Trip to the Highlands

November 21, 2018

Trip to the Highlands

We had an amazing Highlands adventure October 11-14

Sorry for the late post, but someone (Seth) has been hogging the computer! I guess writing a paper should come before making a blog post, you know, the whole reason we are in Scotland!

Theme song for our Highlands adventure: Loch Lomond
By yon bonnie banks,
And by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love
Were ever want to gae,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Oh! ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love
Will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Weeks later and the kiddos are still singing this song! There is a sidewalk that we walk on quite frequently that has a step up for a wee (little) ways and that always triggers this song! Anyways...

October 11th: 160 miles

Day 1

We started our journey to the Highlands with our first stop being in Stirling, west of Edinburgh, at Stirling Castle. This castle is significant in Scottish history. There is a saying that "He who holds Stirling, holds Scotland." The castle is perched on a volcanic crag overlooking a bridge over the River Forth, the primary passage between the Lowlands and the Highlands. Stirling Castle is one of Scotland's most popular castles for tourists, and was quite busy, even in rainy weather.

We ate lunch at the Unicorn Café at Stirling Castle

After exploring the castle we went to Leault Working Sheepdogs, a farm in Kincraig. This was a winner on everyone's list! Not only were the Border Collies cute, they are incredibly smart. We watched the dogs work, we helped shear a sheep, fed the lambs and played with the pups!

Farmer Neil demonstrating how the dogs contain the sheep.

Ended our day with a lovely dinner at The Snow Goose in Inverness.

October 12th: 110 miles

Day 2

We started our day exploring the Black Isles, north of Inverness, with a primary goal being to find some Highland Cows (Heilan coos). We found some in Beauly at this farm and market. They are as cute as the pictures show! We met Heather, Katie and Jamie!

Heather

Jamie

Katie

Heather giving Kylie the stink eye!

We then visited Fortrose Cathedral, which stands in a green square at the heart of the small village of Fortrose. Tradition holds that the diocese of Ross has existed since about AD 700.
The oldest part of the present ruins at Fortrose date from the 1300s. Only a small portion of the building remains standing, but it contains some fine architectural details – including outstanding stone vaulting and remains of the window tracery.

While continuing to explore the Black Isles we stumbled on a Clootie Well. A “clootie” or “cloot” is a strip of cloth or rag. There is said to have once been a chapel on this site. Clootie wells are wells, or springs, almost always with a tree growing beside them, with an assortment of garments or rags left, often tied to the branches of the trees surrounding the well.

Clootie wells are found in Celtic Nations, Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall in England. In pre-Christian times a goddess or local nature spirit was said to inhabit the well, with special powers of healing. Later in Christian times a Saint replaced the goddess or spirit by being associated with the wells. In Munlochy’s case it is St Boniface. (He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz. He was born in the kingdom of Wessex, today Devon, England and was killed in Frisia, Germany in 754). Rags and clothing could also be tied to the trees surrounding the well, simply to honour the spirit of the well.
The tradition is that if you are ill you need to tie a piece of cloth that belongs to you to the tree near the well after it has been dipped in the water of the well, the ailment is supposed to fade away as the rag disintegrates.

We then headed south, driving along the infamous Loch Ness. Loch Ness is 23 miles long, less than a mile wide, 754 feet deep, and containing more water than all of the freshwater bodies of England and Wales combined. (Thank you Rick Steves for all the factual information and being the best tour guide (using Rick Steves Scotland, second edition).

Loch Ness (Possible sightings of Nessie!)

Despite the rain (typical Scotland weather) we stopped at Urquhart (UR-kurt) Castle. The castle faced a considerable amount of action and bloodshed during the 13th to 17th centuries. It was seized by the English after Edward I’s invasion, reclaimed and seized again, was under the control of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots in the 14th century and was repeatedly attacked during the 15th and 16th centuries by the MacDonald Clan, Lords of the Isles. Despite the rain, we enjoyed exploring the beautiful ruins.

Landscapes on the way from Inverness to the Isle of Skye were the adults favorite part of the trip! The views were stunning.

On route A87 Inverness - Glenmoriston

A87 Kyle of Lochalsh - Shiel Bridge

Before heading over to the Isle of Skye, we made one final stop at Eilean Donan castle, which is considered the most photographed castle in the world. Eilean Donan Castle is a 13th century castle, that was destroyed in the 17th and 18th century. For the best part of 200 years, the stark ruins of Eilean Donan lay neglected, abandoned and open to the elements until Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap rebuilt the castle in 1932, taking almost 20 years.

Norah spotted Nessie, oh wait that's just at Loch Ness!

We took all day to get to Portree with all our scenic stops! We made it to The Pier Hotel where there were Fish 'n' Chips served all around!

October 13th:

Day 3

Day 3 in the town of Portree. We stayed 2 nights in this cute little town. We took this day to explore the Trotternish Peninsula.

Stunning view of Portree Harbor from our hotel

Early risers (0900)

First stop - The Old Man of Storr - A 160 ft tall tapered slab of basalt. The unusual landscape of the Trotternish Peninsula is due to massive landslides (the largest in Britian). This block slid down the cliff about 6,500 years ago and landed on its end.

Lealt Gorge - where the River Lealt flows toward the sea, it carves out a long and scenic gorge.

Instead of deer crossing signs like we have in VA, there were sheep crossing signs.

I was in continuous search of Heilan coos (cute hairy cows). We spotted a couple, but these cows were by far the most photogenic!

Duntulm Castle - located at the tip of the Trotternish Peninsula was the first stronghold on Skye of the influential MacDonald clan. The castle was abandoned around 1730. We spent a fair amount of time running in the fields and climbing on the rocky beach.