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We had a disappointing weekend weather-wise, windy and showery, so no new stories this time, but I still have a few belated reports to post, so here it goes
As most folks on WH know, I'm not just a hillwalker. I like exploring old ruins and castles, also enjoy visiting gardens and wildlife centres. Troup Head is a unique place where one can combine cliff walking and bird watching. A bit of a drive from Beauly, but as the day was not good enough for climbing hills (very windy!) we decided to spend a few hours chasing gannets
Rather than use the classic, short walk from the nearest car park to the cliffs, we preferred to start from Gardenstown, take the low passage to Crovie and then explore the cliffs between the village and Troup Head. Despite the lack of proper paths, it's a fantastic walk, we were just unlucky with high winds.
Originally, we hoped to walk all the way to Pennan Bay, but had to cut the walk short due to the aforementioned weather problems:
There is a good, free car park in Gardenstown:
The "iron chains" path built into the cliffs goes all the way to Crovie:
As we walked along the coast, we spotted our first birds of the day - a heron and a few eider ducks:
We spent some time in Crovie, walking along the village. Such a shame so may of these cute, little houses are now empty or used only as summer cottages. A very atmospheric place:
Gardenstown from Crovie:
Sadly, the sky was grey and we couldn't find good light for photos
For the next stage, we climbed out of Crovie using the track going across a small stream and past two cottages (as described in WH walk description for Five Farms walk). After crossing a wide gully with another stream, we followed another track back towards the cliffs. The day was slowly improving and I hoped for some sunshine, maybe?
Yes, a few patches of blue sky showed up, but the wind was very strong and I struggled to keep my camera steady!
View to Gardenstown and surrounding coast from the cliffs above Crovie:
We found a track into the fields, which offered access to the coastline (or so we thought):
The track soon vanished, we continued along the fence - there is a faint path at times. Fantastic views down to the beautiful coastline:
Back east:
Soon we caught the first glimpse of the gannet colony:
The gusty wind was even worse now, we staggered like drunk. Walking in a straight line was an achievement - luckily the wind was blowing from the sea into the land, so it was pushing us away from the void rather than into it
Kevin complained about the wind spoiling his pictures. Ha, try to zoom to anything and get a good photo when you're pushed from pillar to post (or from the cliff edge to the barb wired fence in our case
):
The gannet colony when approached from the east:
Apologies for photos being a bit blurred, not my fault, blame the wind gods
My first zoom to gannets. There are also guillemots and black headed gulls, if you have a good look:
It was easier to photograph cliffs - at least they don't move about and you don't need to zoom too much to get one in a frame
Pushing hard against the wind, I was first to reach the gannets close enough to get some decent snaps. I soon gave up on videoing, my camcorder jumped and shook from side to side...
In given conditions, maybe 30 % of all photos we took were actually sharp enough, but I picked some best ones of the gannets
Fantastic birds, I was hypnotized by their blue eyes! I like their Latin name, too: Morus bassanus.
The first group we approached sat on the top of the cliffs. Here we go:
Managed to catch a few with their "landing gear" out
These two had a very agitated conversation!
We continued to the RSPB viewpoint (we had to climb over the fence to get back on the path), where more gannets waited for us
:
We noticed many pairs going through the "courting ceremony". Yep, it's mating season, so plenty of love making around
One pair caught our attention as they were very absorbed with each other, here are a few snaps of bird love
Some others were busy fighting and arguing in their own gannet language...
...carrying stuff for nest building...
...or doing whatever gannets are supposed to do when home
We spent a long time in the fascinating world of sea birds, even found a spot behind a rock to have some hot tea. Such a shame it was so blowy!
As I mentioned earlier, we hoped to walk a but further along the cliffs, but after about 3 hours of being pushed about in the high gusts, we decided to shorten our walk and run away from the windy seaside. First, we had a good look at the coast between Troup Head and Pennan - we will definitely return here for more exploration (and more gannet watching of course) on a better day:
We returned to Crovie using local roads and tracks:
By the time we descended to the village, the sun came out and we could take advantage of the better light for photos:
Also the tide has come in:
Crovie from the path to Gardenstown:
Heading back to the car park:
What a great adventure! Even despite the windy conditions, it was still a superb day. Another place to return to, possibly next year and definitely during the "courting" season. Not that we're after gannet porn (mountain porn should be enough!!!).
For my next little voyage, I'll be taking you up a very unpopular Corbett. Don't miss it though - it will be a TR with a twist
