The Highlands in Colour

After rummaging through my luggage, it turns out that I did bring my memory card reader!

So in no particular order, some photographic highlights from my second Highlands trip:

1. Hamish, the Highland Cow: My first hairy cow upclose and personal! He's so swishy looking.

2. The Lowlands: I think this was taken somewhere around Stirling. The lowland landscape is gently undulating and full of rolling green hills. Picture perfect!

3. The Highlands: Past the Highland faultline and we're in a completely different country altogether.

The highlands are wild, untamed and dramatic. Breath-taking to behold even from inside an airconditioned coach.

But nothing's ever just 'pretty' in the highlands. It's deadly. Ben Nevis is just 1/8 the size of Mount Everest, but has claimed more lives.

I'm no mountaineer but I can say that stepping out of the coach itself can already kill the unsuspecting - it's Spring but the winds are still as crazy as ever! They can literally blow you off a cliff if you're not careful.

4. The Five Sisters: These 5 mountain peaks formed one of the most picturesque moments of our trip.

5. Eilean Donan Castle: Highlander was filmed here! It's a small castle but it looked stunning against the sunset.

6. Isle of Skye, Lealt Falls: I rest my case, Skye is looking fine. Took a familiar route, however made a detour to Lealt Falls which I hadn't been to the last time. Joined a group of English geologists and admired this great crashing waterfall.



7. The White Heather: Charming B&B in Kyleakin which we put up in for the night. Lovely view from our room!



8. Creelers Seafood Restaurant, Broadford, Isle of Skye: I had the most amazing scallops in this joint. Quiet, unassuming family-run business which will make your tastebuds go wild.
9. The Culloden Battlefield: Did I mention our guide was a Scot and hates the English with a passion? It's a no-brainer therefore that we ended up here.

The Culloden Battle was the beginning of the end of Highland culture. This is the field where the highland clans were slaughtered by the British army. There is an excellent museum on-site which contributes overall to an extremely poignant experience. Descendents of the ill-fated Highlanders still come here to mourn.

10. The Hermitage: Our final stop just before heading back to Edinburgh, and in many ways, the icing on the cake. The little hut-like structure on the left was a former opium-den. It's been converted into a gorgeous viewing gallery. Glass doors open up, offering a fantastic view of the waterfall below.

11. The Waterfall: Voila voila.