Highland heights

Embrace experiences

This journey wasn’t about rushing to different places. I wanted to make some small, but hopefully interesting detours on my way back. There were two places in particular I had been wanting to see and experience for a little while now.

Following on from my previous trip to Jupiter Artland, I had heard about another art project that renowned landscape architect Charles Jencks had also been involved with.

Walnut whips

Although this one was unfortunately abandoned, it still sounded like an interesting place to check out. The first job was to find where it actually was.

Nearer the area, I spied two very distinctive artificial hilltop ‘structures’ visible on the horizon from the nearby motorway. I must be getting warmer.

As it’s not a functioning attraction as such, as I got nearer, I asked for a bit of local knowledge to get to the main area. The whole site was previously an opencast mine.

The original plans and vision were for the area to be developed as the Scottish World Project.

Wonder world

Some of this initial concept was implemented. Taking associated abandoned industrial equipment from the site, they used these rusty utility items and deployed them as sculptural pieces in the artificial landscape they helped create.

Unfortunately, the project was abandoned when the site changed hands in 2013.

Seems a real shame, as judging by his previous works, this could have been another stunning transformation of a leftover industrial site.

Creative challenge

Maybe not everyone’s idea of what art might look like, but in my mind, that’s a good thing. Art is supposed to challenge our perceptions. As the French might say;

Chacun à son goût

You might be thinking this sort of thing would have a limited appeal to just my quirky tastes.

However, whilst I was there, a few other people also turned up, so maybe it’s not just me then… #JustSaying

Great grub

After a bit of art stimulation, it was time to hit the road and find a place to grab a bite to eat. You can come across some memorable places for food and drink on your travels.

Today, I got to add another to my list. The Old Butchers, in Lochcarron.

A great little coffee shop and landscape photography gallery combined. It also comes with beautiful views and surroundings.

A nice relaxing pit stop with sunshine views over the loch opposite. I’d made good time on my travels so far. Rested and fed, onwards now for a different kind of detour.

I wanted to go visit a road next. Yeah, I know, it’s the kind of exciting, full-throttle, crazy rock ’n’ roll lifestyle that I lead!

Bealach na Bà or bust

For some, this might be the sort of road you might want to avoid, but I love these kinds of roads. It’s the famous Bealach na Bà (Scottish Gaelic for ‘Pass of the Cattle’).

It’s a stunning winding single-track pass that makes its way through the mountains of the Applecross peninsula, in Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands.

The road over this historic mountain pass was built way back in 1822. That is a pretty incredible feat of engineering and building in itself.

It has some very tight hairpin bends that switch back and forth up the hillside and gradients that approach 20%. Good idea to check your brakes first, then.

How high

It has the greatest ascent of any road climb in the UK. Rising from sea level at Applecross to 630m (2,070ft) in about 6km (3.7mi). It is also the third-highest mountain pass in Scotland.

The drive, scenery and views are all spectacular, both going up and at the summit itself. Just make sure you keep your eyes on the road as you go!

Double delight

The drive was so good that in the end, I changed my planned route onwards to double back over the pass one more time!  It’d definitely my kind of road, a bit like the Quiraing in Skye.

All of this, and I still managed to get to Ullapool to catch the ferry in time. Not bad going really. Good to make the most of every opportunity.

It really is all about the journey, not the destination.

No AI churn here

Hopefully, by now, you can tell that all of my written and image content is self-generated.

It may not be perfect; a bit rough and ragged around the edges. Grammar and writing are not my forte; it’s a struggle and takes me an age to write anything.

However, it is my own personal, authentic, and individual take on things; it’s all done by me. I do not, and will not ever use AI to produce generic churn for vdubxs.com – that is just not how I roll!

All of this is produced by my human hand. It’s an important part of the creative process for me. If you appreciate this in any way, please feel free to like, share, or otherwise let me know.

Hey, you could even go crazy and maybe Buy Me a Coffee if you wanted.