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Day two saw us heading along to Attadale. We could see part of this route from the campsite zig zagging up the hill. While yesterday the terrain was a step up for Dakota, today it would be distance. She was showing no problems from yesterdays adventure and was ready for the next days challenge! Distance aside though, this wasn't much of a challenge. It was fun taking photos across to Lochcarron and trying to work out where the campsite was though.
- Photo from the ford just off from the main track where the dogs could have a paddle
- The nice green woodland
- Game of spot the campsite...
- There it is!
We crossed the bridge and entered a nice section of native woodland, but this was short lived higher up the landscape was forestry surrounded by a deer fence and open hillside with poles and wires alongside the track. There was a pipe that Dakota took a lot of interest in, there must have been something interesting going through it! The forestry that once surrounded the loch has been felled, a clear forestry track leading round and this section was signposted and waymarked. A digger was busy doing work on the track stopping to let us passed. The loch itself....maybe because the weather was dull and cloud was obscuring the Munros but it certainly doesn't rank as the most attractive loch I've visited.
- Had to zoom in a bit to avoid the wire cutting across the top of the photo!
- Dakota found something of interest in the pipe!
- The girls
- The Littlest Hilldog
We stopped at the loch for a short break, more for training purposes than anything else as Dakota needs to learn to lie down and rest when asked, but we soon moved on following the track round to the main track and heading back down again.
- Meadow Pipit
- Scotch Argus
The highlight though is this walk starts right next to Attadale Gardens which is my favourite gardens. I seem to go here every time I'm in the area and this time was going to be no exception! I have no idea how many times I've photographed the cheetah and crowned eagle sculptures, but I still photographed them again! Highly worth stopping off for a visit.
- Attadale Gardens
- Cheetah
- Crowned Eagle on watch
Once we finished we still had most of the afternoon, but another walk was maybe going to push it a bit too much so we decided to hop on the train to Kyle of Lochalsh and back (I checked to make sure we could get there AND back first!). It was something new for Zena, Dakota has been on the local steam train before but only once, so it was a bit of a training exercise too introducing them to something new. It's possibly something I'll look at doing more often to reduce driving miles, it would certainly be a better way to visit neighbouring Plockton which can be a nightmare to get parked at!
- Waiting for the train
We got off the train at Kyle of Lochalsh and had a little wander around before hopping back on the same train for the return trip. Of course, what else would you expect to see through the window of a train travelling through the Highlands of Scotland than a pair of llamas on a pebbly beach?
- Llama!
We returned to the campsite, grabbing a takeaway from a food van than is in Lochcarron on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I had planned another walk for the Wednesday (Allt a' Chonais Pinewood) but the car park was full (I was a bit later than planned, too busy chatting to another tourist at the Waterside Café!) and I didn't fancy trying to walk along the road given how fast the traffic went - that might have been pushing it a bit too much with Dakota who is a car chaser! So we just headed back across to the east arriving home at a reasonable time to ridiculously hot temperatures! If I hadn't needed to be at work the next day I'd have stayed over there
- And she's stolen my bed again...