Haggis Tours - Here We Come, Scotland

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Hi Guys.

Thought you all might be interested in our Christmas tour to Scotland. All I can say is that it was excellent & it was worth it just for the Christmas dinner, but it didn't snow for us until we got towards Stirling, on the 28th of December. But the tour was excellent & so was Scotland. Here's the lowdown on what we did, if you're interested:

Day One - We drove to Edinburgh in Vaughan's van & arrived after dark. We stayed in a nice place I found through a website called laterooms.com. You can stay in a hotel or pub type place for the same price as a hostel if you don't book until late, so it's much nicer & you get your own bathroom. In the morning we had to meet at the Haggis Tour offices on the Royal Mile at 8:15am. We were allocated a bus (there were about 80 people altogether) & we managed to get on the minibus as opposed to the big bus, which was better as it was faster, & we got to stop off at about twice as many places as the big bus did, giving us a much better tour. We started off by going through Edinburgh from Old Town into New Town & then headed north through Perth & up to a small place called Dunkeld, where we went on a short walk in the bush & also had a look inside an old cathedral. We then carried on our way & stopped at another small place called Kingussie, where we had some lunch in a pub & had a quick look around the shops, of which there were very few. After lunch we headed to a place called Spean Bridge which I think must be famous for it's Scotch whiskey. It looked like a tiny exclusive ski resort town, & everyone went taste testing of the whiskey (not me - I had a creme liquer thing). From there we made it to Fort Augustus, which is a small place (with 2 pubs) at the south end of Loch Ness. It was quite a nice area & the hostel there was good too. We met a nice couple called Megan & Steve, who were on the big bus.

Day Two - We left Fort Augustus & headed around Loch Ness, to Urquhart Castle, which was at the edge of the water, although we didn't go inside. From there we travelled to the north end of Loch Ness, where all the tourist stores are, & stopped there for a while. Leaving the loch (lake), we headed off to the city of Inverness, which wasn't as big as I thought, but it was OK. We didn't get to look around much at the actual city (although we did have 2 hours there so we nipped up to the castle) so we had lunch & spent much of our time in a big mall there. I couldn't even find one tourist shop there when we were walking around, so we didn't get to find out much about Inverness itself. After lunch we drove a short distance to Culloden Battlefield & walked right around the battlefield & saw a lot of graves there. It was starting to get a bit dark so we headed off to Carbisdale Castle, where we would be for two days over Christmas. The castle was awesome - it had been turned into a youth hostel so it had a lot of facilities, but they had kept the theme and grandeur of many of the original rooms. I don't really have any photos of the outside of the castle as it was too obscured by trees, but you can see some here. We were in a 10 person room with people all from our bus, so we got to make some new friends & they were all really nice & a bit older like us, so not so shallow & boring. In fact, some of them were hilarious so it was a good time - Peter, Jenna, Sue Ann, Richard, Shayne & Karlie, who are all Australians living in London, as well as Santana & Trish, who were from New Zealand. In fact, we welcomed pretty much all our busmates into our room for a bit of a socialise before the official festivities started up, as well as anyone else brave enough to join in our mad laughs. There were some activities for Christmas Eve night so they had a band (Scottish) & some other things going on, which everyone got into. There were about 180 of us staying at the castle, as some people were there on a shorter trip (3 day, as opposed to 6 day) which also incorporated the castle for Christmas. .

Day Three - We didn't do too much today. It was Christmas Day so we all got time to call home & stuff, & they had set breakfast to be fairly late so it was easier. All the different buses headed off in different directions for the day, so there were many activities going on. We walked up & around a huge hill near the castle, which took about 1 1/2 hours, but it was an OK walk (a bit muddy). It was quite overcast so not the best of weather, but it was good to be outside in the fresh air. Then we went back & jumped in the bus & headed off to the beach, which was about 40 minutes away, near the church where Madonna got married. It was really cold there but people played frisbee & stuff to warm up. By the time we got back to the castle, most of the other buses were coming back. The plan was to be seated for Christmas dinner by 4pm so we all got ready for that & then went down to the big dining area. We all got tables & had some wine (free!) & then the Christmas dinner was brought out. It was huge. Every table of 8 people had a turkey & veges to themselves! It was pure madness, & the food was excellent, contrary to the other food that had been provided so far. It was a really nice dinner, & then there were some more activities for the evening, such as more music, & a spooky midnight walk around the castle grounds.

Day Four - We left the castle & headed through some small towns on our way to the Isle of Skye. On the way we stopped off in the countryside, where we went for another walk. In fact, I stayed behind on the bus because I was being lazy, but most of the others went up into the hills to go for a bit of caving. It took them about 2 hours so I just hung out on the bus with a few other people who had stayed back. The area was beautiful though - quite rolling & barren. It started to rain so we missioned on to Skye, stopping at a ruined castle (Ardvreck) & then passing through Lullapool and Achnasheen on the way. We arrived at the bridge to Skye after dark, but stayed in a backpackers/pub almost next to the bridge on the Skye side, & the rooms looked out over the water - really nice.

Day Five - We left the backpackers & headed around Skye for the day, due to the exceptionally good weather. We drove out into the countryside & it was so pretty & really very barren in places, similar to Lindis Pass in NZ. A lot of the countryside was similar, but there was also a lot of greenery & nice views around the coast. We stopped in the middle of nowhere & went on a big walk up to some rockpools, fed by a big waterfall. The water was aqua blue & so clear - I was glad we went, even though it was a bit of a trek. From there we went to a town called Broadford (still on the Isle of Skye) & bought bits & pieces for lunch from the supermarket there. We drove back over the bridge to the mainland & a short distance to Eilean Donan Castle, where the Highlander movies were filmed. It is the most photographed castle in the world, as it sits on a small island of it's own, with a small bridge connecting it to the land. It was getting quite cold so we didn't stay there too long & then headed off to Oban, which was some distance away, as we had spent so much time on Skye. We came into Oban after dark & most of our group went out for an Indian meal which was fantastic. Afterwards we walked around Oban, which is a fishing town. It was nice to see the moon over the water, & the sky was really clear & we could see the stars easily for a change.

Day Six - We left Oban headed for Edinburgh on our last day of the tour. We had to change routes as there was too much snow on the main road, & one section of it was closed. We drove most of the morning & stopped at a last highland type area where we heard about many of the clan wars over the years & went on a short walk to the site of a major battle between the McDonalds & the..............I can't remember at the moment - sorry. From there we went to Tyndrum for lunch, which is just a rest point with tearooms really, & then made it to Castle Doune. We didn't go inside as we all felt that we had had enough of castles, but some of the group went for a quick look, as it is the castle used in the Monty Python movies. After that we went to Stirling, & saw the bridge where the Scottish Army held off the English Army, despite only having a fraction of their numbers. Quite interesting. Then we went to the William Wallace Memorial from where you could also see Stirling Castle. It was a bit snowy & really getting quite cold so we jumped on the bus & headed back to Edinburgh which was about an hour from there, returning at 6pm.

Overall I can really recommend the trip - it was excellent & really nice to meet some more people our own age. It was nice to do something special for Christmas although I did miss the relaxing family thing. Being in Winter time wasn't too bad though, but we still miss you all. We hope you had an excellent Christmas & can't wait to hear about all you have been up to for Summer.

Until next time.....Toni & Vaughan xxxx

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Photos

New Friends Pete & Richard (& Gang) Ambitiously Eating Christmas Pud with Turkey Gravy - Go Guys!
Left to right: Trish, Pete (front), Santana (rear), Sue Ann, Jenna, Richard, & Shane. Plus Karlie (not pictured).

Comments

[maisy]

great
exellent