Saturday, September 14, 2019

Scotland.

The Highlands. Sheep dotted fields intermingled with the Heilan coo (Highland cow) here and there. Afternoon tea. Castles. Clans. Fairies. Monsters. Harry Potter. Bagpipes and men in kilts. For any and/or all of the above, one must visit Scotland. I went with one of my co-workers, Monica, and we had an absolute blast!

We wasted no time whatsoever. From the airport in Inverness (the capital of the Highlands) we picked up our rental car and drove to Culloden. You can not read about Scottish history, without hearing about the battle of Culloden, where the Jacobite army was defeated and the uprising lead by Bonnie Prince Charlie was ended.

 Battlefield of Culloden

 Battlefield of Culloden

 From Culloden we stopped by to see Clava Cairns (standing stones) before heading into the city.

 Inverness

 High church, Inverness.

 View along the river Ness from Inverness castle

 View along the river Ness. Inverness Cathedral.

View along the river Ness.

View along the river Ness. Inverness castle

 View along the river Ness.

 Jacobite boat trip on Loch Ness

 Medieval Urquhart castle on Loch Ness

 Loch Ness view from Urquhart castle

 See rocks and stone walls. Will climb. Some attempts more successful than others.

  Loch Ness view from Urquhart castle 

  Loch Ness view from Urquhart castle 

 Playing in Loch Ness. Nessie did not respond to our whistles and calls... that we were aware of at least!

 
 Loch Ness


Loch Duich

Stopped at Eilean Donan Castle along Loch Duich. It was raining at the time and we didn't actually pay for entrance here. For added bonus, take a look at the castle as it's captured in the following video! 



 Crossing over the the Isle of Skye we drove through the Cuillin Hills

 Cuillin Hills, Isle of Skye

 The main road split at Sligachan. We stopped and walked down below the small and unsuspecting bridge of Sligachan to the Enchanted Waters of the stream running down from the mountains.
As legend has it, there was a fierce battle between Scotland's warrior woman, Scathach and Ireland's favorite warrier, Cu Chulainn. As the battle raged, the daughter of Scathach ran down to this stream to cry. The fairies of the river heard her cry and instructed her to dunk her face in the stream. Once she did, she was granted the knowledge of how to stop the battle. 
And there you have it, by dipping your face into the stream below Sligachan bridge for a full 7 seconds, and then allow it to dry naturally, you attain eternal beauty!

 Loch Harport. Isle of Skye

 Loch Harport. Isle of Skye.

 Evening stroll after dropping our bags at our hostel for the night

 View of the sunset from our hostel for the night. Yes, that's a huge chess board. No, we didn't play a game.

 The next morning we were very excited to go and explore the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye. Scotland's weather changed our plans for us. We sloshed through the mud as far as we could go. 

Determined to see the Fairy Pools!

Having second thoughts...

 Tea and cookies it is!

On to Dunvegan castle

 Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan Castle is the home of the Chief of Clan MacLeod. Pictured here in the center is the Fairy Flag of the Clan MacLeod. Many versions as to its origins, my favorite being the following... once upon a time, the Chief MacLeod married a fairy and they had a baby. When the fairy had to return to her people, her only request was that the child never cry. One night the baby's nurse left the nursery to join in the castle celebration that was happening. In her absence the baby began to cry. When the nurse returned, the baby was wrapped in the blanket and the fairy lullaby was playing. Legend has it that when the flag is flown help will be granted.
When the 27th Chief had the flag securely framed as you see in the picture he listened as an expert in the field shared his opinion on the origins going back to Scottish expeditions to the Middle East of the 1060s. To which the Chief politely listened and then responded, "Thank you Mr. Wace, you may believe that, but I know it was given to my ancestor by the fairies."
 
Dame Flora MacLeod was the 28th Clan Chief. During World War II, if the German's had attacked she had promised to fly the Fairy Flag. They never did, meaning... there is still one remaining flying of the Fairy Flag left to be honored by the Fair Folk.

 View from the Woodlands across the round garden towards Dunvegan Castle. 

Roadtripping in the Scottish Highlands! We were totally paying attention to the road!

 Well hello there. How do you not stop and take their picture, especially when they're posing so perfectly for you.

 Flodigarry. Isle of Skye.

 We had an app on our phones to alert us of geomagnetic activity! It is not uncommon for aurora to be visible from Scotland and out time on Skye had plenty of geomagnetic activity recorded! We kept our eye out, but clouds for the most part were too thick. You could argue otherwise, but there is definitely color other than black there!

 Sunrise from our front porch at the Flodigarry pods.

 Morag, our Flodigarry pod for a night's stay on the Isle of Skye

 Hiking the Quiriang. Part of the Trotternish Ridge along the Isle of Skye.

 Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Very ominously standing guard over the pass as we ascended above the clouds.
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.
We could sort of see little human figures on the ridges, hidden by clouds.


 Christy vs sheep...
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Which way do we go?
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Which way do we go?
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Pausing to enjoy the view!
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Trotternish Ridge up close and personal.
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.
 
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

 Coming down from the cloud coverage once again.
Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

Hiking the Quiriang. Isle of Skye.

The Skye Boat Song
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone,
Say, could that lass be I?
Merry of soul she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Kilt Rock

 Portree. I'll be honest, that lone fisherman is the primary reason I took this picture.

 Portree was our last stop on the Isle of Skye.
Next we traveled on to explore around Fort William.

 We hiked the Glenfinnan Viaduct Trail.

 Glenfinnan Viaduct. If you notice Monica holding a makeshift wand... If you are there at the right time the red train (a.k.a. the Hogwart's express) still is up and running!

 Glenfinnan Viaduct

 Along the Glenfinnan Viaduct Trail. 


Pausing for a quick hike in Glencoe.

 Pausing for a quick hike in Glencoe. 

 Driving through Glencoe.

  Driving through Glencoe.

 We went off the map in Cardross. Had heard about a St. Peter's Seminary, now shut down and deserted. We set out to find it. The path not marked at all, we found ourselves cutting across a few greens. Tee time?

 We made it, until our path became blocked. The passage had not one, but two fences. Both heavily locked and the entire thing outlined in barbed wire! So we went on to Glasgow!


George Square.

Glasgow Cathedral

 Glasgow Cathedral

 Glasgow Cathedral 

 Glasgow Cathedral

 Glasgow Cathedral





 With the constant flipping between sun and rain, it was inevitable to see the rainbow!


Glasgow necropolis

 Glasgow University

 
 Glasgow University

 Glasgow University

 Glasgow Univeristy

 Glasgow University

 Oran Mor (picture taken from across the street from the gate of the Glasgow Botanical Garden). If we had though ahead we would have bought tickets online for that night's concert.

 View of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum from Glasgow University

 Statue of Kelvin in Kelvingrove Park, Why he has a traffic cone on his head, I do not know?

 Our room for the night had an excellent view of the rooftops of Glasgow!

 View from Stirling Castle

 Stirling Castle

 View from Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

 Stirling Castle. That is life size statue of King James IV on the corner.

 The Great Hall at Stirling Castle

 The Great Hall at Stirling Castle

 Lunch stop at Bridge of Allan for the best fish and chips.

They did not disappoint!

 Edinburgh Castle

 One of the first known depictions of the Stars and Stripes, etched into one of the heavy oak doors of the dungeons where POWs were kept. American POWs were kept there during the American War for Independence.

 
 View from Edinburgh Castle

 Walking the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle to Holyroodhouse Castle

 Try to keep the flags straight

 The Unicorn. Scotland's national animal

View overlooking Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat.

 Trying not to be blown off of Arthur's Seat

 Stopping by St. Anthony's Chapel on our way back down from Arthur's Seat

 Crossing over into New Town. Edinburgh

 Sir Walter Scott and Scott Monument. New Town. Edinburgh

 Looking back to Old Town from New Town, Edinburgh.

The view from our hostel. None other than Edinburgh castle itself.

 Greyfriars Kirkyard

 Greyfriars kirkyard

Greyfriars kirkyard, Flodden Wall, at one point the outside wall of Edinburgh.

Greyfriars Bobby

 Holyroodhouse palace, across the street from Scottish parliament. 

 Holyrood is where the Queen stays when she visits. Gate to Holyroodhouse palace. Lion on one side. Unicorn on the other side.

 Clarinda's Tea Room

 The Royal College of Surgeon's of Edinburgh

Pausing outside of the George Hariot School. Unfortunately in session so we were unable to go past the gate.

 Edinburgh Old Town

 Victoria Street (a.k.a Diagon Alley)

 Victoria Street (a.k.a Diagon Alley)

 Edinburgh Castle

 Love us those Heilan Coos

 Thank you Scotland. You wee beauty you!


Much Love.

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