#rbge

I finished my third week at RBGE in the glasshouses working with Gunnar Ovstebo in the Arid House. He showed me their collection while we weeded around the plants. We both geeked out over the new, arid bryophyte collection that he has begun to develop. On various plant collection expeditions he has picked up some specimens on his own accord and brought them back to RBGE. He's paired up with a student at Edinburgh named Hazel who is doing her masters project on cataloguing and identifying the liverwort and moss in the gardens to properly accession them to add them to the collection at RBGE. She toured me around and showed me a whole host of exotic and native mosses and liverworts that she has identified over the course of her work. I have always been fascinated with bryophytes and Hazel and Gunnar were happy to indulge my interest and questions. 

Liverworts in the fernery!

Liverworts in the Arid House!

I finished my week at RBGE and said goodbye as I packed my bags for Skye and set my sights for the rest of Scotland!

I met my boyfriend in Edinburgh and we planned to spend a couple of days in Glasgow. We visited Glasgow Botanic Gardens on our first day. We headed straight for the pop-up book sale that they had going on that day which gave us a sneak peek into the back houses of the garden. We took the long way around the garden, seeing all of the glasshouses and the arboretum which was in beautiful fall color. 

The following day we walked around the city seeing some highlights at Glasgow including The Mackintosh House and the Hunterian Art Museum. We visited the Necropolis and the Mackintosh Lighthouse.

A view from behind the tropical greenhouse on the way to the book sale!

The glasshouse was stunning and filled with tree ferns!

The Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery that overlooks the city of Glasgow.

We left for Skye with a rainy forecast for the week. We took the famous train from Harry Potter over the Viaduct bridge from Glasgow to Mallaig. Our only hold up was a night spent in Mallaig because they ferry to Skye was caught in the hurricane that was hitting the west coast of the island.

Upon our arrival we traveled to our first destination: the Fairy Glen. Curious grassy-topped rock outcroppings have been worn into dramatic patterns that we were free to explore. Visitors have turned areas hidden behind hills into a whimsical place to be. A labyrinth that is outlined in fallen stones and cairns dot the landscape. We made sure to grab a snack on the way back home at a restaurant on the water where I witnessed my first full rainbow in Scotland.

We also hiked the Quirang Walk which is a little over 4 miles into the Trotternish Ridge. The path was stoney from the high cliffs and muddy from the well-traveled peat. 

On the last day we visited Coral Beach just north of Dunvegan and the Neist Point Lighthouse. The beach isn't made of sand, though! It’s made of the skeletons of Red Coralline seaweed which is also known as Maërl! The lighthouse was surrounded by beautiful cliffs and sheep grazed land. 

Here I am walking the labyrinth sheltered by layers of hills.

Looking out over the Fairy Glen.

Standing on the trail at the Quirang.

Maërl!

View of the cliffs from the lighthouse.

The predicted rainy week turned out to be rather sunny and beautiful. We were not caught in any rain storms whatsoever! Unheard of here in Scotland! From Skye we headed back to Edinburgh and I packed up my bags to head to St. Andrews Botanic Garden for a week!