Back in April 2008, my Dad had had his driving license suspended for 12 months through illness which was like a knife through the heart as he and my Mum were away on trips every month, they liked to be out and about and although not venturing as far as I have, they are still possibly the reason for my own wanderlust.
As they were getting a bit grumpy with being stuck at home and with an eye to the future, their dutiful, eldest son offered to take them away. Not too far, perhaps Scarborough? Whitby? even Llandudno? No. It had to be North-West Scotland.
The choice of Scotland was hardly surprising as they regularly drove the 300+ miles up there as they loved it so much, my earliest memories were of summer holidays towing a tiny caravan around the highlands and islands, usually in the rain. Not much changes in that respect!
I don't know where their deep love of Scotland came from. We have no family connections and its a long way away but it is beautiful. It seems I have inherited this love and if I had to choose the perfect place to spend the rest of my life it would up there on that incredible North-West coast with its perfect, sandy beaches and ice cold, crystal clear water.
This is the general area we stayed and toured
The scenery can only be described as epic. I have been lucky enough to travel to so many places on this planet but in all honesty, there is nowhere to beat Scotland.
When my Dad died 4 years ago, I immediately ripped out the hard drive from his computer and created a copy. He was a meticulous record keeper, writer and charity worker and everything was on the hard drive. Like me, he wasn't a fan of trusting 'the cloud'. Since then, I keep going back to it and I just don't seem to have the heart to simply save the photos and wipe the rest. It's been a strange insight into so much of his private life that I never knew about and to simply delete it with a single mouse click creates some very mixed emotions.
This wasn't the last trip I took them on as his health began to become more and more of an issue and it's been nice to see the photos we took on this trip with his old Samsung camera which he constantly had pointed out of the car window (in between complaining about fast I was driving!) as well as other trips he and my mum took together.
Enjoy the scenery captured on 15 year-old technology!
This is a view down Glen Coe
Another shot looking down Glen Coe
Applecross Bay
Gairloch Harbour, Charleston
Bealach na Ba
And looking the other way from the top of Bealach ba Na
Again, same location and different location. How I wish I'd had a drone with us.
OK, just one more but seriously, it is absolutely the most perfect place for taking photographs of the incredible landscape.
Coming down from the top of Bealach na Ba
Gairloch Beach
The Gairloch Hotel
A view across Gairloch, Strathe and Smithstown
Gruinard Bay
Inverewe Gardens
In Scotland, the wildlife is often a lot more tame than the locals!
Another shot from Inverewe gardens overlooking Loch Ewe
This is Loch Maree taken from Poolewe
Looking down Loch Kishorn towards the Kyle of Lochalsh
Looking up the coast from the Gairloch hotel at the Gairloch Free Church of Scotland. Adding the word 'free' into the name of religion in Scotland guarantees a packed house every Sunday!
Heading to Applecross
Strathe More looking towards the River Broom and Ullapool
Taken at Gairloch. Despite the often overcast and leaden skies, there are often the most stunning sunsets.
Again, taken from the Gairloch hotel
Back to the grey skies and the Isle of Skye rarely lets you down. Still lots of snow to see on The Black Cullins.
As there was on the North face of Ben Nevis
Ullapool next and this rather unsurprisingly is Ullapool harbour
Loch Carron
A waterfall on Skye near Portree
Wester Ross
Finally, just for a little authenticity, that's me old Mother!
My Dad's love of Scotland was so great that as per his request, most of his ashes were dumped into the Lower Falls at the foot of Ben Nevis, with a small portion buried under the foundations of my new house.
From the shit I've had with the house, it's not difficult to know his preferred location!
@pinmapple