Scotland 2007
Our little adventure kicked off with a bad start as we grieve the lost of one of our comrades: Freddie did not have the correct reservation document for the journey and was held back by the railway staff L The overnight journey went briskly as we arrived in Edinburgh early Friday morning, in time for a quick vegetarian haggis breakfast and a 9am Macbackpacker tour start.
Jo, our tour guide, arrived in a miniskirt and gave us all a hearty welcome. She then stepped into the drivers seat and that is when we realised she will also be our driver for the tour! It was quite amazing how she manages to tell fascinating stories whilst driving a bus and periodically swears at the bikers that swirl in to overtake us en route. Talk about multi tasking.
The weather was beaming all weekend, and the sceneries became more beautiful and enchanting as we listened to the stories of the Jacobites’ uprising; the red coat soldiers; Bonnie Prince Charlie and the battle of Culloden. It was extremely disheartening to hear how the English slaughtered the highlanders in the eerie battlefield – many tombstones read ‘mixed clans’, as post the battle the English walked the field and butchered all those still alive. The highlanders bled so much to the extent it became impossible to distinguish their clans via the colour of their kilt.
For the entire day Jo has been suggesting the idea of going for a dip in Loch Ness. But it is not until we were 5 minutes away from the destination that we realised she was actually being serious. And of course, being Annie and always ready for any piece of insane action, I embraced the opportunity and went straight into the icy cold water. It was a numbing experience – I tried to stand up initially but neither could I feel or control my limbs! Oops, such an idiot but now it’s all done and I have another neurotic story under my belt for the years to come.
Freddie decided to take a train from London to Inverness to join us that evening, and it was so lovely to have him finally on board with us for the rest of the trip!
Second day was pretty much a ‘landscape browsing’ experience: visited Rogie falls and its nearby spiritual forest for a stroll in the woods; crossed over to the Isle of Skye for some coastal air, before making our way to Eilean Donan Castle for a picnic!
From the Victorian harbour town Oban we begin our third and last day of adventure. First stop – Moomoo safari!! They have such adorable mid-parting fringes! Fortunately or unfortunately, the babies have just been born and the mothers are being extremely protective and easily agitated – which meant it is impossible for us to have a close encounter. That would have been the finishing touch to a wicked holiday! The last place we visited was Stirling – the scene of William Wallace (who allegedly is not the true Braveheart – this title belongs to a man named Robert the Bruce who later became the King of Scotland…Mel Gibson managed to get a few details wrong in the movie it seems!)
The journey back was horrendous~ in my zombified state I heard the train grinding to a stop and the customer liaison officer coming back saying something along the lines of either ‘the engine stopped’ or ‘failure on the tracks’. All in all we were delayed by a good 4 hours – and as if that is not torturous enough – the door to the train was producing loud hydraulic noises all night long :@ I had to sneak into Fred’s sleeper cabin irrespective of the night patrol’s objection. I simply looked at her with mascara running down side of my face with a comment, ‘you can see me?…..’
Jo, our tour guide, arrived in a miniskirt and gave us all a hearty welcome. She then stepped into the drivers seat and that is when we realised she will also be our driver for the tour! It was quite amazing how she manages to tell fascinating stories whilst driving a bus and periodically swears at the bikers that swirl in to overtake us en route. Talk about multi tasking.
The weather was beaming all weekend, and the sceneries became more beautiful and enchanting as we listened to the stories of the Jacobites’ uprising; the red coat soldiers; Bonnie Prince Charlie and the battle of Culloden. It was extremely disheartening to hear how the English slaughtered the highlanders in the eerie battlefield – many tombstones read ‘mixed clans’, as post the battle the English walked the field and butchered all those still alive. The highlanders bled so much to the extent it became impossible to distinguish their clans via the colour of their kilt.
For the entire day Jo has been suggesting the idea of going for a dip in Loch Ness. But it is not until we were 5 minutes away from the destination that we realised she was actually being serious. And of course, being Annie and always ready for any piece of insane action, I embraced the opportunity and went straight into the icy cold water. It was a numbing experience – I tried to stand up initially but neither could I feel or control my limbs! Oops, such an idiot but now it’s all done and I have another neurotic story under my belt for the years to come.
Freddie decided to take a train from London to Inverness to join us that evening, and it was so lovely to have him finally on board with us for the rest of the trip!
Second day was pretty much a ‘landscape browsing’ experience: visited Rogie falls and its nearby spiritual forest for a stroll in the woods; crossed over to the Isle of Skye for some coastal air, before making our way to Eilean Donan Castle for a picnic!
From the Victorian harbour town Oban we begin our third and last day of adventure. First stop – Moomoo safari!! They have such adorable mid-parting fringes! Fortunately or unfortunately, the babies have just been born and the mothers are being extremely protective and easily agitated – which meant it is impossible for us to have a close encounter. That would have been the finishing touch to a wicked holiday! The last place we visited was Stirling – the scene of William Wallace (who allegedly is not the true Braveheart – this title belongs to a man named Robert the Bruce who later became the King of Scotland…Mel Gibson managed to get a few details wrong in the movie it seems!)
The journey back was horrendous~ in my zombified state I heard the train grinding to a stop and the customer liaison officer coming back saying something along the lines of either ‘the engine stopped’ or ‘failure on the tracks’. All in all we were delayed by a good 4 hours – and as if that is not torturous enough – the door to the train was producing loud hydraulic noises all night long :@ I had to sneak into Fred’s sleeper cabin irrespective of the night patrol’s objection. I simply looked at her with mascara running down side of my face with a comment, ‘you can see me?…..’
Labels: Scotland
posted by Annie @ 12:27 AM
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