Rest Day in Kingshouse; Trip to Glencoe

June 7:  We had a leisurely breakfast since it was a rest day, and most of our group took a taxi to Glencoe on the coast for the day.  Betsy and I stayed behind and did a little photo editing before going for a walk on the edge of Rannoch Moor.  This moor, of about 50 square miles, is the largest uninhabited area of the UK.  Betsy saw a book that suggested that Rannoch Moor is "one of 500 natural areas everyone should see in their lifetime."  We walked along a gravel track up from Kings House Hotel about 2 miles past a variety of streams, moors, lochans and bogs.  We found a mole trap on a log across a stream (definitely a trap, possibly for moles since we saw one later nearby), flesh-eating plants - the sundew and butterwort alongside some pools (bogs), and some great views of the hills.  It was pleasant and peaceful, even though we watched several thunderstorms growing to the west and south of us and fully expected to be rained on.  However, all of the storms passed by us.

Mid-afternoon, we took a taxi to Ballachulish , the town next to the Village of Glencoe, to catch up with the rest of our group.  We met up at Laroch Pub and Restaurant, then Betsy and I strolled through a historic slate mine, then to the seaside ,and finally around the town.  The slate mine operated up until 1950s and its quarry pond was being used for introductory kayaking lessons.  We saw a group of youngsters doing drills to get comfortable in their sea kayaks, including standing up and singing "head, shoulders, knees and toes."  The seaside had a few remnant shacks made of stacked slates, that were used by 4 men to shape slate - a sign said that they could produce over 100,000 roof slates in a year.

We had drinks with the gang, first outside, then inside because of rain, and then moved to the restaurant area.  The food was fantastic -- featuring fresh seafood -- and creatively prepared.  We shared starters of  a goat cheese salad with apples, pears, hazelnuts and little wild blackberries, and seared Isle of Mull scallops with cauliflower puree, capers and golden raisin dressing.  Betsy had mussels with cider and parsley veloute, and I had baked cod with pomme puree, wilted spinach, broad beans and shellfish fricasse.  By the time we left, it was raining hard.  Eight of us squeezed into a taxi and rode the 12 miles back to Kingshouse, passing the Three Sisters (mountains), Hidden Valley (a trail into mountains), and the access road to a valley containing a manor house used in the filming of Skyfall, a recent James Bond movie.  It was mostly dry at our hotel, but the river behind the hotel was almost overspilling its banks.