Discussion
So its day three of the Highlands quest.
Throughout the day, the weather was glorious. 17 degrees. Sitting in front of Nannys at Shieldaig for half an hour, I almost acquired a tan...
Again, I was constantly surprised by the Highlands. There is always something more beautiful around the next corner.
In todays post(s), I suppress the location information, for you to have a little bit of fun localising.
This is at 9:45 am. A few hours later and light would be perfect (in october!). 4-5 pm, as I suggested earlier, would probably be too late.
More later. The Wifi at the Torridon turns out to be abysmal!
Throughout the day, the weather was glorious. 17 degrees. Sitting in front of Nannys at Shieldaig for half an hour, I almost acquired a tan...
Again, I was constantly surprised by the Highlands. There is always something more beautiful around the next corner.
In todays post(s), I suppress the location information, for you to have a little bit of fun localising.
This is at 9:45 am. A few hours later and light would be perfect (in october!). 4-5 pm, as I suggested earlier, would probably be too late.
More later. The Wifi at the Torridon turns out to be abysmal!
I have never experienced a Wifi service as bad as at the Torridon hotel (correction: Yes, I have. On the boat across the channel). There is also a beer festival going on at the inn, so everything will turn out allright eventually...
So, more from today.
This is obviously the ascend towards Applecross (clockwise). A simply stunning road and almost deserted today. Light was difficult, though.
At the Applecross Inn, I had a set of oysters and the dressed crab salad and a pint, which all was very very good. I sat in the little front garden (waving an irish flag, by the way) looking across the bay, and basked in the october sun. It could not get better.
Well, it did after I set off again.
Does the world get any prettier than this?
At the Torridon inn, the venison burger was good, the ale is good and the live music is playing. Accomodation at the inn however is at B&B level, but much more expensive (you pay for the location, and that is OK). Fun fact: The website of the band playing tonight is being blocked by the Torridon Wifi service (it says: "entertainment")...
Tomorrow: Skye.
So, more from today.
This is obviously the ascend towards Applecross (clockwise). A simply stunning road and almost deserted today. Light was difficult, though.
At the Applecross Inn, I had a set of oysters and the dressed crab salad and a pint, which all was very very good. I sat in the little front garden (waving an irish flag, by the way) looking across the bay, and basked in the october sun. It could not get better.
Well, it did after I set off again.
Does the world get any prettier than this?
At the Torridon inn, the venison burger was good, the ale is good and the live music is playing. Accomodation at the inn however is at B&B level, but much more expensive (you pay for the location, and that is OK). Fun fact: The website of the band playing tonight is being blocked by the Torridon Wifi service (it says: "entertainment")...
Tomorrow: Skye.
pb450 said:
Great pics from a phone camera. What do you use to post-process them with?
Thanks for that. As you might have read, I originally started my journey with a Canon EOS 350 which died on me on the second day. This is (was) a digital camera in a SLR body, so with a set of "real" lenses with which you adjust the image section to your desires.This is all gone.
In a mobile phone camera, there are no "real lenses". If you change the image section before taking a picture, the camera simply magnifies a section of the image it takes. This greatly reduces the resolution of that section. So this is a no-no. Never "zoom" with a mobile phone.
Accordingly, I take all pictures with the mobile phone without "zooming in". You do this later on your computer with the image processing software. Always take many many pictures of the same situation, moving the mobile phone up and down to have the mobile phone making the pictures taken lighter and darker. The automatic adjustment is trying to fool you, and you take advantage of that. Take 15 pictures at a time. One of these will be OK. My mobile phone (Sony Xperia Z3 Compact) does not support HBR, so we ignore this for now.
Coming home with 350 pictures on your mobile phone, I usually find that many are blurred and throw them away. You then choose one of a single set that somehow "suits your eye", and continue. I always crop sections out of the original pictures, which is the original artistic process of processing mobile phone images ;-). If you crop them too small, the resolution will become aweful (you see that in some of my pictures, although the camera features 8 megapixels or so). Then, adjust the brightness (never with the brighness lever, instead use gamma adjustment), increase the color saturation (I find mobile phone images way undersaturated. It also looks nice) and balance the brightness to make full use of the available brightness in a picture (usually with an auto-improvement function). There you go. I use Irfanview, nothing more.
For the more difficult images (strong shadows, i.e. the picture above taken on the ascend to Applecross), I use GIMP and try to enhance them. The exact procedure is tacit knowledge, however the internet has everything you need ;-).
Edited by chalda on Saturday 8th October 07:35
JB! said:
I put up a thread in GG and got pointed here!
Wanting to do the highlands 21/22/23, starting from Falkirk and headed up.
Looking at Airbnb for accommodation, what's the best route? Kinda wanna do JoG just because it's there.
Can spend 3/4 days up there. Places to eat? Petrol stations?
If you read this thread, you'll find loads of recommendations. Plenty of petrol stations, though they tend to open much later than down south (also some close on Sunday). The hotels are open until end of Oct - most then shut.Wanting to do the highlands 21/22/23, starting from Falkirk and headed up.
Looking at Airbnb for accommodation, what's the best route? Kinda wanna do JoG just because it's there.
Can spend 3/4 days up there. Places to eat? Petrol stations?
For info / accommodation round here, check out my site >> http://torridon.org
chalda said:
In todays post(s), I suppress the location information, for you to have a little bit of fun localising.
Wasn't too difficult. I drove all of those roads except Applecross just over 3 weeks ago. 
I know it well from previous visits though. One of the photos was taken quite close to GC's lair.
From previous days.
https://goo.gl/maps/RNNDFTmzer52
https://goo.gl/maps/xD1JEbn8D4F2
https://goo.gl/maps/i5VRkZui6xj
More recent ones.
https://goo.gl/maps/g6wYmvaGStn
https://goo.gl/maps/wSS7rz3jZY72
https://goo.gl/maps/AGnEN3un8uG2
https://goo.gl/maps/wT6vP8zFbjy
https://goo.gl/maps/2g2KXtuwuV12
https://goo.gl/maps/UgPMUanmWeH2
https://goo.gl/maps/hwM2cyd52bT2
https://goo.gl/maps/dNwWWEdUdoP2
https://goo.gl/maps/yn1464tRYj42
https://goo.gl/maps/gSEZ34dHRdp
https://goo.gl/maps/3rhQpfDySZ82
https://goo.gl/maps/NsvNzqUakmP2
https://goo.gl/maps/cSMEUEjRrRt
GetCarter said:
JB! said:
I put up a thread in GG and got pointed here!
Wanting to do the highlands 21/22/23, starting from Falkirk and headed up.
Looking at Airbnb for accommodation, what's the best route? Kinda wanna do JoG just because it's there.
Can spend 3/4 days up there. Places to eat? Petrol stations?
If you read this thread, you'll find loads of recommendations. Plenty of petrol stations, though they tend to open much later than down south (also some close on Sunday). The hotels are open until end of Oct - most then shut.Wanting to do the highlands 21/22/23, starting from Falkirk and headed up.
Looking at Airbnb for accommodation, what's the best route? Kinda wanna do JoG just because it's there.
Can spend 3/4 days up there. Places to eat? Petrol stations?
I know 150+ pages is a lot to wade through but trust me it will be worth the effort for route planning. Places to eat will depend on your chosen itinerary!
Spitfire2 said:
Can anyone spot any clues as to the location of these 2 pics?
Looks like A82 Glen Coe.https://goo.gl/maps/3i22RSjCTAR2
Spitfire2 said:
https://goo.gl/maps/qn56ZEUtZwv
Edited by JM on Saturday 8th October 14:55
+1
@JM. Re the second pic: one of the 'n's has gone AWOL.
I have posted this vid before. It's only 40 years ago rather than 90, but see how many of the locations you can specifically pinpoint. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQZownCGnYg
@JM. Re the second pic: one of the 'n's has gone AWOL.
I have posted this vid before. It's only 40 years ago rather than 90, but see how many of the locations you can specifically pinpoint.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQZownCGnYgcat220 said:
Spitfire2 said:
Brill. Thanks gents.
Thanks for posting those pics. Truly deserted roads in those days! Edited by Spitfire2 on Saturday 8th October 20:13
Red Devil said:
+1
@JM. Re the second pic: one of the 'n's has gone AWOL.
I have posted this vid before. It's only 40 years ago rather than 90, but see how many of the locations you can specifically pinpoint. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQZownCGnYg
I guessed it.would be that video. By coincidence the chap singing (Bill Paterson) is my dad's namesake. The road down to Loch Maree at the end is a huge contrast to today @JM. Re the second pic: one of the 'n's has gone AWOL.
I have posted this vid before. It's only 40 years ago rather than 90, but see how many of the locations you can specifically pinpoint.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQZownCGnYgThe Highlands quest continues.
Weather was overcast today. Good for the reception of some sceneries, not so good for others. The cafe at the base of the Applecross pass was closed (GetCarter made us aware of this) - on a saturday? Why? I thus was not able to meet and greet GetCarters dog. Sorry for that.
Traffic was very light today on a saturday in october, a most pleasant trip. A lot of lochy glenny activity from my side.
My rental car, since I at first obtained and drove it to Ullapool, was unbelievably slow. It is something or other in black and is currently located in the car park. Today I discovered that it had a button (which had been pressed) that made it go slower. If you unpress that button, the car sighes a relief and actually accelerates. Now, I never owned a car less than 20 years old (the youngest in my current fleet is 21 years old, the oldest is 45 years old) and I am constantly amazed not only with Scotland, but also with current car design, but what is the use of a button that makes a car go slower?
I am also still battling with the Wifi at the Torridon. Staff is making excuses on that. WTF?
As a result of this, pictures will appear in subsequent posts as soon as services permit (that makes that not very soon).
Weather was overcast today. Good for the reception of some sceneries, not so good for others. The cafe at the base of the Applecross pass was closed (GetCarter made us aware of this) - on a saturday? Why? I thus was not able to meet and greet GetCarters dog. Sorry for that.
Traffic was very light today on a saturday in october, a most pleasant trip. A lot of lochy glenny activity from my side.
My rental car, since I at first obtained and drove it to Ullapool, was unbelievably slow. It is something or other in black and is currently located in the car park. Today I discovered that it had a button (which had been pressed) that made it go slower. If you unpress that button, the car sighes a relief and actually accelerates. Now, I never owned a car less than 20 years old (the youngest in my current fleet is 21 years old, the oldest is 45 years old) and I am constantly amazed not only with Scotland, but also with current car design, but what is the use of a button that makes a car go slower?
I am also still battling with the Wifi at the Torridon. Staff is making excuses on that. WTF?
As a result of this, pictures will appear in subsequent posts as soon as services permit (that makes that not very soon).
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