Plockton on the West Coast two great days with special folk. Thanks

I have been over in Plockton again staying in the wonderful Station House at the railway station. My hosts were an old pal Lyle and Judy Brotherton and Byron the dog!

The Old Station is now converted into a holiday house and is incredible as it is still a wonderful working train line and we get 4 trains a day. This line the Inverness to Kyle line is a must travel.

The drive over was wild windy and wet and the road near Lochcarron has a convoy system that goes over the railway on special tracks.

I was not held up at all and the road is protected by rockfall by wire mesh. There are regular rockfalls and the road even goes through a tunnel. The weather was wild with Loch Carron blowing a bit, yet there was no rush and I was soon at Plockton.

A bit wet .

It was great to see Lyle and Judy and after a drink we went out in full metal Gortex

It is such a great area and we had a wet walk but despite the weather hugely enjoyable.

It was then down to the Pontoon to meet Calum Mackenzie who is a local celebrity. He runs a great local Calum’s Seal trips in his boat and is great company ! We met on my last trip and a real character that you only find on the West Coast. He has just been filming with Paul Merton and he is so funny with his local tales of the area and its characters. We had a laugh as the weather was to wild to go out and had a dram with him. A whisky Mac magical and just needed for a wet day.

The Captain Scott built in Buckie in 1971 for the Dulverton Trust and sold in 1977 to the Sultan of Oman

We spoke about Calum’s love of the sea and I asked him if he ever saw a ship called the Captain Scott. I first saw it in February 1972 lying in anchor in Kintail. It was my first weekend out with the Mountain Rescue RAF Team at Kinloss. I could not believe it when Calum told me he was on the Captain Scott as a young lad that month. As a local lad he got a late spot on the ship for a month! He would have been on board when I first saw this ship ! That was 46 years ago! Wow!

We then had lunch at the cafe Gun Aimn in Plockton a superb smoked salmon sandwich and so friendly and all great local wonderful food.

It was a great catch up and then back over the hills to the house for a great tea. Lyle and Judy had invited Gilly a local artist to join us and we had a cracking evening. She is working on a project about a Scottish Artic Explorer and
Botanist Isobel Wylie Hutchison what a lady

who lived at Carlowrie Castle. Near Edinburgh.

Isobel Wylie Hutchison (30 May 1889–20 February 1982) was a Scottish Arctic traveller and botanist. She also wrote poetry, books on her travels and articles in various geographic magazines. She painted many scenes from her adventures.

What a lady I had sadly never heard of who had travelled to do many places in a era when few did.

The weather was clearing up so it looks great for tomorrow. We had an early night all set for a good forecast tomorrow.

What a great day.