Having had so many months travelling not very far from our house and city limits, it was special as a family to have some short breaks in the Lake District and in Western Scotland during August. I posted some family photos on Facebook, but wanted to reserve some landscapes and seascapes to put on this blog.

We first had a few days based in Troutbeck valley. It was just a short drive over the hills down to Ullswater lake. The fells are always beautiful in the summer.

A good walk under low cloud around Rydal Water one day took us up through fields and into caves; and the drizzle stopped enough to capture this peaceful scene by the water’s edge looking north.

A week later we travelled further north to tour some of Western Scotland. Boat trips were nearly a daily feature on this holiday. We took a ferry across from Tarbet on the west bank to the eastern shore by Inversnaid. A walk near Rob Roy’s cave (which we couldn’t find); a battle against midges; and a lovely waterfall just inland.

A couple of days later we caught the CalMac boat from Oban to Mull on a calm crossing. The view to the west during the sailing is called on the map the ‘inner seas off the west coast of Scotland’. Beautiful.

We drove across the bottom of Mull to spend a couple of days on Iona. The life of the abbey and all rhythms of prayer were suspended on this ancient christian island. So a different highlight was a boat trip out to Staffa Island. Seeing dolphins, a minke whale and a seal were big bonuses on the way, but an hour to climb up onto Staffa was a delight. The colony of puffins had just left, but the ruggedness of Fingals cave and the grassland on the island gave amazing views. The Inner Hebrides islands just stretch out before you in all directions.

The final leg of the journey allowed us to explore Mull. A walk down to Torosay castle on the east led us to an old harbour and a calm bay, where we searched in vain to see otters that are often there. However we did find an old Celtic cross on the lovely headland.

We came across one iconic scene on the long drive across Mull – an abandoned boat on the edge of Loch Scridain, forgotten and beached for years. With Ben More in the distance and highland cattle grazing nearby, it was quite an atmospheric picture.

Hope you enjoyed these few landscape photos – we really enjoyed being there and away from it all for a few days. We really do live in a beautiful part of the world 🙂

Lake District Scotland