June 2025 Archive

Tornagrain Thousands of new houses are in the process of being built at Tornagrain. It still has a very deserted toy-town feel even on the Sunday afternoon that we visited. The station at Inverness Airport is a new addition to the Invernes

We spent the night in Alness which gave us plenty of time to take an evening walk down to the River Averon and see the sluice & fish ladder. It was a lovely evening walk from there to the railway viaduct but if course Rudy's favourite was the open gr

At Lairg we headed down to the River Shin for a second-breakfast picnic. One of the best "hidden gem" places we've found. A half hidden signpost and gate from platform 1 of the train station leads directly into the woods and onwards via deserted path

The Gearrchoille Woodland was gifted to Ardgay in 2002 but has a longer history of community use than that. The old curling pond for the village was here and in long gone days the woodland meadow was used as an overnight stop for drovers. There's

A quick decision as the rain came on at John o' Groats had us jumping on an earlier bus than planned. That turned our two hour connection into a three hour wait! Both of us were fairly tired and the wind was bitter so we headed for a wee bit of a s

Forsinard station is in the heart of the Flow Country. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 2024 described as "the most expansive and best example of blanket bog in the world" and "a rolling, rugged expanse of precious peatland and mountain scener

We had the choice between a short visit or more than three hours at Kinbrace. With two other station walks to fit in the same day we went for the short option of a wee walk along the road and back. Rudy still managed to make a friend, very quiet thou

Altnabreac is extremely remote. There are long, 10+ mile hill walking routes theoretically accessible from the station but the current owners of the station cottage have peculiar ideas about access. They say they welcome passengers using the correct

f we'd had all the time in the world at Scotscalder we would have loved to walk the couple of miles to the nearby tiny hamlet of Dorrery. Trains are scarce when you're this far from big towns though and we only managed the first few hundred yards dow

We didn't have to go far at Tain for our walk. The railway is fairly close to the Dornach Firth here, leaving just enough space for a links park with views across the still waters. Rudy was far more taken by the scents and smells than sharing the

A walk along Monifieth Beach to Broughty Ferry. With a fair number of rest stops to hide from the hot June sunshine!