Palm Sunday

Sorry about the corny title - but it is Sunday, and here is a photo of one of the palm trees in Plockton! It is quite a surprise to see palm trees flourishing in this fishing village on the West coast of Scotland - something to do with the gulf stream I am told.

The lovely foxglove shows it can hardly have been taken on the Sunday before Easter. Well, in the words of Pope Benedict - have a Happy Sunday!

Plockton Station

On Thursday 31 May when the Church was thinking about Our Lady travelling to see her cousin Elizabeth on foot, I went to the lovely fishing village of Plockton by train! Plockton is on the North Highlands line between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh.

The Kyle line has been likened to a symphony in three parts: pastoral, mountain, and marine. This photo shows my train leaving the station for the final part of it's journey to Kyle. This lovely little station is rather different to Clapham Junction!

One can see Plockton village from the line. A pretty palm-tree lined village of yachts anchored in the shelter of its beautiful bay, which was the location for the BBC's drama series 'Hamish Macbeth'.

Loch Garten Watersports Centre

Last Friday I visited this watersports centre - for lunch, and a very good lunch it was too! The centre had been opened by Princess Anne in 2001 and seemed very well organised. They told me how busy they were - but it seemed nice and peaceful by London standards!

Mountain loch

Here is a photo of a delightful loch almost hidden in a forest in the foothills of the Cairngorms. I wonder how many beauty spots like this are hidden? I'm rather glad they take some searching out, because the tranquility would be spoilt if loads of coaches kept turning up!

Daffodils in June

Here is a charming photo which I took on the afternoon of Friday 1 June. It shows daffodils growing in a cottage garden in the foothills of the Cairngorms. Note, that they were not all fully in bloom!

We have wonderful regional variation in the UK, from the early daffodils of Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, to these late daffodils of Northern Scotland. I wonder, when did the earliest Cornish daffodil bloom, and when will the latest Scottish daffodil bloom?

Peter went into the hill country

This is the nearest I got to the peaks of the Cairngorms - not bad, given I was on a mountain bike. I know that one of the servers at Westminster Cathedral (Michael White) got to the top. However, I have a feeling he 'cheated' and used the funicular railway for the last mile. I must try it sometime, as I am told the view from the top is fantastic - on a clear day!

The building near the peak is the 'station' for the funicular railway. It boasts the highest restaurant in the UK! You can just about make out the track of the funicular railway in my last photo (posting of 4 June). Todays photo was taken on Friday 1 June - note that all the snow present on Monday 28 May has melted.

Cairngorms National Park

I have just arrived back from a fabulous week in the Highlands of Scotland - staying just outside Aviemore - in the Cairngorms National Park. I took this photo last Monday (28 May) from the platform at Aviemore Station, and as you can see, there was still snow on the top of the mountains. Fortunately, lower down the weather was much more summer-like!