Day Fifty Eight

Toady was another “mostly travel” day as we wind our way around
the eastern coast via the Highland Tourist Route.
We start the day with a challenging uphill walk in the forest. No furry
buddies, but lots of footprints along muddy animal tracks. We spot
little deer’s feet, and big ones, and what we think are badgers and
pine martens. Not quite as much fun as seeing them in person, but
quite good fun trying to decipher what we see.
The tourist route takes us along Loch Ness (no sign of Nessie) which
is absolutely huge. Everyone knows of Loch Ness of course, but I for
one, had no idea how large it really is. Stretching for 24 miles, 1 mile
wide in places and around 750 feet deep, it contains more water
than all the lakes and rivers in England and Wales put together. In a
land where water is everywhere, it is the Queen of lakes. Looking at
it on the map, it virtually splits Scotland in two, bar two small land
masses.
We drive through Inverness, but decide not to stop, and past a
great deal of softly undulating farm land. Mostly sheep graze it, but
we do see some highland cows which are hairy and fabulous. The
landscape is so different on the eastern side. Nowhere near as wild,
it’s much more countryside than wilderness.
There are a few sights we would like to see in this district, a castle, a
garden and a wilderness area, but they are all a little out of reach for
today’s journey. We opt instead to stay in the very pretty town of
Granton-on-Spey for the night. Once we’ve settled, we walk into
town and wander along the main street. Its funny how small these
towns are, people know you’re not local and I even get asked if I
need a hand finding something….in the supermarket. Can you
imagine that happening at home?
Off home with magazines in hand; I have been craving a
fashion/shopping fix, and I am armed with Glamour ad Grazia. All I
need now is a cocktail, which I am sure Chris can and will address.