Day Ten: Saturday, May 09
A look at the Western Highlands
Our last day, and finally the sun is out and promises to stay out for a while.
Today we would head west to the mountains of Beinn Eighe and then on to Inverewe, an ornamental garden established in 1862.
This is a "quick and dirty" posting as we soon must pack up, board the bus and head south to the Glasgow airport.
Our guides for today: Scott O'Hara, Head Ranger and Marcia who is a trainee.
All the staff here at Aigas is top notch and have and encyclopedic knowledge of the natural and cultural history of the area.
In short order the scenery started to get more and more dramatic.
We spend about and hour and half here walking the trails and enjoying the birding and scenery.
There were a number of natural art placements along the trail. This appeared to be stacked slate.
The is moss was growing on the stacked slate.
A very old Silver Birch. I think this was the largest one I saw on the trip.
Our first look at the mountains.
There were several nice stone benches which mimicked the rock walls or dykes as they call them here.
Chris Steve and Marcia smile for the camera.
More interesting outdoor art, skillfully carved from wood.
That's a BIG Douglas fir cone!
Bart obliges the camera.
The primroses were out in full force.
Here we are at Inverewe Gardens. We had a personal tour guide. Note the hedge on the right. It is tightly sheared Rhododendron ponticum.
A nice view of the loch and walled garden.
There is an extensive Rhododendron collection here at Inverewe. This is R. sinogrande.
There were many, many species of Rhodies from China which is considered the homeland of the genus.
As the trail climbed the views opened up.
There was lots and lots of Ostrich Fern.
They had an incredible stand of Gunnera a somewhat bizarre plant from the mountains of South America.
More nice vistas kept popping up.
A very robust stand of Sessile Trillium.
We are now close to our original starting elevation.
A lovely ornamental gate leading to the shore.
This next series of photos were all shot through the windshield as we made our way back to Aigas.
Next time we will have our own transport and stop when we wish.
The beach looked pretty inviting.
More eye popping scenery unfolded with every passing mile.
Our last look - until the next visit.
This being our last dinner at Aigas they had a special treat for us. Eventually her came inside to place and he then led us into dinner.
Field Officer Duncan McNeil was all decked out.
Here Betsy, like her mother before here enjoys a relaxing glass of Harvey's Bristol Cream.
The last shot of the evening and a wonderful farewell Aigas.
Next stop: Madrid!