Yes, it is that Castle Stalker time

I drove five miles south, down the coast from Kirsty's house in Duror, a couple of days ago to take a picture of Castle Stalker, which I've tried to do several times over the years, rather unsuccessfully. Unfortunately the weather hadn't been ideal, nor was the sun's position, which meant the north facing side of the castle was in deep shadow. 

Today Helena and I returned there en route to picking up some medicine for Kirsty, who accompanied us, from her doctor's surgery in Port Appin. We stopped at the top of the hill before the road drops down to the loch at Appin to check out the roadside cafe that has recently re-opened. It was open and had chairs outside so we could enjoy sitting in the sunshine overlooking Loch Linnhe and the Ardnamurchan Peninsular on it's far side, with the hills of the Isle of Mull in the far distance. The island of Lismore lies behind the castle, which can be reached by a small passenger ferry from Port Appin.

To get this view I had to walk down a footpath to this viewing point, which is the only place I've found to get this wonderful vista without obstructive trees blocking the scene. 

I then went back up the slope to join Helena and Kirsty to drink my coffee and noticed in the cafe's car park that there were several vintage motorcycles. I tried to get good pictures of them but they were rather obscured by their owners' heavy duty cycling gear and helmets hanging off them, which didn't make for great pictures. 

Eventually the owners arrived and as they dressed up for the open road again, I engaged one of them in conversation. Apparently they were from the Netherlands  and Germany, travelling together on a touring holiday, which somewhat surprised me given the restrictions to international travel caused by Covid.

As several of my Blip friends are keen on motorcycling I’ve added some pictures in the ‘Extras’ as these were wonderful classic machines – two Vincent Rapides and a Zundapp, all of which I think were built in the 1930s. There is a rather special Dutch addition to the rear pannier of one of the Vincents!