The Search for Nessie Continues

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6/27/2007 Wednesday
Since I have found a job, I’ve decided that I can relax a bit. Plus, since I don’t start for two weeks, I have time to see stuff. Today, I took a day tour with ‘Heart of Scotland’ Tours to see Loch Ness and Glencoe. It was a small tour group, only about 25 people, and most of them were American—it’s probably been 3 weeks since I’ve heard an American accent!! Aaah. People I can understand without trying, or saying ‘pardon?’ ten times. Our tour guide, Cullen, was great! One of those natural born speakers and storytellers, he told us so much about Scotland’s history and what we were seeing. This was my first drive out of Edinburgh, so I eagerly waited seeing what the rest of Scotland looked like. We drove into the Highlands and there was such a big difference! Where in Edinburgh the only ‘hilly’ parts are made by the extinct volcano on one part of town and Salisbury Crags on the other, the Highlands were hills after hills, lochs, fields, etc. It was, amazingly enough, a sunny day, so everything was sparkling and shining just so. We passed Stirling Castle, and Cullen told us a little about William Wallace, who Mel Gibson portrayed in Braveheart. He was an outlaw who fought for the Scots freedom against British invaders. He lived most of his life on the run, hiding out in forests. He did ‘guerrilla warfare’ against the British - quick, fast attacks. His wife / girlfriend (history is not sure which she was) was burnt alive in her house to draw him out of the forest. In 1297, he fought the 10,000 strong English army with his Volunteer Scottish force of 7,000. They fought at Stirling Castle and it was a tremendous Scottish victory. In 1305, a Scotsman, and friend of Wallace, betrayed him and sold him out the English, who captured Wallace and put him on trial for multiple offenses, including treason. It was inevitable he would be found guilty, being judged and juried by the English, but during his trial, he made his famous speech stating that he was not guilty of treason, since he was Scottish and not British, and his king was John Balliol. Of course, he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered - which means he was stripped naked, tied to a horse and dragged on the ground around the city for 4 miles, allowing townsfolk to throw rotten vegetables at him, or kick him or whatever. The London citizens were particularly bad with him because there had been a lot of propaganda against Wallace, saying he was a Baby-Eater and the like. After the dragging, he was hung, but not to the point of death, just near strangulation, then his stomach was cut open, and his intestines and other parts cut out and removed - all while he was still alive and awake. If he fell unconscious, they revived him before continuing. Finally, they killed him by cutting out his heart, but they weren’t done yet. They quartered him, cutting off his arms and legs, beheaded him and put his head atop a pike on Tower Bridge. Whew! Is that a story or what? Now you’ve probably just skimmed over all this going, yeah, Heather, we’ve all seen the movie, so you’re not telling us anything new - but I’ve never seen Braveheart, so it’s all new to me!
I learned where the expression ‘armed to the teeth’ came from. There is a River Teeth, right on the outskirts of a town that didn’t allow weapons, so before you crossed the river into town, you’d have to get rid of all your weapons. Ie- Armed to the teeth…
Scotland was the last tribal system in Europe, but obviously, they call them ‘clans’ which means children, or loosely translated, family.
Our first stop was to see Hamish, a highland cow. He was so cute, with all that hair in his face! Although I did want to take a brush to it. 
Then, on to Glencoe, the scene of the worst clan fight in history between the MacDonald’s and the Campbells. In 1692, the chief of the MacDonald’s was five days late in registering an oath of submission to William III, which gave the government an excuse to root out a nest of Jacobite supporters. 130 soldiers came with the Campbells to the MacDonald home area, where tradition required the MacDonald’s to entertain their guests, not knowing there were soldiers. They unknowingly did this for ten days, when in a huge breach of trust, the soldiers fell on their hosts, killing about 40. Others ran and hid in the snowy mountains, where they were killed by the elements. The massacre became very well known, and to this day, some Campbells are ostracized. In fact, pubs all had signs in them stating they wouldn’t serve a Campbell. There is still one of the signs remaining, in a pub in Glencoe, which is run by a MacDonald. He’s serious about it, too. He also has an inn, where his guests would sign in a guestbook. One day, the famous Glen Campbell came in and was signing the book, when the owner saw his name. “Is this you?” he asked. Glen replied “yes” thinking the owner wanted his autograph. But instead, the owner kicked him out and wouldn’t let him stay there! “We don’t serve Campbells here!” I guess Glen even took him to court, but lost, because innkeepers are allowed to refuse service if they choose!
Going into Glencoe, it was absolutely gorgeous! Craggy peaks, cliffs and ridges, with still a touch of snow at the top.
Our next stop was Loch Ness, though its southernmost town, Fort Augustus. I took the Royal Scot, a boat tour, to see if I could spot Nessie. No monster sightings, darn it, but it was still a really pretty boat ride. There was all this sonar equipment onboard, showing how they search the depths for anything mysterious. They’ve found that depth to be more than 800 feet, possibly 1,000 feet in places. It’s hard to tell because its silt on the bottom, always moving. The water is really dark and murky, making it impossible to see more than 6 inches. Believers think that Nessie is actually a plesiosaurus, an ancient animal alive in the time of dinosaurs, and whose fossils have been found nearby. Disbelievers - in the past year or two, an ancient (dinosaur time) fish, long thought to be extinct, was found living and flourishing in Loch Ness. So if that fish could be alive and well, why not Nessie? It’s a matter of fact, that although scientists have not conclusively found a monster, they can not definitely say there’s nothing in the loch, either.

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Photos

Nessie!!
(Or maybe not...) But the closest I got to any monsters today

Glencoe
Scene of the fight between the Campbells and the MacDonalds

Comments

[Annalies]

scottish accents
heather my love, I am literally pea green with envy. I only hope you will study these accents so you can come home with a good brouge. don't worry after watching BBC america for a few months I was able to understand the brittish. If i can do it watching tv you can do it living there. I miss you and I hope you are having the freaking time of your life. love your twin, Annalies