SCOTLAND

We decided to head to the highlands for the Easter break on a 'Haggis' bus tour. The tour started by taking a train from London to Edinburgh. Known as the Flying Scotsman, the trip up the East coast of England was one of the more picturesque train trips that we have done so far, and the 4 1/2 hrs seemed to go very quickly.

We had fantastic weather for most of the weekend. When we arrived on Thursday arvo, we did a walking tour of the city with our guide and then took to the hillls - in particular climbing Arthurs Seat. The view was fantastic, however the wind was blowing about a million miles per hour which made the going tough in parts. The walking tour explored the royal mile which runs from Edinburgh Castle down to Holyrood Palace and lined with tiny lanes and hidden squares amongst all the souvenir shops.

Arthurs Seat & Salisbury Crags















Salisbury Crags from outside Holyrood palace end of the royal Mile.















View of the Queen's Scottish residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Looks like a nice weekender, although not sure that she uses it much.















Claire taking a breather 1/2 way up to Arthur's Seat.















View from the top of Arthurs Seat, overlooking the East of Edinburgh















There were a number of sandstone rock sculptures surrounding the palace and neighbouring Holyrood Park. We decided that this one of a lion was the best. They were all very cool though.















The accomodation for the trip was all in hostels and the one we stayed at in Edinburgh was excellent. A room and bathroom to ourselves. We were pretty lucky with this getting a private room for 3 of the 4 nights and only having to share bathrooms for 2 nights.

Day 2 (which was also Claire's birthday) meant quite a long but scenic bus trip up to the Isle of Skye. We left Edinburgh, and travelled towards Stirling, going through William Wallace country (for all those Braveheart fans) with a history lesson at the memorial to the Battle of Bannockburn. We then continued driving with short photo stops at Killmahog to visit Hamish the Hairy Coo, and Blackmount to observe a lone piper. The hairy coo was brought over by vikings and don't really have a farming purpose. We didn't see too many more of them during our driving.
Hamish
















A few miles down the road and we went for a stroll on Rannoch Mor. The sponginess of the peat is very different to walk on. It also hides the water well. More then a few people got back on the bus with wet socks! Steve & Claire at Rannoch Moor.
















We then hit the road again heading towards Glencoe for another spot of history and the photo stop at Three Sisters (3 mountains side by side).
Steve is at the Three Sisters





















The remainder of the afternoon was spent heading up to Isle of Skye travelling along the Great Glen which runs along the Great Lochs (ie. big lakes). The changes in scenery around each corner are simply spectacular. Steep & trechorous mountains mixed with massive lochs give you an understanding as to why the areas are so sparcely populated. The bridge across to the Isle and the small town of Kyleakin used to be one of the most expensive tolls at £180 return. Lucky for us this has been abolished.


Bridge from the mainland to the Isle of Skye.



















There isn't a lot to do in Kyleakin, so the night was spent getting to know our fellow companions. There were quite a few from Australia including a few from Brisbane. The next morning greeted us with a fantastic sunrise and we headed north on the island. Today was less history and more local myths. We had a quick stop at Slignahan (the 'stream of eternal beauty') for those who wanted to dunk their faces in, but we decided it was too cold and our natural beauty would suffice for a while longer. Given the fantastic weather it was decided to do some mountain climbing on Storr mountain. The views over the Sound of Raasay and Loch Leathan were incredible. So much so that Steve is currently looking at an upgrade to the camera. We didn't really have the shoes to make it all the way to 'the old man'.

















Claire enjoying the view




















View with the Sound on the left and Loch on the right

















Steve with part of the Man of Storr behind

After we got back in the bus, we headed back to the mainland and across the country to Carbisdale Castle which is on the bank of the River Kyle. The drive again showed some impressive countryside as we left the rugged mountains behind and moved into the farmland with sheep and lambs and many little villages. The Castle has been converted into a hostel and was our bed for the night. It has good novelty value, but given it was built 100 years ago, it wasn't really designed as a youth hostel. Big problems being cold showers, and a few toilets that didn't flush. Not good with 2 coaches plus other travellers staying.

On our way back to Edinburgh we stopped at Loch Ness, where Steve is convinced he just missed Nessie!! The water here is almost black (something to do with the peat soil, i think) which is completely different to every other body of water we had seen so far. You could not see the ground once it was more then a few inches deep.

Claire at Loch Ness

Nessie, just moments after going back into the water, causing a wave to hit the shore.......

Following this we went to Culloden Moor for another history stop and explored the battle ground. Quite a sobering place. This was almost the end of our time as we headed straight back to Edinburgh. The last morning was spent wandering around the royal mile being true tourists. We did some souveniour shopping and before catching the train back to London.