The Glorious Highlands

The Highlands of Scotland are what most people picture when they think of Scotland. Barren mountainsides spotted with sheep and heather. Streams of clear, fresh, water flowing down from the mountain springs into the valleys that taste delicious. They are right, that is what is in the Highlands, but it is very different than what can be found in the Lowlands of Scotland. Last weekend the House left for a trip up into the Highlands of Scotland. We had four days planned traveling around northern Scotland. To maximize our time in the Highlands we woke up early on Thursday morning and got on our bus. The itinerary consisted of multiple stops each day and from 30 minutes to 2 hours between each stop and ending the day at about 5 or so except one day when we were done at 1.

Thursday started with Doune Castle, the ruins of a small castle that was used in the filming of Monte Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. It was an interesting castle and we were able to explore most of the ruins without problem.

Then it was back on the bus and off to our next stop, Glencoe Visitor Center. In the Center they had a nice gift shop and an exhibition on the mountain range there. I decided to buy some small souvenirs and then Hannah, Gabby, and Lael and I took a walk trying to find a monument. Sadly we walked until we hit a fence and were unable to find what we were looking for but it was a beautiful trail that we were walking on. After the Visitor Center we stopped at a road side view of the Three Sisters. They had some paths down into the valley and towards a stream. We managed to spend almost an hour there and saw seven red deer run around the valley with us.  Gabby and I walked in the opposite direction of everyone else and ended up finding a waterfall and having the deer run toward us instead of away. We decided that we took the better way.

That night our hostel was located at the foot of Ben Nevis, the tallest point in all of the British Isles. There was nothing near the hostel so we stopped in Fort Williams, the town, to pick up dinner before heading to the hostel. It was beautiful. There was a river right across the road and just beyond the river was a mountain. The mountain side was speckled with sheep and we were able to walk up the mountainside on a path. It was beautiful. That night after dinner we had twenty people join us in our room to play Cranium, the room was huge. It was a lot of fun.

The next morning we woke up early once again and drove over Neptune’s Staircase. The plan was to stop and take a couple pictures but we got stuck in traffic and were a little behind schedule. Neptune’s Staircase is a series of locks that connect the east side of Scotland to the west side. It was interesting to see five or six locks right next to one another. After the locks we stopped at the Glenfinnan Viaduct. For all the Harry Potter fans it is the bridge that the Hogwart’s Express goes over.

Across the street there was a loch with an amazing view and a monument as well.

Then it was the highlight of the day, Loch Ness. We had an hour long cruise on the loch and then we could either spend some time in the gift shop or go for a swim with Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. Even though the water was a toasty 5 degrees Celsius I decide to go for a swim. The bottom of the Lock is very rocky and not with little pebbles but larger rocks that are hard to walk over. Even though the loch gets deeps very quickly there was not dock for you to jump off of you had to walk into the loch and then walk back out.  It was a lot of fun but it was very cold, it felt like needles poking you when you went in. I made it in to my shoulders though and was not able to touch the bottom. Then I quickly worked my way out to get into my towel. (I need to get a picture from someone who did not go into the water. I will put one up soon:)

After Loch Ness we went to Urquhart Castle located on the shores of Loch Ness. It was in ruins so that the Jacobites would not be able to use it and it was snowing when we were there. Even though the weather was not in our favor when we were there the ruins were still quite beautiful and they had a great view of Loch Ness and the surrounding mountains.

Then it was off to the hostel and a good night’s sleep in Inverness.

We were able to sleep in a little bit on Saturday and our only stop on the itinerary was Culloden Battlefield. Culloden was historic battle between the Government and the Jacobites led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. In the span of 60 minutes there were 1,500 rebel Jacobite soldiers killed and only fifty Government soldiers. After the battle those who still survived were run down and killed. It was a massacre due to bad planning and luck. The Jacobites had been up all night long in a failed surprise attack and had not eaten in two days. The field was flat with little cover and a wall running perpendicular to the battle lines that was not covered by Jacobite soldiers so they could be attacked on multiple sides. It was thought provoking experience standing among the mass graves of so many people who died fighting and whose names have been forgotten.

After the battlefield we went to the river side to see if there were any dolphins there.

We waited for about a half hour and did not see any so it was back to the hostel and Inverness for our open afternoon. We had the rest of the day to do as we pleased so I decided to go with some other people to an organic brewery nearby. We took a taxi to Black Isle Brewery and had a free tour complete with samples of their four major beers. It was really peaceful there, it was in the country and the weather was beautiful. After the tour some of the girls bought a beer or ice cream and we went outside to sit on the picnic tables that were there. There was also a couple of dogs running around for us to play with. After a taxi ride back into town we spent some time shopping at the Eastgate mall and Victorian Market in town. Then it was out to dinner before our Crime and Punishment Tour in Inverness. We ate at The Exchange and then walked to the start of our tour.

The tour started outside of the old prison. Our guide was waiting for us and his name was Cameron. He really made the tour much more interesting. We learned a lot about the town and its history from him. We went from the old prison to the merkat, which is an old gossip spot to catch up on all the news in town, to the castle where we heard a horror story where a King was murdered and his wife punished the murderers in horrendous ways. Then it was off to an old grave yard where our tour ended. We then walked back to the hostel and spent the night relaxing before our last day in the Highlands.

Sunday morning we left the hostel and headed out to Fort George, the best preserved fort in Scotland, mostly because it is still in use today. We were able to walk around the fort and take some pictures then we went up on the wall to watch for dolphins.

Our luck was not so good once again because we did not see any. Then we drove to the town of Pitlochry to walk around and grab some lunch if we wanted. It was a cute little town. After that we went to a distillery called, Aberfeldy Distillery.

 
We walked through the process of making whisky. We were not able to take any pictures due to the amount of evaporated alcohol in the air. Then we were able to sample one of the whiskies that they make. I had the single malt Aberfeldy. It was very good and I ended up buying some as a souvenir. Our final stop was a waterfall called The Hermitage. It was gorgeous.

 
We walked up the path along the river to come to the bridge that crossed the river right after the waterfall so we could look over the falls.

After that we drove back to Dalkeith to our last week of classes.