We just returned from our summer holidays in Scotland. Sunny and warm weather combined with an unspoilt and undisturbed peninsula made it an unforgettable trip.

Ardnamurchan's crater (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ard na Murchan'': land of the great seas) is a 50 square mile peninsula and contains an abundance of wildlife. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length.

Good to know:
Distance: 3 kms
Rate: easy
GPS-track available for download: no

As always all photo's can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Our first walk, a very easy and short one, is a part of the Old School House Path, which starts just after you have passed the Sonachan hotel.

Why particularly that walk?
Because the whole north western corner of Ardnamurchan is a large "caldera" which is a crater left behind by a collapsed volcano. It is that crater that we wanted to see from a higher viewpoint and this track going slightly uphill takes you to the edge of the crater.

It has been rather a cold period here in our province, with temperatures dropping to -15 (and even colder) during the night and -3 during daytime. We even got 15 centimeters of snow, which normally disappears within a day but now after one week is still covering the ground. Here a just 3 pictures we took this weekend.

On June 6th, 2008 we crossed the borders of Austria and Italy via a mountain pass at 2509m. This pass, called the Timmelsjoch (or Passo del Rombo) connects the Oetztal valley (Austria, Tirol) with the Passer Valley (Adige Valley) in the Italian province of Bolzano-Bolzen.

Here is a view into the Passer valley on our way up to the Pass itself.



The road on the Italian side is steep, bending and narrow but breathtaking. Definitely worth some stops along the way up (The pass is closed however for lorries and vehicles with trailers due to elevation, steepness and the narrow road).

In former times winters in the Netherlands were long and cold. Nowadays, due to global warming, we are presented with warmer winters, with lots of wind and rain. But last week we had a short cold wave bringing cold clear nights and beautiful bright skies during daytime. One day we woke up to find a frosted landscape. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

The sun just came up behind the trees, trying to warm us up a bit.



After walking through the fields, we came across a small forest, and oh my... an astonishing view it was. All the trees were covered in frost and it all looked like a fairytale. Please enlarge underneath pictures by clicking on them.


As you can see from underneath pictures it was really a winter wonderland. And remarkably not many people were up. All running around like a madman to get all the groceries in for the upcoming Christmas days, to buy the last Christmas presents and you name it. We just enjoyed the views presented to us.



One more picture to finish this winterfeeling.




O....nope....here is just one other picture. Taken by our parents, who live about 200 kms away from us. They even had more frost than we did.
Sometimes it is just not fair . But this one looks just great, doesn't it?