Haggis: Touring the Highlands

On Saturday we started our 7 day Haggis tour of Scotland. After a quick tour though new and old Edinburgh it was off to Dunkeld Cathedral and Town to have a quick glance at the cathedral, then it was off to the town of Kingussie for lunch. We went to Culloden Battlefield where the Bonnie Prince Charley of Scotland was defeated by the Brits, a battle which changed Scotland and clan life forever. The Scot’s lost horribly and the British decided that it was then illegal to wear the kilt, carry weapons, and harbor Scottish Jacobites, this forced a mass emigration from Scotland over to Ireland and America, because the Highland Clansmen could no longer live their normal way of life without weapons to hunt for food. I have to say that the prince was insane and picked the worst, flattest area to fight, which was detrimental because the Highlanders had heavy weapons and only knew how to attack by ambush and by propelling themselves down the mountain sides. We also visited Clava Cairns, a druid Stonehenge like place. This one is famous because it contains the split rock which the book series by Diana Gabaldon, “The Outlander”, was based off of to propel the protagonist from the 20^th century back into the 1740’s. I have to say, I highly recommend the book, I’m only 100 pages in and in love, plus it’s amazing to read about a place and then visit it, it’s like I am living in the book. We drove through Inverness onward to Carbisdale Castle for our overnight. Nothing like sleeping in a haunted castle overnight, I am not sure if the children’s giggles I head in the restroom were the ghosts or the German schoolgirls sleeping in the room across from it, but according to Scottish tales it’s haunted by murdered children ghosts, the Duchess of Southerland, and a man.

Day two was off to explore the highlands, we stopped at Clottie Well, where people tie a piece of a sick loved one’s clothing to a tree and as the clothing disintegrates so does the sickness. By the looks of the mostly intact clothing, I am not sure it works but who knows. Then it was off to Loch Ness to hunt for Nessie. A little blurb about Loch Ness; it’s the biggest body of fresh water in the UK; used to be connected to the sea until a glacier cut it off in the ice age; it contains a type of arctic char that has adapted to a fresh water fish; they have ferrox a type of cannibalistic trout; it’s a perma-dark lake due to peat; and its 4 degrees Celsius year round. We also saw Urquhart Castle and Fort William which had St. Andrew’s Church. We drove through the Glen Nevis region and saw beautiful waterfalls due to the liquid sunshine, the mountain Ben Nevis, and the mound used in the film Braveheart, where Mel Gibson yelled for a free Scotland. On our way to Fort Agustus to sleep we stopped in at a floating pub in the Laggen Lochs. In fact on the drive we saw all four lochs (lakes) in the Glen Nevis region, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, Loch Lochey, and the sea Loch Lenny. That night at the hostel in Fort Agustus we participated in an overly long and drawn out pub quiz that most of us ended up dropping out of just because it was taking too long, but the local Black Isle Beer was delicious (and it’s organic).

 On the bus we learned about the Scottish weather; it’s either glorious, atmospheric, or dramatic, and it’s liquid sunshine, not rain, as others would call it. In two days we have had much liquid sunshine. I’m hoping once we exit the highlands in a few days we will get a bit more sun and not the liquid kind. I also wouldn’t mind trying more Uskabey or Whisky or The Water of Life, mmmmm….

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Welcome to Majestic Scotland, The Tour Starts With Edinburgh

We decided to fly Virgin Atlantic hoping the  seats would be more comfortable, the staff friendlier and the food better, well the food was better than most American airline companies, but since it was an air bus, the staff was way too busy to really care about the passengers and the seats cramped and uncomfortable. The personal video and tv in the seats were nice, but I was hoping for more space…oh well, someday I will be able to afford business or first class.  At least the flight was non-stop to London, then a short hop over to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city, no wonder my friend Alicia is coming to vet school here, it’s green and full of castles and beautiful buildings, plus I’m sure the accents help a bit, for her. My mom and I can’t believe how HOT it is here, well hot is a relative term but it’s warm and sunny here, I hope it lasts; haven’t needed a sweatshirt at all, even at night. Thursday was our first day here, and we got in around 5pm, so we walked a bit of the city then headed to dinner and a pint of Magners cider, then an early sleep, since it was impossible to sleep on the flight.

Friday we were full-fledged tourist, we paid the extra two pounds to have access to all four tourist busses in town, we only used two of the busses, the first the Edinburgh Tour had a live crotchety old Scotsman as the guide, he was full of knowledge but a bit irritable. Was a nice tour of town though; Edinburgh Castle, The palace of Holyroodhouse, Our Dynamic Earth, The Royle Mile, and Scottish Parliament were on route, as well as other hot spots around town, including a view of the original Hogwarts, or at least the school that the Harry Potter books were born from and Arthur’s seat, Nelson Monument and Scott Monument. The second bus was the Majestic Tour that takes you through new town, past the botanical gardens and out to Port Leith and back to Waverly Bridge. Both were informed and educational, but the best part of the day was walking through the city and checking out all the spots shown on tour.

First was Edinburgh Castle, great views but that’s about it. Second was a Textiles factory, too bad our clan was exiled/very small so they don’t have the tartan on hand, you have to special order it, darn. But I did learn that that Hannah’s didn’t know how to spell and there is Hanna, and Hannay as other options, no wonder I can’t spell, it’s in my genes. After the disappointing tartan experience we headed over to the fun, a Scotch Whisky Experience and tour. The tour was a bit Kitschy, you got in a plastic whisky barrel ride, that kind of reminded me of the Haunted House ride at Santa Cruz, but the whisky lesson was wonderful. They put 4 bottles with distinct smells from the 4 main whisky regions in Scotland; the Lowlands, the Highlands, Speyside, and Islay, in front of you to smell, then you decide which you want to taste, since they were all malt whisky’s I opted for the blended whisky “Famous Grouse”, it’s the most sold whisky in Scotland, smooth but, I’m not a big scotch whisky drinker. After the main tour I opted for the extra whisky tasting where I got to try a single malt from each whisky region; the Lowland “Glenkinchie 12yr” had a refreshing mouth with citrus in the finish, the Highland “Old Pultney 12yr” was my personal favorite with a fresh nose, full-bodied taste of light salt and malt, the Speyside “Glenlivet 12yr” was actually appealing as well, I think Nick likes it more aged but I could actually enjoy this one with its peachy and floral nose and well balanced sherry and vanilla sweetness; and finally the Islay “Caol lla 12yr” very peaty and smoky. We topped off the tasting with a taste of a chocolaty scotch and a piece of chocolate, but at 120 pounds a bottle, I deliberately decided to forget the name. Sorry. After the scotch whisky tour it was off to see the Queen’s Scotland summer home, Palace of Holyroodhouse, very historic, and educating audio tour. We wrapped up the day having dinner at the Elephant Bar on George IV Bridge, the place where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter, a very mystical evening full of witches and wizards, pumpkin juice and butterbeer, I wish, it was a normal café restaurant but delicious.