tons of mining], employing ~700 people [45% of the population at the time, and the current population of the town] - even paying for the towns doctor. [Edit 2], it started pouring rain! We crossed the street to the visitor center for lunch? Brunch? Elevensies.

After Elevensies there came a break in the rain, and we split up - some of us going to visit the slate arch, some heading home for nap time.  The slate arch is the last of 7 inclines used to transport slate from the quarries to the harbor, and the engineer in my who designed water-powered inclines as a child visiting Pittsburgh was delighted to learn they used the weight of filled carts to drag empty carts back to the top. Not super photogenic, but we weren't gonna come all this way and skip the final 200 yards.

After the arch we split again as another contingent headed off for naps, and my parents and I chose to check out the peninsula.  We very nearly didn't, as the rain began intensifying to down-pour levels, but "If you dinnae like the weather, bide a wee bit and it'll turn". As soon as we hit the bridge we were going to hide under the rain stopped, and by the time we walked out the peninsula trail we were in full sun.  It was a cute flat trail with great views, including Eilean Munde and the Isle of Discussion, where clan members would abandon you and your enemy with enough bread, cheese, and whiskey for you to settle your issues. Once you came to peace (or at least an agreement) they'd let you leave. [Nope. All the islands were considered neutral territory for safe meeting, and they'd surely share a dram, but there's no record of actual stranding to force the issue.] And we saw another rainbow!

Peninsula conquered (if you can call a casual stroll conquering), we headed towards home, stopping at the grocery store where I made sure to get some digestive biscuits (basically chocolate-covered graham crackers we discovered twenty years ago on our first European travels) in addition to the essentials.  A mile later, we arrived back in nap-land, where we chilled, babysat, and watched the weather cycle from rain to rainbows time and time again.

Dinner was mussels over pasta, because the Shack had sold out of all other Seafood, and since it was so early (5pm was pushing-it for the youngest among us) we had time to hit to Castle Stryker! We had to continue on in the morning, so this was our last chance to see one of the most iconic castles in Scotland. 

We drove 20 minutes south, passed back and forth from rain to rainbow, and finally caught sight of the quintessential keep.  We pulled down a back road to find a small lot covered in "no parking" signs and traffic cones.  We're only gonna be here for 5 minutes, so even my mom agreed to send it.  But then a local walked out onto his deck in a high-vis jacket and shook his finger at us. Naughty Naughty. Proper tosser this one. Normally I'd wave a different finger back, but if he's so pedantic he'd put on an orange vest to scold us, he's already called the coppers. So we loaded back up and sought out another viewpoint. But if you're reading this, <STALK THIS MUPPPET AND NAME DROP> : you're a total wanker and an embarrassment to the your clan. <look up his clan history to make fun of how far he's fallen> [I've now had two months to calm down, which is good. Because a few weeks ago I was still ready to get myself barred from the Isles]

Anyways. A few minutes up the road there was the closed castle-view restaurant, which looked like it had been closed for at least a season.  So we served around a planter, made ourselves at home in the carpark, hopped a fence, and just like that - sorted! Pretty good views. Not the shot I was hoping for, but I'll take it. Better than getting deported because I told a council lackey to attempt something unnatural with a ewe. And then Hannah bemoaned the fact that Ethan who was carrying his daughter across the pasture... so I hastily made up some excuse about needing to check on them and jogged past the sheep to get a better picture. I mean reprimand them?

Overall, success! And as the sun set on our trip back we saw a few final rainbows, which I think brings us to an even dozen and my personal best.