For the last years my bucket list of places to see has included just 3 places:
a) Lake District
b) Scotland
c) Iceland
This summer I had the chance to cross 2 of them off the list - but of course now I need to go back someday, as there wasn't time enough to see anywhere near as much as I wanted to see. I had only one week off and the opportunity to join friends of mine who had rented a Airbnb in Pitlochry in the Scottish Highlands. Because I knew I had to drive there to save on money (train fares are atrociously high in the UK) and that I would pass the Lake District anyway, I crammed my camping stuff and clothes for all weather eventualities into the car and drove north.
I did not plan too much, I rather wanted to experience the different landscapes without coming to them with too many expectations - but the one thing I knew I wanted to do was to swim in a loch. I ended up swimming a lot - every day when I was in the Lake District - and in the end this trip has been mostly about water.
Much love,
Qaroline
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| Falls of Dochart - near Killin. My first proper stop after driving through the night. |
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| Falls of Dochart - Killin, near Loch Tay |
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| Pebble beach, Loch Tay, on my way to Pitlochry |
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| Wild flowers on the shore of Loch Tay |
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| Dull, near Aberfeldy. I just needed to photograph this. |
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| Stop on the A9, going to Cairngorms National Park |
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| Loch Morlich, Cairngorms National Park. As always the mountains do not look nearly impressive enough on the photograph. When swimming in the loch (peaty, ice-cold water) they seemed to be really near. |
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| The fish ladder in Pitlochry. A few weeks before I had listened to The Fish Ladder - a Journey Upstream by Katharine Norbury on audiobook. Highly recommended. |
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| River Ness in Inverness |
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| The relentless Scottish sunshine (!) - looking sunburnt and a bit blissed out next to Loch Ness |
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| Blairmount in Pitlochry. Stunning Airbnb, for more info follow the link! |
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| My campsite near Coniston Water wasn't that far from the Atlantic Coast. As I am always a sucker for the seaside, I drove to Haverigg near Millom after pitching the tent on the first evening |
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| Haverigg - towards the coast |
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| Coniston Water - where I went swimming on the first evening |
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| After swimming - celebrating the first night in my new tent with a pipe |
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| Ambleside, Lake District |
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| Estwaite Water, very near to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's place. Saw some of her water colours of Estwaite in a tiny exhibition space at Estwaite Fishery |
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| Lakeside on Windermere - went swimming in there on the second day but at a different access point. |
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| Dove Cottage, Grasmere, where Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy lived for 8 years. Am reading Dorothy Wordsworth's diaries at the moment (to be honest I originally came here because it features in The Trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon ...) |
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| Houses around Dove Cottage, Grasmere |
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| View towards the Old Man of Coniston from the campsite, zoomed in to cut off the tents |
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| Cream tea in 'Fine Food Emporium - Mrs F's' in Keswick. Was feeling a bit sunstruck by this point and needed to get away from the maddening crowd. |
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| Last evening and last opportunity for a swim in Coniston Water. Sat in the shade beneath the big oaks on the shore line for a long time. |
