WIS Tour - Day 1

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Wow! A busy but incredibly awesome day!
Checked out of the hostel bright and early, bought myself a t-shirt, that says Nice Ass on the back (it's black, naturally...you know me...why go for colour if I don't have to...). Trekked up to the Wild in Scotland office, which I had located the day before, since I like to know where I'm going. Lessens my chances of being late for things.
The other people on the tour are really cool (well, except for 2, but whatever, they seem to be keeping to themselves):
Chad, who is from Perth, Western Australia, totally exciting for me, because I used to live there!
Luca, who is from Genova, Italy.
Tanya, who is from Vancouver (whoo hoo! Go fellow Canadian!)
Tina & Cindy, who are from Taiwan, sisters, and while Cindy is alright, all Tina seems to do is whinge and slump around.
Anyway, we left Edinburgh and headed into Stirling. We passed Dunfermline Abbey on the way, which was huge for me, since it plays such a big part in the histories that I've read. Stirling was nice, but I've been there several times before, though it was nice being there with James for once. We hiked up to the Wallace Monument, which gives us really nice views of all of Stirling, the castle, the old town spreading out beneath it, Stirling Bridge, and the just the landscape itself. I still can't get over the shades of green here!! And with the yellow gorse dotting the green, it's just lovely.
After Stirling we stopped at this wee little place just outside of Callander (to which I had also already been), to buy a bottle of whisky and to meet Simon's good friend Hamish. Hamish, it turns out, is a very loving and friendly Highland steer. The cafe at the stop has a little part called Hamish's Snack Bar, at which you can purchase little bags of fruit and veg to feed to Hamish. He was absolutely adorable, anyway, I love Highland Cattle.
Stopped at Rannoch Moor, which was nice...I like that I've been able to see if from both sides. I'd still one day like to hike across it, to see the Heart Stone. It's so bleak though...beautiful, but bleak. But then a lot of Scotland is like that.
We hiked up to one of the hidden glens in Glen Coe, which was stunning. It also told me that I really need to work on getting into shape! Wow...ouch. But it was incredible, I'm so glad I went up. Glen Coe is just one of those really, really emotive places, the history of it is so sad, and you can just feel it, even if you don't know what happened there. Definitely a lot of ghosts there.
Next on our route was Fort William. Chad and I volunteered for cooking duties, so we ended up shopping and not getting to see any of the town, but I gave my camera to Tanya so that she could take some while she explored. So that's something.
We were lucky, today was one of the 60 days a year that Ben Nevis isn't shrouded in mist and cloud, so we got to see the whole of the great Scottish "mountain" when we were up at the Loch Garry lookout. Loch Garry, now that's an interesting loch. It apparently looks like a map of Scotland. If you're ever up there with a Scotsman, say that it looks something like the northern part of Britain. I did that, and I got my ass slapped very hard and was threatened with being left behind to walk all the way here!
Eilean Donan Castle was...wow. It's just so quaint. I mean, it's smaller than I would have imagined a castle being. But it's so pretty...and out on its little island, all nice and...castle-like.
We got into Strome Ferry (which doesn't have a ferry, by the way...just so you know) and settled into our rooms. We met Charlie, who owns WIS (very sweet man, he's from York), and then Chad and I made dinner.
It's going to be an early night tonight...need to recover some energy! I haven't had a day this busy in...God, in ages!!! And there are 6 more to go!

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