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Published: April 20th 2007
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Scotland tour group
This was our last day in Scotland at the Bruar Falls. Wow. That is about all I can say about the pas 5 days. Monday afternoon I flew out of Belfast and arrived in Edinburgh. I checked into the hostel and it was a beautiful evening out so I just wandered around the city. I instantly fell in love with Edinburgh. It is a gorgeous city. I walked up and down Princes Street, across the bridge and down the Royal Mile to the castle. The views of the city from the top was amazing. And as the sun started to set it got even more beautiful.
Tuesday morning it was up early and off to the Wild In Scotland bus tour through the Highlands and the Isle of Skye. I didn't really have any idea what I was in for, I assumed just your typical bus tour with stops at the major attractions....boy was I wrong.
Our tour guides name was Jaimie, he was about 30 and an awesome guide, he kept us on our toes the whole time. Our first stop was in Linlithgow at the palace where Mary Queen of Scots was born and for some tea. Next it was off to The Stirling where Robert the Bruce and Rob Roy MacGregor fought in the Battle of Bannockburn (the movie Braveheart was so wrong). We then continued on our journey to the Highlands where, when we crossed over into the Highlands we stopped briefly on the side of the road to celebrate with a swig of whiskey.
Our first stop in the Highlands was at Glencoe where we hiked a ways up the side of mountain and Jaimie told us the story of the massacre of Clan MacDonald. After lunch we hiked to Steel Falls. It was a gorgoues hike, about 3 miles each way up and down fairly rocky paths on the side of a mountain. It was a really nice walk though and well worth it when we got to the falls, they were absolutely amazing. After the falls we picked up some food for dinner and headed to the hostel, where we just relaxed, cooked dinner and headed to bed.
Wednesday morning we were up early and our first stop was Glenfinnan where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Royal Standard then it was off to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Skye. Our first stop was ona beach where the Castle of Ske'ha (a women giant warrior) was. It was a really beautiful beach, but the weather wasn't great and we all ended up fairly wet, but despite the wet it was a nice walk out and climb up to the castle and of course another great story by Jaimie. The next stop was short and sweet at the Sligachan River where we all had to get down and dip our heads in the water because the story is that the river's water keeps you looking young forever. We stopped at a few more picturesque places to take photos then headed to our next hostel which was above a small pub where we relaxed by the fire and listened to a live local band play.
Thursday morning we headed to the Fairy Glen in Uig. It was really cute and there were some really interesting rock formations and a small fairy castle that we climbed up to and we heard the story of the Fairies and the Bruneas. We were told we were not to put our hands in our pockets or use foul language as it would offend the Fairies and they would make us trip, the funny thing is one girl swore and she fell down a muddy hill! There was no more bad language after that! We headed next to Stromferry No Ferry where we split up in 2 groups and the first group headed out on a boat while we stayed on the beach and went hunting for mussels. When the other group came back we headed out on the fishing boat and trolled to see what we would cathc. We caught mainly Starfish and rocks but we got a few mussels and scallops as well. The fisherman cracked open the scallops and we all tried them raw from the shell, I thought it would be gross but it was actually pretty good. Can't get seafood fresher than that! When we got back to shore all of our bags were out and Jaimietold us to put on our swimsuits because we going for a dip in Loch Ness. No one believed him but sure enough we drove to Loch Ness, snuck in through the grounds of a castle and headed down to a pier where Jaimie proceeded to jump in followed soon enough by the rest of us. It was absolutely freezing!! But it's something I can always look back on and say I've done. That evening was spent trying to get warm and we had a big bbq for our last night.
Friday we started our journey home stopping off at the Culloden Battlefield where Scotland fought and lost there last battle ever and Balnavaran of Clava in Cairns which is a small older version of Stonehenge, but still quite amazing to look at. We all had to find the rock that drew us to it and hug it, it was quite amusing. Our last stop was at Bruar Falls where we hiked for about 45 minutes up to a set of goegeous waterfalls. It actually remended me of Canada. Then it was back to Edinburgh where we said our goodbyes and headed our own ways.
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