On Friday night we left Edinburgh and drove about 4 hours to Inverness, the capital of the highlands. I have to admit I was expecting Inverness to be much more remote but it was a proper city. The hostel we stayed in was quite nice despite our room being freezing and the outside looking like a prison. The bathrooms were right across the hall and we never had to wait in line to use them. Not bad in my opinion!
Saturday morning we woke up early and had continental breakfast before boarding the bus and heading off along Loch Ness to Skye. We were in the first bus so we were the first to wake up and to leave at 8:30 am. We stopped off at Urquhart Castle and Eilean Donan Castle for photo opportunities and to try to spot Nessie. No luck though! We crossed the bridge to Skye then and spent the afternoon touring the Trotternish Peninsula stopping at Kilt Rock, Fairy Falls and the Old Man of Storr.
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| Eilean Donan Castle |
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| Kilt Rock |
We stopped for lunch in Portree, Isle of Skye - a cute little town with colourful painted houses. We had a pastry from a bakery there, went in the gift shops and took photos from the harbour.
That night we stayed in a B&B called Saucy Mary's on the Isle of Skye.We had dinner in their pub/restaurant which was great after a long day on the bus. Quite a few of us had Fish and Chips, a dish I have learned to love after living in the UK. The pub had a really nice atmosphere and it felt good to be off the bus and to relax. The next morning we had cooked breakfast from the restaurant and then set off for another day of sight seeing!
Our second day took us away from the Isle of Skye and through the Great Glen past Ben Nevis and Glencoe.We stopped at Glencoe for a short walk where we managed to fit the whole group on a wooden bridge for a photo. The ground was very wet and muddy and everyone's feet got thoroughly soaked, including mine in my running shoes.
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| Snow! |
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| Glencoe |
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| Glencoe |
We made an impromptu stop at the side of the road to photograph the snowy mountains. It was so exciting to see snow after not really having any all winter in Edinburgh. I'm sure snow is no novelty for my friends and family in Canada at the moment! A few people in the group decided to take photos while standing on the road and got a tongue-lashing from the tour guide/driver.
The tour guides during the trip really helped to make the bus rides more fun. They taught us Scottish history, folklore and told us anecdotes and bad jokes from their own lives. The long drives would definitely have been a lot more boring and monotonous without them. On our trip we saw the Fairy Falls where you can make a wish to the fairies if you take the water from the falls and spit it onto a nearby rock. We also learned about kelpies, supernatural horses that lure people and drag them into the lochs to die.
Our final stop was in Stirling to see the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the Wallace Monument. After that it was a short one hour drive back to Edinburgh. It was such a good trip and I'm really glad I went. It was great to see the highlands after hearing so much about them. The scenery was fantastic and I was so amazed that it could be so different and yet not very far from the city.
The tour guides during the trip really helped to make the bus rides more fun. They taught us Scottish history, folklore and told us anecdotes and bad jokes from their own lives. The long drives would definitely have been a lot more boring and monotonous without them. On our trip we saw the Fairy Falls where you can make a wish to the fairies if you take the water from the falls and spit it onto a nearby rock. We also learned about kelpies, supernatural horses that lure people and drag them into the lochs to die.
Our final stop was in Stirling to see the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the Wallace Monument. After that it was a short one hour drive back to Edinburgh. It was such a good trip and I'm really glad I went. It was great to see the highlands after hearing so much about them. The scenery was fantastic and I was so amazed that it could be so different and yet not very far from the city.
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