A wild and Sexy weekend in the Highlands of Scotland!

Dept. 0845. 60 High St Edinburgh.

After a night of a drunken snorer, and having a nap in the common ‘chill out’ room, I struggled to rise for the 0830 check in. on my way to breakfast I noticed these two silly boys wearing kilts… lets fast forward 45 minutes… They were on my HAGGiS tour bus! I check in early, and then went for a much-needed coffee at a pretty cool café ‘round the corner from the tour office. I boarded a nearly full bus, so was limited in choices of where to sit, and decided by the person who looked the nicest, and who looks like I would want to be friends with. I picked the lovely Marine, form the O.C. We chatted the way out of Edinburgh, and through the countryside of the north. On our way we also heard some history, and some (not-so) funny/scary stories of the city. Much of what what told I had also heard on the free walking tour.

my ride

Our first stopover was in Stirling (or just out of) at the William Wallace Monument. We had to trek up a hill (that wasn’t even that big!) and it demonstrated to me my lack of fitness. But Marine and I made it to the top, a little puffed, and took photos and heard the story of the William Wallace (not necessarily equivalent to Mel Gibson’s W.W). At the top, I met the boys in kilts, Benjy and Ray, and Christian, and consequently, joined in on their jokes and laughter (often distracting, but always funny).  

That is how far/high we had to walk! 

Sneaking a peak up William Wallace's kilt!

The William Wallace Monument at Stirling

After the W.W monument, we visited Hamish, the most gorgeous, yet enormous, highland cow, and his girlfriend Heather, and what I hope to be their child, whose name has escaped me.  We had a morning tea stop here. Next Out next stop was for more food, at the Green Welly.

 Hamish

Heather

We were loaded back on to our big yellow bus, and into the hills for more tales of the highland clans, and the ongoing feud between the MacDonalds and the Campbells, and the bloody battles that ensued. The hills were very beautiful though, and I took about 20 photos of the same 3 hills… there was also a beautiful river running though the land, that was so clear that it was tempting to jump in!

 

the beautiful river

Once we arrived in Fort Augustus, our home for the following two nights, we went to watch the clan show, where we learned how the highlanders used to live, and the conditions in which they lived. We were also shown, on our live models, Stefan and Laurence, how the Scots traditionally dressed in their kilts.

Stefan getting ready to be kilted up

Scottish Stefan and Laurence

The night ahead was a good time guaranteed. For dinner we braved haggis, with chicken in whiskey sauce, and mashed potatoes and veges. The haggis wasn’t the worst thing on the plate either! The carrots were. We began our night of drinking, stupidly, over a card game, which meant that I was fairly ‘content’ very quickly. After about one hour, I had to stop! Gradually, though, more people joined our game, and everyone (except the kiwis and a few others) became friends. It was definitely the start to a great weekend. We all joined in the pub quiz that night, too, with resident quiz master Louise. The quiz was a whole bunch of fun. We were the ‘Highland Hillbilly Lochs’ and we were determined to win. It wasn’t just the questions we had to answer correctly (thankfully, seeing as I think we got 2 right out of 15- one question was ‘name all the backstreet boys’), but we also had tasks during the quiz. Ray, our ‘pillar of strength’ had to hold up a glass of water with one up, was not allowed to change arms/support his arm/lean/have support for his arm by anyone else… Benjy, ‘the dancer’, had to dance to every T.V theme song that was played, Marine, the ‘smart one’ had to do a few things during the quiz, like take up a t-shirt (my t-shirt) to Quiz Master Louise, and yours truly, was the ‘shit one’ who was the only one of the group who was allowed to order drinks from the bar, which is a very crucial task, but I had to do it with a pig box on my head, and order in a robot voice. It was all hilarious. Out of the other 7ish teams, we came second, because Ray was the strongest, Benjy was an awesome dancer, Marine and I slow-danced amazingly, we dressed Benjy in 7 pieces of clothing (including my shirt), and I was awesome at the robot voice! The last challenge was a highland catwalk. We had the upper hand because Benjy was one of the kilt boys, so the hard work was really already done (and he had war-paint, so he looked like Mel Gibson’s W.W). The catwalk was tough, but it came down to Benjy and Kyle, and despite us being clear winners, Kyle won, and his team got free drinks. We were 100% robbed!

Eating haggis (Benjy, Marine, Me, Ray and Christian)

The drinking games 

the anti-social Kiwis

the Highland Hillbilly Lochs

The raging pub quiz

Our pillar of strength- Ray

The next day was tough to face. After breakfast we had a long drive to Skye, where we were spending the day. We had a picnic planned (providing the weather was kind to us) and stories of fairies and magic. On our way we stopped at Eileen Donan Castle. It was a nice castle, but we were only having a stop there, and a bit of a break/get food/bathroom. We were back on the bus, and continued on our way. I’m sure I also had a sleep sometime around here, because I was that tired! We crossed over the bridge to Skye, and suddenly I had no phone service (magic?). We stopped at a supermarket for our lunch and snacks and drinks for the day, for our picnic, and we stocked up on sandwiches, water, cider, Pringles, chocolate, and a bit of fruit, too.  We drove along the coast, past mountains, and sheep, and more sheep, and more mountains, and hill, and field. We arrived at a hill, which supposedly had rocks that were originally people. The story was that an old couple wanted to stay there forever, so a fairy turned the wife into a rock, and then the husband was sad so he was turned into a rock, too. If you look properly, you can see a face in the rock face of the hill. It was another hike up to half way (the top was just too far), and we sat down, enjoyed the view, and our picnic. It was very pleasant up there, and I didn’t want to walk back down. 

Eileen Donan Castle, with Marine

 The walk to our picnic

 the view over the water

The looming rain clouds and the hills

After trudging down the muddy slopes, I made it back on to the bus, just. We drove more around Skye, had a stop at some cliffs, and then into a cute little town on the water, for some icecream and a leg stretch. We had a long drive back to Fort Augustus ahead of us, so it was nice to get off the bus for a bit. We stopped off again at Eileen Donan Castle, and saw it from a different angle (the back) and it was still pretty cool. Then the final leg home.

the cliffs

the other side of the cliffs

Christian delivering flowers to Grandma Gigi

Stopping for icecream

Eileen Donan Castle

Four of us met up around 7pm for dinner in the town. We walked to the main part, and along the water locks, and watched how still the water was. It was a lovely blue sky, that looked magnificent with the green of the trees, and the lake. It was pretty picture perfect. We had dinner at a pub, and then went back to the hostel to see if the bar was the happening place. Due to an influx of underage Spanish school kids, there was no party mood. We played a few card games, but decided that maybe the ‘local’ would be a bit better. It was definitely where the party was. The girls who worked in the hostel were all out, so they joined us for some drinks. It was much more of a social evening that a partying evening as the music was not really getting everyone on the dance floor. But it also closed at 12. The bar at the hostel was open for one more hour though, so we all trooped back there in the hopes of having a few last drinks. We started to get a bit of a party going, but really, it just involved more drinking games. After the night before, and how terrible I felt from drinking games, I decided to pass, but I still cheered all the drinkers on!

Our lovely home, Fort Augustus

On Sunday, we had to get up that little bit earlier to pack up, and load our bags on the bus for the ride, back to Edinburgh, via Lock Ness. At that time of the morning the water was still, and the air was crisp. It was a beautiful sight, as nothing was stirring (I think we were all struggling to stir, too). Our first stop off was at the hut of J.M Barrie's Lost Boys from 'Peter Pan. It was this forest, and hut, that inspired the home for the lost boys. The forest was very quiet, and still, but for the waterfall behind the hut. It was only a short stop, with  bit of a walk though the forest, but it was beautiful, and the air was fresh and delicious! 

The Lost Boys' hut

Next we stopped at Loch Ness and had some photo oppertunities with Nessie herself! We had about 14 cameras lined up, and Stevie had to take them all! It was hard to think of 14 different ways to pose, so I think there are bout 10 photo in which I look exactly the same! We were really close to the water, and all had a go at putting our hands in; it was definitely a little chilly, at 5.5˚C, but a few of the boys actually used it to wake themselves up!

Another castle... and Loch Ness

Loch Ness

Searching for Nessie

The crew!

After our visit to Nessie, we stopped off at Culloden, a C18th battleground of the highland clans and the English. A lot of clans men died here, as they were fiercely out-numbered. There are flags erected across a vast field to demonstrate the way the battle was carried out, and there is a memorial tower, and many head stones scattered across the moor to remember the men who fought, and died, for Scottish King Charlie.

The flag marking the battle ground

After Culloden, we went to a site where there are these hut type things built out of rocks, and on one day of the year the sin will rise and shine its light though the entrance of the hut and then shine out the roof like something magical. It is phenomenal to think that it was built so that would happen! There is also a stone that is erected on a magnetic line of the earth, and when you lean on it, it will suck out the bad energy and cleanse you of your sins. Apparently, some people feel the energy pull of the magnet, but I felt nothing- clearly I have no bad energy/sins to be cleansed of!

The sun shines through the middle on one day of the year

Christian being cleansed by the magnetic line

We stopped off for lunch at a pub in a very small village, and then went to the Tomatin whisky distillery. As much as I would like to say ‘yum’, it wasn’t. Though, we were told that if you add a dash of water to a ‘neat’ whisky, it’s much more bearable. Correct! We had one last ice-cream stop before we had to make our way back to Edinburgh. While on the bus, we decided to meet up again that evening, and continue the good times. Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to Marine, because she had to leave straight away and get to her train back to England.

Whiskey barrels at Tomatin distillery 

I had no clean clothes left after Dublin and the highlands, so my first priority when I check back into the hostel was to get to the laundry. Once I was clean and fresh, I made my way to the grassmarket, to Biddy Mulligans. We continued the fun into the early morning, with beer, cider, Irish music, and the good friends made over the weekend!

New Friends

xx