Blogs from Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 55

It's a five hour ferry from Oban to Castlebay but the hours went by in no time and when I arrived here I knew this place was going to amazing. There is something about pace of life here on Barra at the southern tip of the Outer Hebrides which took me in. All I have to worry about here is whether or not I'll catch a fish to cook for supper and if not then what I'll have from the local Co-Op instead. So far I've caught and cooked Brown Trout and Mackerel fresh from the sea and lochs here. There is a tourist information office here but there isn't a vast number of tourist attractions; no yellow banana boat, no paragliding off the hills or quad bike safari. What is amazing about this place is ... read more

So this is kind-of weird, but I've been looking forward to coming to Fort William ever since I heard about the secret painting of Bonnie Prince Charlie that's held at the Fort William museum. For those not up on their Scottish history (and feel free to skip over this if you totally don't care), Prince Charlie was the grandson of King James I/II, the rightful heir of the Scottish and British throne, who was banished to France after William of Orange came and 'stole' his crown. Years later, Prince Charlie came back to Scotland to try and win back the throne for his grandfather, and clans all over Scotland joined him and were known as The Jacobites. Interestingly, the Jacobites actually did manage to fight their way past the English army and win back Scotland. Unfortunately, ... read more

Heeellloooo Edmonton!!!! Hopefully everything is still going well back in ol' Alberta. We're still having a great time over here. Thanks for all the comments we recieved lately - it definately helps fight the homesickyness. We've spent the last three nights here in Fort William. On Sunday we climbed the infamous Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK). I went into it pretty cocky; "We climb the Rockies all the time, how bad could this hill be?" Tamara would like to point out that she warned me otherwise. Anyhow it was a b&$!* and by the end of the 7.5 hour haul we we're dead tired. To make matters worse we had to tack on another 3km hike in order to get back to our hostel. We finished off the night with East Indian food- ... read more

At 1,309 metres above sea level Ben Macdui is the second highest mountain in the UK and situated in the centre of the Cairngorms it is remote. The Cairngorms National Park contains the largest mountain and arctic area in Britain, is twice as big as the Lake District and boasts 52 summits over 900 metres. My plan was to walk into the Cairngorms, camp overnight among the hills, and climb the mountain the next day. So I set off around 5pm, cycled three miles along a track before leaving my bike. After an hour of evening walking the rain started. It became so heavy that I knew I had to get the tent up straight away. But I was too slow...water had already leaked across the floor of the tent, my sleeping bag was wet and ... read more

Success! A haggis meal has been consumed. It was not all plain sailing though. Yesterday we hopped on board the train at an ungodly hour (7ish) and headed for Inverness. At this hour our Britrail train passes aren't actually valid, but we were counting on the conductor not knowing this or not caring. Indeed the conductor glanced at our passes and then passed right on (he didn't let on if it was apathy or ignorance). Nothing in Inverness was open at that hour, except McDonalds. We boarded our train to Dunrobin Castle at 10ish. The Dunrobin Castle station is only open during the summer months. It is at the end of Dunrobin Castle's driveway and is used solely for their tourists. Actually it was built by one of the Dukes of Sutherland (the family that lives ... read more