I
had booked to go on a three-day tour to, as the name suggests, the Isle of
Skye. A swarm of all the tour participants met at 8.30 out the front of the
Haggis office on the Royal Mile. Three coaches were departing that morning,
hence the large numbers. Our group boarded our bus to be greeted by our jolly
Scottish guide Chris. I was rather shocked to find that over 90% of the
participants were Australian… this sort of thing seems to be rather popular
with my countrymen. Chris had a most excellent knowledge of Scottish history, a
great storyteller with a keen sense of humour.
On
the first day we set off towards Loch Ness. Along the way we stopped in Dunkeld
for a coffee and to check out the church and river there.
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| Dunkeld Church |
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| River Tay |
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| Walking around the grounds of 'The Hermatige' - a popular tourist destination since victorian times |
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| Surrounded by immense Douglass Fir trees |
We had lunch at the Highland
Folk Museum, which has a collection of traditional Scottish dwellings.
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| Traditional dwelling |
In the
afternoon we went to the Tomatin whisky distillery where we went on a fairly
basic tour of the premises (i.e. didn’t really see much of the actual process
taking place). At the end we were able to sample their 12-year old whisky,
which I thought was rather nice.
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| Whisky distillery |
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| Old whisky |
By late afternoon we were lakeside at Loch
Ness, admiring the spectacular views and hearing about the various stories and
myths surrounding Nessie, who decided to remain lurking in the depths of the
loch.
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| Loch Ness |
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| Old bridge designed by Thomas Telford |
That
evening we stayed in a hostel at Fort Augustus. After dinner we went for a
little walk around the town before settling back at the hostel’s bar for a
rather wild evening… I think that this component of the tour is the main
attraction for some of the participants. It was an enjoyable evening and I even
found myself in a kilt at one point… While it was fun I was thinking in the
back of my head that I was rather glad this tour was only for two nights.
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| Fort Augustus by night |
The
following day we made a B-line for Skye, having our morning tea at the
extremely picturesque Eilean Donan Castle. This castle was laboriously and very
accurately reconstructed from the original which sat on the site.
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| Eilean Donan Castle |
Skye
is the only Scottish Isle connected to the mainland by a bridge. I suspect this
connection, which was fiercely opposed by the locals, has probably greatly
changed the island’s economy and lifestyle, but it has certainly not altered
the absolutely stunning scenery. We spent the day driving around the island,
stopping frequently to take in the views and go for some walks. Brilliant day!
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| Waterfall on Skye |
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| The 'Old Man of Storr' partially covered by cloud |
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| View |
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| Nearby coast |
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| Storr to the right |
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| Kilt Rock |
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| Castle ruins |
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| Flora MacDonald's grave |
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| Most Scottish name ever?? |
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| Väga ilus |
That
night we stayed at another hostel at Kyleakin, close to the bridge. A group of
us decided to go to a pub in the town rather than eat at the hostel and had a pleasant
evening together.
On
the last day we headed back towards Edinburgh, gradually leaving the highlands for
the lowlands.
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| Scenery in vicinity of Glencoe, where the House of MacDonald once stood (famous folk song about it) |
The
tour itself was great and it certainly wet my appetite to explore Scotland –
particularly its islands - in much greater detail in the future.
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