Blogs from Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

There were 10 of us staying at the Ross-shire Red House in Dornie. What fun we had. The main reason why we landed up in Scotland was due to the fact that the McNeil Clan were asked to perform in the "Blas Highland Music Celebration". Paul and Tracey MacNeil performing great traditional musical sounds with the piano and bagpipes. Pauls playing reflects his appreciation of the Gaelic Language and culture, Tracey an excellent piano player of contemporary style and traditional style of Cape Breton Island. Father Rob MacNeil is a Gaelic singer from Barra Glen, Cape Breton Island. Paul & Tracey's two daughters Jessie Helen and Nora also were included in a final singing family event which was held at a sold out performance at the Eilene Donan Castle. They performed along with the Henerson Clan. ... read more

Finally got my run in this morning, I ran down the hill into town, then north to the turnoff for the Ben Nevis trailhead. In case you're uninitiated, Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the UK (just over 4300 feet - doesn't sound too bad until you realize that you start from sea level!). There, running along a single track road with Ben Nevis off to my left. It was going great until I realized: #1 that I really needed a bathroom, and #2 that the trailhead, my halfway point, didn't have one. So I utilized my survival skills gained from many years in cross-country, and I will spare you the details thereof. We began our drive north. One realizes when driving in Scotland that you do not get anywhere quickly - this is, of ... read more

Today was supposed to be a day off the bikes but we did actually cycle 9 miles northwards (doh!) to check out another spot which looked like a campsite on the OS map. However it just turned out to be a caravan park. Andy managed to fix his wheel at Alex Dan's bike shop. Alex Dan was not there himself but a dude working there was really helpful and let Andy find the bits he needed to fix the wheel AND let him use the workshop with no hassle. The friendly helpful trustingness of the Outer Hebrides peeps amazes me, it's great and so different to how things are in the SE of England. Alex Dan's bike shop in Stornoway rocks! While we were in the workshop I spotted a letter written to Alex Dan from ... read more

This was definately my favorite day of my whole time over in Europe (and probably of my life!). I was in Scotland, which already made it a great day, but I got to visit the Eilean Donan Castle (I have wanted to visit it since I lived in the Netherlands). Ross had sketched me a picture of it for his first Christmas present for me, so it was even more special that we got to go see it together. Jen, Joe, Matt, Kristen, Ross and I first went to the Visitor Center to see if we could go across the bridge to the castle. While the others stayed to look in the shop a little bit longer, Ross and I headed out toward the castle once we found out we could go. As we were ... read more

So today saw us driving through the Torridon Mountains. Very, very remote, all single track roads, I imagine that it's scary to drive in a car, I KNOW that it's terrifying in a bus! But hey...adventure is good! Had an awesome rainbow over Loch Carron as we were heading out of Strome Ferry, that was nice...lots of sunshine, amazing colours. Great photo op, that. We stopped at the Meall Gorm viewpoint, which is stunning. It's just so remote and desolate. And with the mist swirling around through it, you just feel like you're completely alone. We laid on our backs on this one rocks and sort of hung over the edge, to see the view upside-down. Wow...I have no idea how to describe it. You'd have to do it yourself to see, but the change in ... read more