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Highlands
Cammando Monument Our first glimpse of Edinburgh from the air is of green fields, hills and the Firth of Forth with its two impressive bridges stretching across it. These are some of the few hills that we’ve seen in Britain, and by far the largest bridges yet. Already, we have an inkling that Scotland is going to be a very different place to England.
We notice from our double deck bus heading into the city, that the red brick homes with white window frames (which we have grown so accustomed to in the Midlands) have been replaced by stone houses, most of which are detached. Surveying the suburbs we spot another bus pull up beside us, and much to our amusement, its seats are tartan!
Finally arriving in the city centre itself, perched high above the city, the old town of Edinburgh is magnificent in the early evening light. It is amongst these buildings where we are staying for the night.
We usually prefer to travel independently, but the prospect of getting to many of the out of the way spots in Scotland in three short days seems like a good way to introduce ourselves to the country.
So
early on Saturday morning we’ve checked out of our backpackers and are walking down the rather deserted high street looking for our tour company. We find it, and our guide is a funny, tell-it-like-it is, kilt wearing Scot… named Scott!
We set off towards Stirling where we stop to admire the scenery and hear a wee story about a bloke called William Wallace. Standing on the northern bank of the river Forth looking towards Sterling Castle, we can almost see the 13th century English troops charging across to engage Wallace’s army, only for the bridge to collapse under their weight, dumping the heavily armoured soldiers into the freezing river and resulting in a resounding victory for the Scots.
Our tour guide tells us the man who betrayed Wallace and gave him up to the English was a Scotsman named Menteith (Mel Gibson’s Braveheart movie incorrectly fingers Robert the Bruce as the culprit). The Scottish rewarded the Menteith family for their nationalism by changing the title of their Loch (Scottish for lake) to Lake. To this day there is only one lake in Scotland and that is Lake Menteith!
We hit the road again and after a couple
of hours we’re turning off the highway in the Loch Lomond NP into a narrow, one lane road- clearly marked ‘unsuitable for buses’. Heading uphill past small stone fenced paddocks filled with new season lambs, Scott finds us an idyllic spot overlooking a stream to enjoy our picnic lunch.
Back on the bus, the landscape is changing noticeably. The undulating green grassy hills of Edinburgh are giving way to rock capped brown mountains. We imagine that the snow hasn’t long cleared.
We travel through Glencoe then past the base of Glen Nevis - the UK’s tallest mountain and into Fort William. After a short stop, we’re back on the road towards our destination for the next two nights - Stromferry.
We arrive in the late afternoon. Located on the southern side of the salt water Loch Carron, Stromferry has about 8 houses, 1 post box, 1 train platform, a boat ramp and much to our surprise - one gum tree (!). Our accommodation is one of the houses on the edge of the loch and once the 16 of us on our tour check in, the place is full.
The plan for Sunday is a full
day on the Isle of Skye. The island’s name comes from Viking language where Skye means ‘mist or cloud’. Apparently it’s the wettest place in Europe and the locals say if you can see Skye from the mainland, it’s about to rain. If you can’t see Skye from the mainland, it’s already raining!
So Sunday morning we pass through Kyle of Lochalsh over a mighty bridge and onto the Isle of Skye, where, right on cue, it starts to rain. With windscreen wipers on, Scott takes us along the north west coast of the island.
The scenery is amazing. The emptiness is confronting. Water flows down the outside of rock filled mountains only cutting a path at the base of the hillside where there is enough brown grass and moss to hold the rock. There are no trees.
We stop off and hear a wee story about Fairy folk while we wait for gusts of wind to clear the cloud off the striking rock formation that is the Old Man of Storr. A little further on we take a look at Kilt rock, before we pull off the main road for lunch.
While the rest of
the tour group eat huddled on the bus, together with a great French couple, Sarah and Fabien, we brave the wind and the rain to eat our picnic lunch looking out over magnificent cliffs into the sea. Geez it is cold!
We complete our round trip of the northwest finger of Skye and take a single lane road through the centre of the middle part of the island. The windy roads take their toll on Ariana, who ends up carsick.
Many locals on Isle of Skye still paint their doors and gates red to keep the fairies away and they also tell tales of other small folk called ‘brownies’. We are treated to a quick walk around one of the ‘brownie’ hideouts where the shrubs, trees, rocks and even hills seem smaller. You could almost believe they exist!
It is about at this point where I’ve lost track of where we were actually going. Clearly Scott knows, but I don’t. For the purposes of our blog- we did some more walking, stopped at a pub (where Ariana drank lemonade and Lachlan downed some Highlands single malt) and then went back over the huge bridge that we did
Countryside
An old church, its thatched roof waterproofed by peat smoke long since gone. at the start of the day before ending up back at our hostel in Stromferry.
Monday starts in the most amazing fashion you can find in the UK- clear, blue skies! There is an air of expectation among the group as today is the day we visit Loch Ness in search of Nessie. Not long after waving farewell to our hosts at Stromferry, we stop for a wee story about the Five Sisters of Kintail. Ariana gets chills as we are told of the folklore that the white capped mountains we see in the distance are actually sisters waiting in their wedding gowns for the Five Irish princes to sail through the heads and take them to join their younger sister who has already married her prince. *sigh*
Avoiding the tacky souvenir shops, we find ourselves winding our way around the edge of the mass of water that is Loch Ness until we find an ideal spot for…swimming! Not having brought our bathers with us we wade in knee deep and admire some other Aussies on our tour willing to strip down for a freezing cold dip in the world’s most famous Loch. All great fun- but no
Forth Bridge
They don't build them like they use-ta... over engineered - the only way. Nessie in sight.
Checking our map as we cross the Firth of Forth Road Bridge we are suitably impressed by the imposing red Forth Bridge crossing the river parallel to us. Built in 1890 is still carries the weight of dozens of trains every day and is in a better state of repair than the 1960s sibling we’re driving over.
Our journey ends as it began and we’re welcomed back into Edinburgh by the strains of a kilt clad piper entertaining the crowds in the Princess Street Gardens.
Will we be back? Aye!
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