Secret Scotland

28/12/2024

Some more photos from the Secret Scotland "image library" (that's a fancy name for an SD card we just found).

This time, some pics from a trip to Mull in April 2022.

Pennygown Chapel
Kilmore Standing Stones
Castle Moy
Castle Aros
A "cute" sheep

21/12/2024

A montage of pics from various points along the "Golden Road" that weaves up the east coast of Harris from Roghadal to Tairbeart. This is about as twisty and undulating as any road gets.

09/12/2024

More old pics from the Secret Scotland photo vaults.

Wonder how many folk can identify the location...

08/12/2024

One of the numerous beauty spots a short distance from Secret Scotland’s Headquarters.
☀️🗻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥰

06/12/2024

Looking for something to read at the weekend?

Why not have a look at our Blog for November.

https://www.secret-scotland.com/blog/scotland-travel-blog-november-2024

02/12/2024

So glad to see this cafe is back as we used to feature them in our guides.

Cafe 82 (so-called because it's on the A82 at Drumnadrochit) was one of our favourite spots to get lunch in the Loch Ness area, and we've really missed it since it closed back in March 2023.

So we're delighted to know it's back, and doing well since its re-opening last April. We'll be checking it out next April when we're staying in Drumnadrochit for a few days.

Cafe Eighty2

Opening Hours

Monday ~ Sunday ~ 09:00 ~ 16:00

30/11/2024

Fascinating stuff...

More than 250 people turned up to General Register House in Edinburgh to view the letter.

29/11/2024

Staying on the subject of spooky places, these are the ruins of the 16th century Knock Castle. Externally the castle looks quite complete, but the inner floor levels have collapsed.

The castle has a tragic history of clan rivalry between the Gordons who lived here, and the neighbouring Forbes. The conflict had a grizzly end when the 7 sons of the Laird of Knock Castle were caught on Forbes land cutting peats.

The Forbes slaughtered all of the 7 sons and tied their severed heads to the shafts of their peat spades. When the Laird of Knock Castle learned about the ex*****on of all of his sons, he collapsed and fell down the stairs of the castle breaking his neck.

Sections of the staircase are still there. It is said, that the Laird haunts the castle and his wails of grief can sometimes be heard echoing from the castle ruins.

26/11/2024

Sorting through the photo library again and realised that we've a lot of pictures from our trip to Handa Island that we've never posted on Facebook. This was from a glorious sunny week in July 2019.

Handa Island is essentially a bird colony these days, but it was home to ~60 people in the 1840's. Interestingly, it was a matriarchal society with the island council being led by the oldest widow on the island.

The island became all but uninhabited after the Potato Famine of 1847 - 48 forced the islanders to move en masse to Nova Scotia. Many of their old croft houses remain, but the only people resident on the island these days are the RSPB warden and the seasonal volunteers. So if you fancy a break away from the modern world you can volunteer to do a stint on Handa Island.

If you don't feel quite so committed to a quiet island life, you can visit Handa Island as a day trip. The ferry costs ~£20 and it's a frequent service run by a small RIB boat that takes ~12 folk at a time. It runs back and forth at 30 minute intervals so you don't have too long to wait.

There's a good circular path around the island that lets you take in the amazing sea cliffs, a lovely beach and some of the abandoned croft houses. You might also see some Puffins between April - July.

23/11/2024

We've been surprised by the popularity of our post about St Fillan's Priory. So, we thought you might also be interested in the largely forgotten remains of Martnaham Castle to the south of Ayr.

The castle dates from the 16th - 17th century and is interesting as it stands on a small, presumably man made island in Loch Martnaham.

Like an iron age crannog, the island is connected to the Loch shore by a clearly defined causeway of neatly stacked boulders. The water level has been lowered over the centuries so the causeway stands above the water, and is covered in thick moss.

It's a spooky place and can only be accessed on foot and is about 1 km from the nearest road. It's certainly not a place that invites you to linger.

But there is another more recent layer of history here in the form of an old railway line that used to serve Sundrum pits near to Coylton. The line closed in 1934 and has been reclaimed by nature, but it's still clearly identifiable as a railway and a few sleepers remain.

18/11/2024

It never ceases to amaze me the layers of history you find in Scotland if you take the time to stop and explore a bit deeper.

This is the ruins of St Fillans Priory in Strath Fillan. It is located a few hundred metres from the A82 up a farm track. There are no signs to it from the A82, so tourists seldom explore, although you will find it marked on Ordnance Survey maps.

St Fillan was a missionary who traveled all over Scotland in the 8th century, and there are chapels and tributes to him all over the country. This priory was established by Robert the Bruce in 1317 and was quite a substantial building, some 50 metres long. The priory was dissolved in 1607. I assume that locals then took stones from the building for their dwellings.

Beside the priory, there is the even older Kirkton Burial Ground which contains gravestones that date back to the 7th and 8th century. I can't show photos of these slabs as they have been deliberately buried under turfs to protect their rare Celtic inscriptions from weathering.

17/11/2024

We had a colourful visitor to Secret Scotland HQ today. Certainly got the cat's attention.

13/11/2024

Apologies for the shaky image, I was filming this at maximum zoom whilst trying to steady myself against a fence that turned out to be electrified.

This impressive Stag had a hareem of ~20 Hinds in tow as he strutted around Lochan a' Chreagain on the Mar Estate.

10/11/2024

Climbed Ben Challum (Callum's Hill) this weekend. Probably the least enjoyable Munro climb to date. Boggy, Foggy and Chilly...

It's one of those Munroes that we've passed a hundred times when travelling on the A82 between Crianlarich and Tyndrum, but the summit is only briefly visible as you drive past.

Visibility was grim. About 40 - 50 feet at the summit. Then add to that feet soaked by navigating endless bogs and a wind chill factor that numbed our extremities. We were feeling mizzzzerable.

We did spot some wildlife. A Ptarmigan in winter plumage was about 30 feet from us but my hands were so numb that I couldn't get the camera out in time to photograph it. Aurelia had an even closer wild life encounter when a baby haggis hitched a lift on her hat.

The only thing that motivated us was the reward of dinner at our favourite country inn...
Kilchrenan Inn

08/11/2024

A random post for no reason other than the fact that I just found these pictures when sorting through some SD cards.

So, here's a salmon leaping up the Falls of Shin near Lairg.

The way things are going with climate change, salmon leaping up Scottish rivers may soon be something you only see in history books.

04/11/2024

I was recently asked to recommend a nice easy Munro climb for a novice hiker. I think the 3 Munros at Cairnwell are about as easy an introduction as you can get because the starting point is at 2199 feet, so there's not much elevation to be gained and after that, you undulate up and down quite gently across a high-level plateau between the summits of Cairnwell, Càrn Aosda and Càrn a'Ghèoidh.

It's not the most scenic group of Munros to "bag", but you can tick 3 off your list in around 4 hours.

You could even cheat and take the chairlift up from the Glenshee Ski Centre to within a few 100 feet of the summit of Cairnwell. but what's the point of doing it the easy way...?

02/11/2024

The seasons seem to change so fast, or is it a sign that I'm getting old

Instead of dwelling on the approach of winter, we're recalling summer with a few pics from our July trip to the Isle of Lismore.

27/10/2024

A wee sample of pics from our time on the Isle of Coll.