Wild in Scotland

Thursday night: arrived in Edinburgh, bus to city center, without trouble found my hostel, checked in and wandered the streets. Went up to the Edinbugh castle which is quite spectacular at night.

Friday: Met the tour group at 8am. While waiting I ran into Sophie and 2 other people from the Ireland tour! Such a small world - they were headed out on a 4 day tour that same day with the same company. I made sure they had my email and wished them well before heading out with my 7 day tour. A bit of history from guide Jack as we drove out of town amongst Easter holiday goers. An interesting group of 16 total, all older then me by 3-10 years, and 3 couples with 2 other individuals engaged as well. Mostly Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, me and one other American. A drive to Stirling for the William Wallace monument and story. Trough Rob Roy country to Glen Coe for lunch and the story of the massacre there. The highlands are beautiful - shrouded in clouds. Past Ben Navis and Fort William. A stop at Castle Eilean Donan and finally the Isle of Skye was in view. We stayed at nearby Plockton in a wee bunkhouse was all ours. I walked with a few others on a muddy trail through impressive, very fairy tale-esque native pine forests. Back for a massive homemade meal and of course trip to the local pub.

Saturday: Drove across the controversial Kyle o Lochash bridge, which has the highest toll per meter of any bridge in Europe, onto the Isle of Skye. A gorgeous place with mountain vistas in every direction and always a blanket of clouds. Stopped at an abandoned church and graveyard to wander and admire the view of the Cuillin range at Elgo. A roadtrip to Portree for lunch. Jack had been swerving to pretend to hit all the sheep that kept wandering in the road and we had already noted his near obsession with feral goats so we got him a very feral looking stuffed sheep (of course name Feral) to be the mascot of the trip. The main road is a very bumpy 2 land and all others are shady single lane buisinesses with 'passing places' North of Portree we stopped for what Jack called a 'proper walk' of a couple of hours. Up to the base of the needle on the Stow. Incredible view! The Cuillins on the Isle and the Torrins on the mainland and clouds had lifted leaving a beautiful sunny day. A visit to kilt rock - didn't look THAT much like a tartan to me... but I am rather jaded having just seen the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped to take pictures of hiary highland cows (coos!) On the way back to Plockton, we wandered into the fabled glen of the fairies. With wee fairy mountains and rivers, I of course made a few offers to keep the brownies (say it broonies if you're Scottish!) on my side.

Sunday: Not only celebrating Easter Sunday, but also the birthdays of Ariane (canada) and Daniel (nz) who both turned 24. We took a while finding all our easter eggs, then headed off to a nearby sea loch - close to Lochlorran - were fisherman Neil MacCray took us out on his boat to help fish for scallops. Once the musles, crabs, numberous starfish, whiskey bottles, and nudabranches had been separated out of the catch we got to try scallops raw and whole. Doesn't get much fresher then that! A picnic lunch while watching seals at Lochlorran. Further on we stopped for a walk and skiped stones on beautiful, clear Loch Marie. Luckily saw some feral goats on the way to Scotlands highest waterfall... not that high! Then on to Ollapool for groceries before arriving at our hostel, a restored manse, in Inchnadamf, land of deer which everyone tried to feed bread. Quite a celebration that evening. Ritual singing of the national anthems then a late night party. Angela taught us a few quite odd New Zealand drinking games.

Monday: Lots of driving not good with the rather hung over birthday kids. Especially on the crazy single lane roads in the highlands, so several stops were made at gorgeous, sandy, North Atlantic beaches. Made a loop from Inchnadamf and worked our way along the coast. Stopped at an incredible beach near Durness for lunch and a bit of a run around and sand castle building. Quick look at nearby Smoo caves and we headed further North where the landscape changed from moutains to rolling hills covered in scrub and heather. Our ferry left from Gills Bay for an easy 1.5 hr crossing to St. Margerets Hope on the Orkney Islands. Had the hostel to ourselves and the local pub was conveniently located next door. It was mostly taken over by our group, but it was fun chatting with the locals and attempting to understand the accent. Dave (probably 70 or 80) told us about his time traveling as a diver for the off shore oil companies to Canada, Australia, and S. Africa. Drinking is truely a profession here and he told us that his job isnt for those who care about family or love. "I'm not much for love, I'm more for drinking and smoking." That pretty much says it all. A quality evening of sampling the local whisky - Scapa and Highland Park.

Tuesday: A raw, rainy, windswept day, but you can't let the weather stop you. We drove up from South Ronaldsey crossing Churchill barriers, causeways created during WWII and saw some of the remaining block ships sunk during WWI to keep German subs out of the Scapa flow. A quick stop at the Italian chapel, built by Italian POWs that were here to build the causeways. Northeast on the mainland onto the Deerness peninsula where we checked out the Gloup (blowhole) and had coffee on the VERY windy cliff to send our thoughts into the wind. On the return, we stopped just long enough to steal 4 huge turnips (neeps) from a field for dinner. In the main city of Kirkwall, we went to the cheese making factory to see a bit of action and sample the famous cheddar. Wandered around the pedestrian street and St. Magnus' Cathedral which is made completely of the local red sandstone. As the rain picked up, we headed off to see the neolithic monuments: The stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brogar, Skara Brae and Maes Howe. The first two are made of standing stones nearly 6 m in height. Only 4 remain at Stenness, but the Rigng of Brogar is impressive. Pouring rain and wind - very authentic Orcadian weather. We were all soaked by Skara Brae - a 5000 yr old village that was covered in sand dunes until the late 1800's so is well preserved. The comfort they lived in is impressive - beds, dresers, a hearth, storage, tools, and sewage system. Off to Maes Howe - an ancient tomb of the same era. Huge slabs make up the underground chambered tomb which is covered in Norse runes. 1000 yr old grafitti proclaiming things like 'this is written very high' and 'i'm the best at writting runes with my grandfathers axe.' We headed back to the hostel for a most traditional meel of neeps and tatties (mashed turnips and potatoes), cheese, oatcakes, and Kranacan (sp?) for desert which is raspberries steeped in whisky and then mixed with cream and yogurt and toasted oats. The boys on the trip had been drinking for hrs but we cuaght up quickly at the local pub. Somehow I managed to get a few free drinks of Scapa - maybe it is an advantage to be the youngest! Slan javar! (scots gaelic for cheers! reapeated rather constantly on this trip)

Wednesday: Slept in before running around a beach on south Ronaldsey. The ferry returned us to the mainland where we stopped at John O'Groats for the obligatory photo op. Then headed on to a castle of our own, Carbisdale Castle, that has been turned into a youth hostel. Spent plenty of time wandering the creepy paintings and statues, looking for secret passage ways. Then watched the celtic vs. Vila Real football match. We all ended up staying up late drinking in one of the lounges and playing a strange variation of Trivial Pursuit.

Thursday: An early start for the long drive back to Edinburgh. Stopped at the battle of Culloden, a very moving place where the last Jacobite rebellion was crushed in 1745 which lead to the repression of the clans, bagpipes, and the Gaelic language. We then did a trip around Loch Ness to hunt for Nessie but no siteings. We all napped in the bus until we stopped at Edradour distillery - the smallest distillery in Scotland. Took the tour and our free dram. Quite a good, and apparently very rare, whisky. Arrived back in Edinburgh around 6:30 and said our tearful goodbyes. A few of us at least were spending the next couple of evenings in town anyway. Mike and Hayley, Aussies working in Edinburgh, had a flat and let me crash at their place for the 2 nights I was there. A whole group of us: Kiwis Zac and Angela and Daniel and Maree, Canadian Ariane, Mike, Hayley, and I all went out for a pub dinner and a few drinks.

Friday: Hayley and I drove to the base of Arthurs seat, and hiked up with just enough time to enjoy the view in the last sun of the morning. Made it back down before the rain started. Met up with the others for coffee and some stovies (mashed potatoes/turnips/somesort of meat) at a pub. Then got to spend some time being tourists and wandering the town. Did a bit of shopping - looked for a CD from The Corries - basically the sound track of our trip. Headed back to Mike and Hayley's apartment where we made a huge stirfry and Daniel, Maree and friend from home Veronica, and Ariane came over to hang out and chat. I went out with some of them for a bit. Just a couple of pubs and a take away place since Veronica had been working out in the highlands for 6 weeks where there are no late night takeaways! Anyway, said our goodbyes, although I've promised to come and visit Daniel and Maree at their place in London for some nights out on the town enjoying the live music scene.

Saturday: got myself up early for the 7 hour train ride back to Bath. I had been dreading it, but it went so easily I have restored my faith in my ability to travel for long periods of time. It was great to finally unpack, go for a run, SHOWER!, do laundry, and catch up with the flatmates I havent seen in 3 weeks! At any rate, congratulations to those who have read the ludicrously long update! Hope it has entertained a few of you at least