Ardnamurchan

For fourteen years I was awoken each week day morning at 5:30am by the radio four weather man reading the shipping forecast. I resolutely refused to get out of bed until he reached Ardnamurchan Point by which time I knew that if I didn't swing my legs out of bed and head for the shower I would not be leaving the house at 6am and would as a consequence miss the 6:42am from Petts Wood to London Victoria. Today we took the Corren ferry across the narrowest point of Loch Linnhe to the Ardnamurchan peninsula so I could visit the place that I had heard so often but had never seen. We didn't make at as far as the lighthouse on the point as it was a two hour drive and the weather outlook was poor. We visited Strontian, a village with more facilities than most in this part of the world and the place that gave its name to Strontium which was discover there in 1790. We had a long walk through an ancient oak forest which resembled one of those weird and magical forests seen in Harry Potter movies - picture in extras. We completed our trip to Ardnamurchan with a visit to the Garbh Eileen wildlife viewing hide. As you can see the seals were very much in evidence but the otter were not. We had already seen a pine marten in the oak forest but it disappeared long before I could even switch the camera on.