Off we headed into the 'wilds' of northern Scotland, sitting up like jackie, in our VW Transporter Campervan. Our trip included dozens of wonderful sights, sounds & places so I thought a bit of a list, in order of course, might work best for this part of our trip:
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| William Wallace Memorial - looking up it is quite a daunting sight! |
Stirling - the William Wallace Memorial & the Stirling Battlefield, I didn't make it to the top level of the tower, that miniscule, fully encased stone spiral staircase was just too claustrophobic but Grant handled the last level to take full advantage of the views from the top the tower which was on top of the hill overlooking the battlefield. Really great robotic re-enactment of the events leading up to the battle, had to look twice to make sure they weren't real, plus the broadsword belonging to William Wallace (they calculate that he would have had to have been 6' 6" tall to have wielded it, that is a lot taller than Mel Gibson!).
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| City of Stirling from the top of the Memorial tower |
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| The river at Killiecrankie, they bungie jump below that bridge |
Killiecrankie - the Jacobites under Bonnie Prince Charlie won a battle in this valley & it is now a National Trust park with walks both long & short. It has also become the hub for some extreme sports & we saw fools bungie jumping from a platform under a bridge, idiots jumping from rocks into the river, loads of organised canoeing & white water rafting groups, one group of people canyoning in their wetsuits with individual raft/floats. We enjoyed a lovely long walk down to the river, along the edge to the rapids passed old viaducts, rocks marking where commanders had died in the battle etc, then back up again to the car park, it was an opportunity for me to use my hiking poles for first time & although they will take some getting used to, they were quite good.
Inverness, Cullodeon Battlefield & Memorial - we really enjoyed the information centre at Cullodeon and then took the audio tour round the battlefield. Absolutely fascinating, with flags marking the battlelines & memorial stones marking where the bodies of the clansmen were buried in mass graves. A very moving experience really even though we have no direct family ties to Scotland.
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| Just one of the dozens of markers spread around the battlefield |
Loch Ness/Drumnadrochit - we couldn't wait to get out of this area, there were busloads of tourists everywhere, mostly young Japanese/Chinese at this spot but you couldn't move in the shops & getting a park was a nightmare. We drove along the edge of the lock which was so beautiful, dark & broody.
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| Look, is that Nessie? |
Falls of Shin - it was only a short walk from the information area to the falls where, although it was very early in the season, we managed to see a couple of jumping salmon, probably a once in a lifetime experience as I doubt we will every see it again.
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| Can you spot the Salmon? Not likely since there were only a couple anyway |
Tongue - we drove along a very scenic single-laned road, with 'passing places' which are a unique experience all their own, to the northern coast of Scotland. Tongue was a small town with a couple pubs and a small store but there was a ruin visible across the river valley & we were able to walk there, Castle Varrick. It's history is vague but it was a lovely walk & the ocean views from the headland were great.
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| View from Castle Varrick |
Durness - travelling west, we came across information boards on the the roadside so we walked round the site of the Durness Riots which resulted when the crofter villagers were evicted from their properties. It was so sad to see the house & garden ruins & to read about the hardships they endured just to eek out a living in this inhospitable spot.
Headed south following the main road which was very scenic to Ullapool, another lovely fishing port township.
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The Ullapool harbour foreshore, taken from our van
as we ate our breakfast bowl of porridge |
Island Hopping - we noticed on the map that you could get a car ferry from Ullapool to the Outer Hebrides, Let's go!
Isle of Lewis & Harris, here we come - what a lovely surprise these islands were, such a variety of scenery & so much history. There were glorious white sandy beaches with crystal clear water on the western side & since it was affected by the Gulf Stream it wasn't too cold, then on the eastern side of the island there was a windswept moonscape of rock, rock & more rock on the Golden Highway (it is called that because it cost a fortune to build), blackhouses (black inside from the smoke of the turf fires), broch (ancient fortified circular farmhouses), many earth sheltered buildings used as homes but also information centres etc, standing stones & more turf than they will ever be able to use. Thousands of years of invasion & history, a fascinating place really, we did enjoy our time here.
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| Fisherman's wife statue, pickling fish I think |
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| Some of the lovely scenery on the coast of Lewis |
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| Exterior of a blackhouse, 4 foot thick walls, with thatched roof, duck to enter |
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| A fantastic stone circle, this one had rows of stones that looked like landing strips 'for the aliens to return' I bet! |
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Morning tea stop overlooking the unexpected white sandy beach on the
west coast of Isle of Harris (famous for Harris Tweed of course) |
Short ferry crossing to North Uist & we found a great overnight camp site overlooking the northern shore. Next day we drove a circuit of the north island, then the length of the other two islands (North & South Uist with Benbecula inbetween) as they are are interconnected with causeways it was an easy trip, right to the bottom township of Lochboisdale taking the scenic roads & then back up to Lochmaddy where we got the ferry to Skye in the late afternoon.
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| Now there is a sign you don't see very often! In the background is the causeway connecting islands |
Skye - we landed at Uig & headed north on the very scenic single-laned road which circumnavigates most of the island. First stop was a quick look at Staffin to see if we could find the dinosaur prints in the rocks on the beach, bit hard to tell but we think we found them, then along to Kilt Rock Waterfall which was flowing beautifully. The rocks in this area are all hexagonal columns which gives the appearance of pleats in a kilt so you can see where the name of the waterfall came from.
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| Kilt Rock waterfall & the coastal scenery, north eastern coast of Skye |
Bit further south & after numerous stops to gape & awww at the scenery we got to the pinnacle of rock called 'Old Man of Storr'. The guide book referred to it as enjoyable 45 minute walk, but we knew better, Grant decided to give it a go & found that 99% of those who took off on the walk only made it to the gate about 500 metres out of the carpark. Not him, of course, he made it all the way to the base of the vertical rock escarpment, to go any further you needed to climb with ropes. Thank god I decided not to go at all, I did puzzles & drank coffee in the van, more my style really!!
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| The view from the top - I was somewhere in that greenery near the road. |
Next stop Portree for a bite of lunch & a wander round the shops, a very pretty little fishing/tourist village. I bought my first souvenier, a small deer leather & Harris Tweed (from the Isle of Harris of course) coin purse, all locally made, so a very nice keepsake. On the road again to Dunvegan Castle, home to the MacLeod Clan & still occupied by the clan chief, the 30th. A very well-preserved castle, parts of which date back to the 1200s with lovely gardens.
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| Portree harbour & those typically cute painted homes along the foreshore |
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| Sample of the gorgeous gardens at Dunvegan Castle |
We then backtracked a little to head out to Stein to visit the only remaining tannery in Scotland, Skyeskyns. They are a family run business using local island sheepskins & the odd imported one from Australia, we enjoyed a very good free guided tour through the workshop with its 120 year old equipment then looked round the shop. Then, off to find a spot to camp for the night but instead we found a picnic table near an old church at Trumpan, pulled up for a cuppa only to find it was the scene of a massacre of MacLeods by MacDonalds, in retaliation for the murder of 360 MacDonalds. There seems to be no end to the tit-for-tat that used to go on. Very interesting place with good information boards & it was not even marked on our tour maps.
Heading south again towards the Cuillin Hills, nothing would ever grow on these windswept, barren mountains of granite. Fascinating & starkly beautiful really. Then it was the Clan MacDonald's turn to show off their castle & history at Armadale. Now this was a very impressive effort, the castle is virtually a ruin although they have done some stabilisation work in the hope of later restoration but they did have a wonderful museum & research facility. With an audio tour unit in one hand off we went into the numerous rooms of the facility, wonderfully researched, clearly explained on the audio guide, great artifacts, all in all worth every cent & it wasn't that expensive anyway.
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| Part of the castle ruins at Armadale (no that is not a spelling error) |
Another ferry was available at Armadale jetty that took us to the mainland so an hour later we arrived at Mallaig, having been entertained on the trip by three lovely scottish lasses, playing fiddles, keyboard & singing. Heading south a bit along the coast & ready for smoko so we again pulled up at a rest area with a nice view of a loch & some small islands, only to find another historic notice. This was the spot where Bonny Prince Charles landed when he came back to Scotland from France to reclaim the throne & thus was the starting point for the Jacobite uprising & subsequent defeat at the Battle of Cullodeon. Most of the next part of the drive was beside Lochs and very beautiful all the way to Fort William, then turning south to Glencoe.
Glencoe - now for a bit of walking - firstly, the 5 km round the old slate quarry, through the forest & passed village ruins (most enjoyable & gave me a chance to test out my hiking poles properly) then off to the Three Sisters for a bigger hike for Grant. By this time it was drizzling but he braved it anyway, as it was a hike to a hidden mountain valley I knew I would never make, so hot coffee in the van was my job & to call the rescue helicopter if he didn't return! Three hours later he returned, exhausted, dripping wet but exhilarated, it was a mammoth effort (despite the fact that literally a hundred people left the car park while I waited he only met one man at the top, the rest had all given up & gone back). Towards the end he had to traverse a waterfall, then the last bit was done almost on hands & knees up a scree slope & considering it was really raining & he was in the clouds making it treachorous, he made it to the top & added a rock to the cairn. Well done darling!! Proud of ya!
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| The view back over Glencoe as we approached the top of the slate quarry |
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| Grant's view from the very top, adding a rock to the cairn |
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| This gives some idea of the climb |
Working our way south again beside the lochs till we arrived at Oban, again a very pretty coastal fishing & harbour town. From here we went on a wonderful ferry & bus tour - The Three Islands Tour - firstly to Craignure on Isle of Mull by ferry, picking up a bus for the hour & a half road journey to the southwestern tip, Fionnphort. Great commentary by the driver about the history, scenery, culture of Mull including this fact, "In Mull we don't drive on the left of the road, we drive on What Is Left of the Road!" & he wasn't joking, the road was barely a lane wide & the surface was a mess. Next ferry took us to Iona.
Iona was a wonderful place, just a tiny island that you could easily walk around, but what a history. It was the birthplace of christianity in Britain with the construction of a church, abbey, nunnery & small settlement by St Columba. This abbey was the home of the original St John's Cross, the Book of Kells (which was taken back to Ireland for safekeeping after multiple raids by Vikings etc) & is the burial place of 45 kings & famous people. Grant was all Abbey'd out so he chose to walk to the top of the only rise on the island to enjoy the view, & what a view it was.
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| The St Columba Abbey on Iona |
Next stop was the island of Staffa which is a national park & uninhabited, to see Fingal's Cave & the awe-inspiring rock formations. It is called Fingal's Cave as folk-lore says it is the other end of the giant's causeway to Ireland used by the giant Fingal when he wanted to invade Ireland. I think a photo of this will be better than any explanation I can give.
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| Incredible natural features of Staffa Island, you can see Fingal's cave on the right |
Inverary - after some very scenic roads round lochs & over rolling hills we arrived. Something a bit different this time, the Old Inverary Jail. This was really good too, with actors in costume throughout the buildings giving you some insights into prison life & in each cell there was a display of some sort & information boards, so it was very easy to spend a couple of hours. Enjoyed a delicious local icecream near the loch here, chatting for half an hour to a local lady & her visiting family members, such lovely people & so easy to talk to despite their strong accents. We really liked this town it was as cute as a button, all the buildings in the town centre were painted white with black trim, flower baskets everywhere & it was bustling with people, a particularly enjoyable stopover.
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| The main drag in Inverary |
Dunoon - we planned to catch the ferry over to the coast, west of Glasgow, from here but had an evening & morning to fill in, so enjoyed a lovely meal at a local pub & drove along the coast from where you could see the mainland, the Island of Bute and Great Cumbae Island. This was a town with loads of potential, it was looking a little tired & jaded but you could see that it had once been a very popular holiday resort, apparently the military base closed in the 90's taking 4000 staff with them & the area is still recovering.
The next section of our trip was mostly driving & looking at scenery as we wanted to use the last few days of our time to cover some of the countryside south of Glasgow. We started off by travelling south along the coast road, the traffic was terrible but we tried to avoid the main highways calling into the fire station at Kilmarnock on our way.
Ayr - just south of the city at a town called Alloway was the birthplace & family home of Robert Burns. Again the National Trust have done a great job of the information centre & museum with lots of his personal items, handwritten works, letters to girlfriends all that sort of thing displayed in an interesting way with regular audio recitals of some of his most famous works. His home was really only two rooms (a formal sitting room where he would have done his lessons & a kitchen/bedroom where the entire family ate & slept) & a brye for the animals.
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| Robby Burns family home, this building included the barn & the residence |
Once we got to Girvan we realised we didn't have the time left to continue along the coast & headed inland to Newton Stewart then up to New Galloway, cross country to Dumfries then north towards Glasgow using whichever by-road we could find until we got to Blantyre the birthplace of David Livingstone.
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| Statue of Livingstone depicting the lion attack that almost killed him |
Livingstone Museum - as Scotland's greatest explorer National Trust had managed to preserve the tenement in which he was born & spent the first 23 years of his life. He had worked in the Cotton Mill and his family all lived in a one-roomed tenement provided by the company, that is his parents, his grandparents, him & three siblings. He had a very interesting life, most of which we knew nothing about so it was great to fill in the gaps between studying medicine when he was 23 & "Doctor Livingstone, I presume" a few months before his death.
Next morning we returned the van, sad to see it go really! A short train trip across Glasgow & a kilometre hike from the station with our packs got us to the car rental yard to pick up our 'compact' car (I use the word compact in the kindest way) & we were ready for Cumbria and the Lakes District for almost a week. So excited about this part of the trip as we are meeting up again with friends we made on our Hurtigruten trip, Dave & Jean.
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