A hike in the Highlands

Hello! Jake and I have officially made it to our next workaway! We are way up in the Scottish Highlands on the shores of Loch Duich. We aren't quite in the middle of nowhere (I am saying this because there is a petrol station down the road, a convenience that we have not had in quite some time), but only about 700 people live around here. Oh well, the mountains keep us company. They sure are pretty! 

Our host, Mhairi, is very nice and knows a good amount about the plant and wildlife around here. This area is home to the sea eagle. We haven't seen one yet, but she assures us that we will before we leave. Apparently, they are enormous and pretty ferocious hunters. I'm really excited to see one!

The past few days she has shown us trails around the area, and BY GEORGE they sure are impressive! Here are some pictures of the hike that we went on yesterday-

Psych! This wasn't part of our hike. This was back in Fort William, but it is none other than the Hogwarts Express! Here, it is known as the Jacobite Express and it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world.  I read that it is also one of the only steam engine journeys that is still running. People come from all over the world to ride the train. Pretty magical stuff, no wonder it was the inspiration for the Hogwarts Express. I felt bad for a couple who showed up about half an hour late, thinking that they were early. They had traveled from somewhere in mainland Europe. Ugh, I would be heartbroken. 

It is hard to make out, but this is Eileen Donan castle. It is right up the road from where we are staying! We haven't visited yet, but I am anxious to get there. If any of you are familiar with the outrageous 80's action fantasy movie, Highlander, then you will be excited to know that this is the castle that featured in it. 

Me and Maggie, the Scottish sheepdog that came along for our hike! Mhairi has 2 dogs, Maggie and Otto. Otto is a Lab, but he stayed with Mhairi while we hiked. Maggie was great on the hike and led the way the whole time!

A view of Loch Duich. If you look at the lower right hand corner, you will see a rusted old fisherman's boat. 

This is Caisteal Grugaig. It is a circular rock formation that was used as a residence during the Iron Ages. They dot the Scottish hills, but this is the only one that we have found. It is so amazing that these structures still exist! It was also really neat to be in the structure without a bunch of tourist spoiling our time. We were the only ones there!

Jake on top of Caisteal Grugaig 

This is a view from inside the stone circle at Caisteal Grugaid. We didn't try to make it blurry or have this skewed effect. Looks pretty dang creepy to me. Spirits must have been amiss. 

We continued up the hill and ended with this beautiful view! It was so quiet, the only thing that you could hear was the wind and rain. So peaceful!

Me and my pup (I'm stealing her)

Beautiful!

This is a view of the Five Sisters. Each one of the sisters corresponds to one of the five summits. There are actually five summits there, but the fifth one is hard to see.

As far as work goes, Jake and I have been helping Mhairi gather and cut firewood. I say "we", but Jake has been doing most of the cutting. He sure does look rugged out there in the rain chopping wood. I think he likes it. Alas, I fancy the gathering portion of the job. Our big project is to level some land so that we can build a shed. It has been too rainy lately to work on it though. The mound is just one big puddle of mud. It doesn't look like the rain is going to let up much, so we'll have to just bide our time, I suppose.

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That's all for now! We are going on a full day's hike tomorrow, so stay tuned!