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There were 15 of us on the tour:
Team America: Yours truly.
Team Canada: Derwyn and Kathy, a couple celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary.
Team Russia: Mila and Elena.
Team Australia: A couple named Danny and Tina, and also a girl named Laura who was traveling alone.
Team Germany: Andrea.
Team South Africa: Three couples, whose names I am extremely ashamed to say I've forgotten.
Our driver was Danny (not to be confused with Australian Danny), with whom I have now done three WIS tours. He swears he's not sick of me yet. :)
We boarded the 16-passenger mini-bus (more of a large van, really) on High Street in Edinburgh, and immediately began driving west. Our first stop was Bannockburn, site of a battle which took place in 1314, in which the Scots under Robert the Bruce decisively defeated the English forces under Edward II.
The monument on the battlefield:
Robert the Bruce:
Stirling Castle, seen from Bannockburn:
After hearing a bit about Scottish history, we continued on to Doune Castle. This should look familiar to any Monty Python fans out there:
We continued northwest through the Trossachs, stopping along the way to say hi to some hairy coos:
Then we turned north and drove up into some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. I love the western highlands of Scotland. I don't possess the vocabulary to describe to how much I love them. More recently on the train ride from Oban to Glasgow a couple of weeks ago, I was hugging myself most of the way because I just wanted to take it all in my arms. That glorious.
Buachaille Etive Mòr:
This area also has some pretty tragic history associated with it, most notably the massacre of 38 members of the MacDonald Clan by the Campbell Clan, under the orders of the British (yes, British - England and Scotland were united under one monarch by this point in history) government in 1692.
A quick note about Highland Hospitality: Scottish Weather is even more unpredictable and contrary in the highlands, so Highland Hospitality was (and continues to be - I had firsthand experience of this on Tiree) a very real way of life. If anyone knocked on your door during bad weather, you let them in, fed them, and gave them a place to sleep until they were able to move on, which might not be for weeks. Even if your worst enemy claimed Highland Hospitality, you couldn't touch them. Most of the outrage over the Glencoe Massacre stemmed from the fact that those doing the massacring had claimed Highland Hospitality with the MacDonalds.
Anyway, as tragic as Glencoe is, it sure it pretty:
We spent most of the ride into the highlands arguing about what to have for dinner. Chicken fajitas eventually won out, and we stopped in Fort William for a food run before continuing on to Spean Bridge. This part of the country is where the commandos trained during World War II, and there's a memorial to them there. There are also spectacular views of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British isles (4,409 feet), to be seen from the memorial.
Ben Nevis and a few other bens:
Our final stop of the day was Eilean Donan Castle, featured in Highlander, a Bond movie, and several other films. The original castle was destroyed in the 1700s, and what you see today is a replica rebuilt between 1919 and 1932. Someone had the bright idea to give it huge windows and a permanent bridge to the mainland (as it's on an island in Loch Duich), so it would never actually pass as a functional castle. We managed to crash a Japanese wedding while we were there. There is actually not a great view of the castle in this photo, but I'm quite fond of it because of the mystical haze rising in the background. Tee hee.
After a rather full day of sight-seeing, we continued on to a little village called Plockton, which was our home for the night. The roads became single-track at some point, and there was one very memorable moment when we came face-to-face with an entire herd of hairy coos blocking the road. That's one photo I'm quite disappointed to have lost.
We had chicken fajitas for dinner, and then several of us went to the local pub for some live music. It was a small place, and extremely crowded, but friendly. The bunkhouse where we staying was cramped, with barely enough room to turn around in the dorms, but hey, it's a good exercise in team-building!
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I'm going to do my damndest to blog about one day, each day, for the next ten days, because it's past time I documented this adventure and I'm going to despise myself later if I don't.
Cheers, y'all!
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