The Highlands

8/12/2015

As we traveled northwest through the country side, passing Glasgow, the hills became mountains but  unlike the mountainous regions back home. Here our mountains are abundant in tree cover, pines and broadleaf. But in Scotland this is not the case. 

For it is reported that the forest of Scotland around 5,000 years ago covered about 1.5 million hectares (that's a bit over 3.5 million acres). However, just 1% of the forest which consisted of birch, hazel, aspen, and pine remains today.

http://ecosalon.com/a-walk-in-a-scottish-forest/ 

The highlands from our car window!

The ancient Caledonia Forest once covered the Scottish Highlands. Home to bears, beavers, and wolves, its destruction began before the Bronze Age. The forest began to fall to the scythe of climate change and the activities of primitive tribes from pre-Roman times.Subsequent terror campaigns launched by marauding Vikings burned down large areas of forest.Later, farmers and fuel gatherers cleared away mostof what remained. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0207_030207_scotforest.html

My research discovered that the 2,500 foot mountains in this area are mostly covered in heather and troussacks pictured below. (The heather (with me in the midst of them) is on the left and the troussacks are on the right.)

The temperature ranged in the high 60's to low 70's. Up until my arrival here I had been wearing a jacket but for the first time on this trip I haven't needed it. I find this weather comfortably pleasant. Maridith and I (all of us actually) concur that we prefer the pleasant summers of Scotland to the intense heat and humidity of S.Sudan and Tennessee summers.

                                  

These are the scenes that greeted us as we drove up to our surprise destination–Inveraray.