For my first Wild West Highland tour I had the pleasure of welcoming Edo and Lucy on board the new van, these guys were the first passengers on board the new van and they loved it.

Edo and Lucy are from Indonesia and they were passed to me from Lucy’s brother Djemi who had been on a photography tour with me back in May of this year, so it was great to meet another part of the family.

I picked them up from their accommodation in Inverness at 07:30 and we headed out of Inverness on what I thought was going to be a horrible rainy day, turns out it wasn’t! We left Inverness and our first stop was (Eas Rothagaidh) Rogie Falls where we took a walk to the falls and got to see a few leaping (Bradan) Salmon face planting the rocks 🙂 we got there in the nick of time as 2 54 seater coaches arrived as we walked back to the van.

We then headed west towards (Cean Loch Iù) Kinlochewe we we stopped at The Heights of Kinlochewe to get the amazing view down towards Loch Maree (Loch Ma-Ruibhe, named after a Saint Máel Ruba) Between 671 and 722 Saint Máel Ruba arrived at Loch Maree, and founded a chapel on Isle Maree. Remains of this chapel were reportedly still visible in 1861 but no traces now remain, although the burial ground associated with the chapel is still extant. A small covered well on the island is said to have been consecrated by the saint, people leave coins on this island for good luck 🙂

We then headed further west towards Torridon stopping of at Loch Clair for a stunning photo stop with Liach in the background, one of my favourite photo stops. Then on to Torridon village where we stopped at The Wee Whistle Stop café which is such a lovely place and also has a gallery for local artists, had coffee and cake then headed off towards Shieldaig with a few amazing photo stops on the way. Stopping off at Shieldaig we were on the lookout for the local White Tailed Sea Eagles but sadly didn’t see them this time.

We then headed further out west towards the Bealach Na Bà (Pass of the Cattle) and headed up this amazing hill pass road, built in 1822 for the cattle drovers to take their cattle to market in Dingwall. We stopped for a few amazing photo stops on the way up and reached the top with amazing views over to the Isle of Skye (An t-Eilean Sgitheanach) then headed back down and dropped into Lochcarron Weavers for a nosey before heading over the hill to Eilean Donan Castle (Caisteal Eilean Donnain) where we spent about an hour having a walk around the castle before we set off up Glen Shiel (Gleann Seile) towards Loch Claunie, along Glen Morriston then had our last photo stop at Urquhart Castle (Caisteal Urchadain).

As you can see from the gallery I took took some beautiful shots of Edo and Lucy and have since sent them over to them as a keep sake to remember the beautiful Wild West tour they took with me. It was a pleasure to spend the day with them both, they were such a lovely couple and was so happy it was them that were able to be the first passengers on board the new tour van.

All in all a cracking day, with cracking weather and great company, they left me with smiles on their faces which means I did my job properly. 🙂