Deep Scottish Love, Part Two: Skye High
(cross-posted to pen_voyage)
I've been avoiding writing this entry partly because it has taken ages to label all my photos on flickr, but mostly because I fear that I won't be able to do the Scottish Highlands justice. But this is a silly reason not to at least try to capture my experience. I realised this week that I haven't even finished sorting my photos from my massive 2007 world adventure. I will get around to those pictures soon, but I don't want to wait until 2011 to share the rest of my Scottish adventure.
My favourite part of my Scotland trip was the three day Skye High tour that I did with Haggis. I'd been on one of their trips before, to Cornwall in 2007, and was very impressed. So I was more than pleased to be boarding one of the yellow buses again.
Urquhart Castle
'Skye High' Haggis Tour - June 24-26
Day One
One of the first stops on the Haggis trip was Dunkeld Cathedral - begun in 1260 and completed in 1501. We didn't get a tour of the place. It was basically just a photo stop giving us a chance to get off the bus and letch our stregs for a bit. I'd chatted to a guy called Bruno (Argentinian) who was sitting next to me, and while walking around the cathedral I made friends with two other young women who were also travelling solo, Claire (a Kiwi) and Susan (from Melbourne, but she'd been working in London for a while).
For lunch we stopped at a little town called Kingussie, where there was a pub that was hired just for us. We all sat out in the sun, and some of us tried haggis and Irn Bru (Scotland's other national drink - sickly sweet orange fizzy stuff. I didn't try any when I was there, but managed to find some by chance in a lolly shop in Sydney). I still haven't tried any haggis. Next visit, for sure.
If it hadn't been so warm I might have tried one of these:
Next stop was Culloden Moor, site of the 1746 Battle of Culloden.
Perhaps is is wrong of me to be so smiley on the site of a battlefield, but I was very happy to be in the Highlands. :)
The bricks that are jutting out represent the casualities of the battle. I won nerdy/brownie points for guessing their significance, when our tour guide asked what we thought they were. There were many more Jacobite bricks than British. The field had red and blue flags marking out where the battle took place.
We drove through Inverness which I learned means 'mouth of ness'.
And then I had my first glimpse of Loch Ness!!!
We had a quick stop at Urquhart Castle.
And Debs, our tour guide, taught us how to do the dance and chant that would help entice Nessie out of the depths. :)
We finished the day by checking into our hostel in Fort Augustus, a gorgeous little town on the shores of Loch Ness. Then we went to a demonstration of what life used to be like in the Highlands, with a man who showed us how a traditional kilt was worn, told us how stinky everything used to be along with gruesome details about how the weapons were used.
View of the loch from Fort Augustus.
I had dinner at a pub in Fort Augustus with some friends from the Haggis bus before heading back to the hostel, where (happily) there was a bar and some live entertainment. Claire and I asked the bartender to recommend us a whisky - one that's relatively easy to drink for first-timers. She suggested Dalwhinnie and I thoroughly enjoyed mine. The perfect end to my first day in the Scottish Highlands.
We finished the bottle! ;)
Day Two
While waiting for everyone to join our yellow bus, I took some photos outside the hostel of an absolutely gorgeous morning.
The scenery just kept getting better and better in the Highlands. We stopped for photos at this gorgeous place, overlooking Loch Garry. I scored a thousand-gabillion points and was declared an honorary Scot for recognising that the loch is not only heart-shaped but that it's the shape of the map of Scotland. Fun!
Next up was a tour of Eilean Donan Castle. The kilt-wearing castle tour guide spoke to us in Gaelic at first, before conceding that English would have to do. He asked if there were any Campbells on the tour and I hesitantly raised my hand, knowing that having Campbell heritage is not necessarily something you want to admit to when you're in the Highlands. The tour guide pulled out his walkie-talkie and threatened to call security so that I couldn't enter the castle. Ha!
The bridge to the castle + Loch Duich
There was a bit of an incident with our big yellow bus while we were at the castle. The emergency exit door wouldn't close properly so the tour guides were forced to wait until someone could come and fix it. While we were waiting, I wandered away and found a bench to sit on and admire the view. I struck up conversation with a friendly old bikie who was from the Lakes District and touring around Scotland with two mates. It was one of those cool moments that happen more often while travelling, where you get to talk to someone you might not ordinarily.
Eventually I headed back to the bus but couldn't find anyone. Thinking that they'd all gone into the visitors centre to kill some time, I wandered in. Several moments later, while perusing the postcards, I heard a "Phew! I found you!" from Chris, our tour guide, looking part frantic, part relieved.
Turned out that everyone had been piled onto two other buses driven by rival tour companies and they had been waiting around for me. Oops! I'm glad they didn't leave without me. I might have ended up hitching a ride with some Lakes District bikies!
We were bussed to the Kyle of Lochalsh for an impromptu lunch-stop while the bus was being repaired. Our temporary driver was fantastic - a tall gorgeous Highlander who was even wearing a kilt. :) After lunch our normal guides returned and we drove across the bridge to the Isle of Skye.
We stopped at a stream to fill up our bottles with some fresh Highland water:
Skye Water! Try some today!
Because the weather was so brilliant the Haggis team took us for a walk up into the beautiful scenery on the Isle of Skye, to a place known as the Fairy Pools. It was wonderful to be off the bus. We went on an easy hike up to a spectacular spot in the hills. A few people went swimming in the cold crystal water. I just marvelled at the beauty of the place and enjoyed watching everyone frolicking in the sunshine.
On the way back to the hostel we saw Eilean Donan again, from a different angle. I couldn't resist...
Back in Fort Augustus, I had fish+chips by the canal with Susan and Claire:
And then we went on a cruise on Loch Ness!!! On board was all this equipment for peering underwater, hunting for Nessie.
We didn't spot her. :(
But I didn't really mind. :)
After the cruise, it was still daylight, despite being around 9pm so we kicked on to another of Fort Augustus' drinking establishments. Pints all round. I remember meeting some other people from the bus - some Canadians and South Africans and a couple more Aussies, of course. When the pub closed around 11 we headed back to the hostel bar. On the way, my new kiwi pal received a text message from her dad saying that Michael Jackson had been rushed to hospital.
I didn't think much of it, but a while later, when we were sipping our wee drams (I'd definitely acquired a taste for whisky by then) someone came back from the computer room announcing that Jackson was dead. There was lots of discussion about him then, and someone pulled out an iPod with his music on it. And the rest of the night was a blur of dancing, drinking and Michael Jackson tunes. I like that I'll always have a fun story to tell when someone asks "what were you doing when you heard Michael Jackson was dead?". :)
Some of the crew from the Haggis tour, hanging out in the hostel bar.
Day Three
Feeling a bit hungover after one too many whiskies the night before, I was pleased to discover that the weather for the last day of the trip was just as glorious as the previous two. Today we started winding our way back south to Edinburgh.
First stop was a lookout to view Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain. For many days of the year the summit is obscured by clouds, but not when I was there! The perfect weather continued!
Beinn Nibheis (Ben Nevis) - I think it's the snow-capped one at the back:
And just when I thought the Scottish Highlands couldn't get any more spectacular, we arrived at Glen Coe, site of the infamous massacre of 1692 (the reason I was almost banned from Eilean Dolan when I said I was from Campbell stock) .
The place was filled with an eery sense of melancholy. The sadness of the place was heightened because we'd just heard tales of the brutal and bloody massacre, but I got the impression that it has always been a sad sort of place, despite it's rugged beauty.
Me at Glen Coe:
I know it's touristy, but when this man began playing his bagpipes while we were at Glen Coe it was just perfect. They are quite haunting sometimes, but they can also be uplifting, I think. Perhaps that's just my Scottish heritage talking. :)
Outside the "Green Welly Stop", another Wild+Sexy Haggis bus drives off. This roadside lunch stop was my second visit to the Green Welly. Mum, Em and I stopped here in 2007 on our way from Oban to Glasgow. Fun to see the place again. :)
Hamish, the hairy coo.
The batteries of my camera ran out while snapping the gorgeous Hamish, so there are no photos of our last stop, the William Wallace monument in Stirling. I suspect you've just about had enough anyway. :) We climbed up a big hill, with nice views of the town, and sat outside the monument while Chris regaled us with heroic tales of Wallace.
Eventually we got back into Edinburgh, where I was pleased to be staying for another couple of nights.
View Skye High Tour in a larger map
Urquhart Castle:
Loch Ness:
Fort Augustus lock, one of the many locks along the Caledonian Canal:
Heart-shaped, Scotland-shaped Loch Garry:
Me outside Eilean Donan Castle:
Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye:
Glen Coe:
Hamish!
I've been avoiding writing this entry partly because it has taken ages to label all my photos on flickr, but mostly because I fear that I won't be able to do the Scottish Highlands justice. But this is a silly reason not to at least try to capture my experience. I realised this week that I haven't even finished sorting my photos from my massive 2007 world adventure. I will get around to those pictures soon, but I don't want to wait until 2011 to share the rest of my Scottish adventure.
My favourite part of my Scotland trip was the three day Skye High tour that I did with Haggis. I'd been on one of their trips before, to Cornwall in 2007, and was very impressed. So I was more than pleased to be boarding one of the yellow buses again.
Urquhart Castle
'Skye High' Haggis Tour - June 24-26
Day One
One of the first stops on the Haggis trip was Dunkeld Cathedral - begun in 1260 and completed in 1501. We didn't get a tour of the place. It was basically just a photo stop giving us a chance to get off the bus and letch our stregs for a bit. I'd chatted to a guy called Bruno (Argentinian) who was sitting next to me, and while walking around the cathedral I made friends with two other young women who were also travelling solo, Claire (a Kiwi) and Susan (from Melbourne, but she'd been working in London for a while).
For lunch we stopped at a little town called Kingussie, where there was a pub that was hired just for us. We all sat out in the sun, and some of us tried haggis and Irn Bru (Scotland's other national drink - sickly sweet orange fizzy stuff. I didn't try any when I was there, but managed to find some by chance in a lolly shop in Sydney). I still haven't tried any haggis. Next visit, for sure.
If it hadn't been so warm I might have tried one of these:
Next stop was Culloden Moor, site of the 1746 Battle of Culloden.
Perhaps is is wrong of me to be so smiley on the site of a battlefield, but I was very happy to be in the Highlands. :)
The bricks that are jutting out represent the casualities of the battle. I won nerdy/brownie points for guessing their significance, when our tour guide asked what we thought they were. There were many more Jacobite bricks than British. The field had red and blue flags marking out where the battle took place.
We drove through Inverness which I learned means 'mouth of ness'.
And then I had my first glimpse of Loch Ness!!!
We had a quick stop at Urquhart Castle.
And Debs, our tour guide, taught us how to do the dance and chant that would help entice Nessie out of the depths. :)
We finished the day by checking into our hostel in Fort Augustus, a gorgeous little town on the shores of Loch Ness. Then we went to a demonstration of what life used to be like in the Highlands, with a man who showed us how a traditional kilt was worn, told us how stinky everything used to be along with gruesome details about how the weapons were used.
View of the loch from Fort Augustus.
I had dinner at a pub in Fort Augustus with some friends from the Haggis bus before heading back to the hostel, where (happily) there was a bar and some live entertainment. Claire and I asked the bartender to recommend us a whisky - one that's relatively easy to drink for first-timers. She suggested Dalwhinnie and I thoroughly enjoyed mine. The perfect end to my first day in the Scottish Highlands.
We finished the bottle! ;)
Day Two
While waiting for everyone to join our yellow bus, I took some photos outside the hostel of an absolutely gorgeous morning.
The scenery just kept getting better and better in the Highlands. We stopped for photos at this gorgeous place, overlooking Loch Garry. I scored a thousand-gabillion points and was declared an honorary Scot for recognising that the loch is not only heart-shaped but that it's the shape of the map of Scotland. Fun!
Next up was a tour of Eilean Donan Castle. The kilt-wearing castle tour guide spoke to us in Gaelic at first, before conceding that English would have to do. He asked if there were any Campbells on the tour and I hesitantly raised my hand, knowing that having Campbell heritage is not necessarily something you want to admit to when you're in the Highlands. The tour guide pulled out his walkie-talkie and threatened to call security so that I couldn't enter the castle. Ha!
The bridge to the castle + Loch Duich
There was a bit of an incident with our big yellow bus while we were at the castle. The emergency exit door wouldn't close properly so the tour guides were forced to wait until someone could come and fix it. While we were waiting, I wandered away and found a bench to sit on and admire the view. I struck up conversation with a friendly old bikie who was from the Lakes District and touring around Scotland with two mates. It was one of those cool moments that happen more often while travelling, where you get to talk to someone you might not ordinarily.
Eventually I headed back to the bus but couldn't find anyone. Thinking that they'd all gone into the visitors centre to kill some time, I wandered in. Several moments later, while perusing the postcards, I heard a "Phew! I found you!" from Chris, our tour guide, looking part frantic, part relieved.
Turned out that everyone had been piled onto two other buses driven by rival tour companies and they had been waiting around for me. Oops! I'm glad they didn't leave without me. I might have ended up hitching a ride with some Lakes District bikies!
We were bussed to the Kyle of Lochalsh for an impromptu lunch-stop while the bus was being repaired. Our temporary driver was fantastic - a tall gorgeous Highlander who was even wearing a kilt. :) After lunch our normal guides returned and we drove across the bridge to the Isle of Skye.
We stopped at a stream to fill up our bottles with some fresh Highland water:
Skye Water! Try some today!
Because the weather was so brilliant the Haggis team took us for a walk up into the beautiful scenery on the Isle of Skye, to a place known as the Fairy Pools. It was wonderful to be off the bus. We went on an easy hike up to a spectacular spot in the hills. A few people went swimming in the cold crystal water. I just marvelled at the beauty of the place and enjoyed watching everyone frolicking in the sunshine.
On the way back to the hostel we saw Eilean Donan again, from a different angle. I couldn't resist...
Back in Fort Augustus, I had fish+chips by the canal with Susan and Claire:
And then we went on a cruise on Loch Ness!!! On board was all this equipment for peering underwater, hunting for Nessie.
We didn't spot her. :(
But I didn't really mind. :)
After the cruise, it was still daylight, despite being around 9pm so we kicked on to another of Fort Augustus' drinking establishments. Pints all round. I remember meeting some other people from the bus - some Canadians and South Africans and a couple more Aussies, of course. When the pub closed around 11 we headed back to the hostel bar. On the way, my new kiwi pal received a text message from her dad saying that Michael Jackson had been rushed to hospital.
I didn't think much of it, but a while later, when we were sipping our wee drams (I'd definitely acquired a taste for whisky by then) someone came back from the computer room announcing that Jackson was dead. There was lots of discussion about him then, and someone pulled out an iPod with his music on it. And the rest of the night was a blur of dancing, drinking and Michael Jackson tunes. I like that I'll always have a fun story to tell when someone asks "what were you doing when you heard Michael Jackson was dead?". :)
Some of the crew from the Haggis tour, hanging out in the hostel bar.
Day Three
Feeling a bit hungover after one too many whiskies the night before, I was pleased to discover that the weather for the last day of the trip was just as glorious as the previous two. Today we started winding our way back south to Edinburgh.
First stop was a lookout to view Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain. For many days of the year the summit is obscured by clouds, but not when I was there! The perfect weather continued!
Beinn Nibheis (Ben Nevis) - I think it's the snow-capped one at the back:
And just when I thought the Scottish Highlands couldn't get any more spectacular, we arrived at Glen Coe, site of the infamous massacre of 1692 (the reason I was almost banned from Eilean Dolan when I said I was from Campbell stock) .
The place was filled with an eery sense of melancholy. The sadness of the place was heightened because we'd just heard tales of the brutal and bloody massacre, but I got the impression that it has always been a sad sort of place, despite it's rugged beauty.
Me at Glen Coe:
I know it's touristy, but when this man began playing his bagpipes while we were at Glen Coe it was just perfect. They are quite haunting sometimes, but they can also be uplifting, I think. Perhaps that's just my Scottish heritage talking. :)
Outside the "Green Welly Stop", another Wild+Sexy Haggis bus drives off. This roadside lunch stop was my second visit to the Green Welly. Mum, Em and I stopped here in 2007 on our way from Oban to Glasgow. Fun to see the place again. :)
Hamish, the hairy coo.
The batteries of my camera ran out while snapping the gorgeous Hamish, so there are no photos of our last stop, the William Wallace monument in Stirling. I suspect you've just about had enough anyway. :) We climbed up a big hill, with nice views of the town, and sat outside the monument while Chris regaled us with heroic tales of Wallace.
Eventually we got back into Edinburgh, where I was pleased to be staying for another couple of nights.
View Skye High Tour in a larger map
Urquhart Castle:
Loch Ness:
Fort Augustus lock, one of the many locks along the Caledonian Canal:
Heart-shaped, Scotland-shaped Loch Garry:
Me outside Eilean Donan Castle:
Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye:
Glen Coe:
Hamish!