The 100 Steps
Jun. 11th, 2018 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustAs I promised when I posted about Cromarty, here's a picture post about the local walk known as 'the hundred steps'. It climbs from the shore to the headland via a number of actual steps: I didn't count them, but suspect there are more than a hundred, and our host thought likewise, but it's a good name, so let's not spoil it.
I don't have a good photo of the actual start of the walk, down by the jetty. Instead, here's a door - not that we'll be going through it, but it's still a good signifier of beginnings and departures, isn't it?
Which means that the fingerpost isn't the starting point of the walk: it's the first point at which we sat on the seat provided and looked across the water (the Cromarty Firth) to the headland opposite.
Not much further on, here are the first of those hundred steps, leading up into the woodland. It was very pretty woodland, tall straight trees, plenty of rowan, some late bluebells, but the photos didn't do it justice. Here's what we found at the top of the hill:
An easy path sloped gently downhill through the trees, and then along the flank of the headland. There's another seat here, where you can sit and enjoy the view, and maybe see dolphins. So we sat, and enjoyed:
We didn't see anything more exciting than a steady stream of dog-walkers. What's more, this was the point at which, trying to restore my camera to my preferred settings, in correcting one error I introduced another, and all the afternoon's photographs are much reduced in size - but of course I didn't realise that until afterwards.
At this point we were quite close to the highest point of the walk, and to its adjacent car park (which may explain the dog walkers). We almost missed the viewpoint at the top: a narrow path climbed up from the road through dense gorse bushes, in heavy bloom, growing high around the notice identifying locations in the view before us - high enough that I was glad we'd taken our time enjoying the more open view at our previous stop.
From now on it was road work all the way back into Cromarty. This was hard on the feet, but there were fine views over the town and the Firth:
It seemed a long way to the right turn which would bring us down to the town. 'At the end of this next field', we promised ourselves, and then, 'no, the next field.' Of course, when we finally did turn, the steep downhill was as hard work as the high, flat road. But there was one last sight to see which kept us entertained. The first we saw of Cromarty House was the stables - now The Stables, and an arts venue, with a white unicorn standing outside. We didn't see the house itself (I don't even know if it survives), but we did see this extraordinary entrance:
The tunnel is designed to give the servants a way into the house without spoiling the view for the gentry. That smear of blue is the best the photograph can do with the bluebells which line the wall...
I don't have a good photo of the actual start of the walk, down by the jetty. Instead, here's a door - not that we'll be going through it, but it's still a good signifier of beginnings and departures, isn't it?
Which means that the fingerpost isn't the starting point of the walk: it's the first point at which we sat on the seat provided and looked across the water (the Cromarty Firth) to the headland opposite.
Not much further on, here are the first of those hundred steps, leading up into the woodland. It was very pretty woodland, tall straight trees, plenty of rowan, some late bluebells, but the photos didn't do it justice. Here's what we found at the top of the hill:
An easy path sloped gently downhill through the trees, and then along the flank of the headland. There's another seat here, where you can sit and enjoy the view, and maybe see dolphins. So we sat, and enjoyed:
We didn't see anything more exciting than a steady stream of dog-walkers. What's more, this was the point at which, trying to restore my camera to my preferred settings, in correcting one error I introduced another, and all the afternoon's photographs are much reduced in size - but of course I didn't realise that until afterwards.
At this point we were quite close to the highest point of the walk, and to its adjacent car park (which may explain the dog walkers). We almost missed the viewpoint at the top: a narrow path climbed up from the road through dense gorse bushes, in heavy bloom, growing high around the notice identifying locations in the view before us - high enough that I was glad we'd taken our time enjoying the more open view at our previous stop.
From now on it was road work all the way back into Cromarty. This was hard on the feet, but there were fine views over the town and the Firth:
It seemed a long way to the right turn which would bring us down to the town. 'At the end of this next field', we promised ourselves, and then, 'no, the next field.' Of course, when we finally did turn, the steep downhill was as hard work as the high, flat road. But there was one last sight to see which kept us entertained. The first we saw of Cromarty House was the stables - now The Stables, and an arts venue, with a white unicorn standing outside. We didn't see the house itself (I don't even know if it survives), but we did see this extraordinary entrance:
The tunnel is designed to give the servants a way into the house without spoiling the view for the gentry. That smear of blue is the best the photograph can do with the bluebells which line the wall...
