I'll be posting the Ireland blog within the next couple of days...however I've posted some of our pictures at the bottom of the blog for a preview. Enjoy!
Lots of love,
Sarah
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Trip Home and Highland Trip!!!
Finally! Sorry for the long wait...but here it is!
We arrived back in Scotland on April 8th and had one day to rest up and get adjusted to the time change again,
until we set off to meet my Dad at the airport to start our Easter weekend tour of the Highlands…and what a fabulous trip it was!!! We spent four days touring northern Scotland and half our last day was spent in Edinburgh. I definitely recommend this trip to anyone interested in visiting Scotland in the future. The scenery was stunning, and I’m not sure which was my favourite day, they were all so great! We were able to see so much in the five days we travelled, driving each day for at least six hours…Dad drove a Volkswagen Passat and only had to fill the tank once!! While the pictures we took are beautiful, some of them just don’t do the area justice…so you’ll just have to visit someday if you like what you see! Read on for details of our trip below:
DAY ONE:
Met Dad at the airport, picked up the car, and headed north for Fort William, (secondar
y capital of the Highlands). Around Edinburgh, the land is composed of gently rolling hills and trees in bloom. Dad mentioned that he had expected Scotland to be a little hillier, with some mountains as well, and I told him to wait until we entered the Highlands…that’s really where it all begins! He also got a taste of Scottish weather, as he landed in fairly good weather, and within half an hour of driving, it began to rainJ Good thing I had remembered my wellies! Ah Scotland….
After
a few hours, we noticed a welcome sign pointing to a nearby pub and to Rob Roy’s grave. A quick u-turn (with much protest from our GPS lady ‘pl
ease make an authorized u-turn’) took us to a cozy pub with plaid covered seats and a roaring fire. It was the perfect thing to warm us up. With a pint each, and some warm soup and sandwiches (and Rob’s hot dog) in our bellies, we planned the next little leg of our journey. According to Uncle Wayne, the Cameron family originated from an area in the Morvern peninsula called Lochaline. As we had plenty of time to head up to Fort William, we decided to take the detour to Morvern. We’re glad we did! We drove up through the beautiful passes of the Three Sisters and Glen Coe and the barren Ranooch Moor, and took a quick 5-minute ferry ride across the river to the Peninsula. From there we took a ‘single-track’ or one lane road that was barely large enough to fit the Passat. The road took us over hills 
and into valleys, and through beautiful countryside. The roads were exciting, as you never knew who could be coming the opposite way over the next hill, and many times, it was a herd of sheep. As a side comment, the sheep in the Hig
hland are everywhere (not fenced in at all) and they are pretty intelligent to boot. When a car comes, they simply move out of the way, without any fuss. I guess they are used to it. There were passing places in spots but it took a little bit of practice to get into the routine of passing, yet by the end of the trip, we were barely slowing down to let cars pass..lol.
In Lochaline, Uncle Wayne had mentioned that a local cemetery contained many of our ancestors, so we went to have a look. The cemetery was set just outside of the town up on a hill that overlooked the region. It was rainy and windy, but that didn’t deter us from trudging through the final resting places of some of my great great great (however many times removed)…..uncles, aunts, grandmothers and grandfathers. It was a really neat place.
From there, we travelled north along the inland route to Fort William, and arrived there around 7pm. Fort William itself is a tiny little town nestled amongst the hills and on the banks of Loch Eil. We settled in at a b
eautiful bed and breakfast owned by an Aussie family, and then went out to dinner at the recommended Grog and Gruel pub in town. We each got a pint of the local Highland brew, and had a delicious dinner- Rob and Dad began their trend of Scotch pie for dinner, while I stuck with chicken. Dad said, ‘when in Scotland, best to eat Scottish fare’…to which I’ve replied, ‘yes well we’ve been here for 9 months and are quite sick of it actually’ lol. After dinner, we turned in early.
DAY TWO:
The following morning, we woke up to another rainy day. We had a full Scottish breakfast, and then set out for our first destination- Ben Nevis. ‘Ben’ means ‘mo
untain’ in Scottish, and Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in Scotland. It is really majestic, and still had some snow near the top. We
arrived at the base, and took the slightly nerve-racking gondola ride up three-quarters of the way up the neighbouring mountain. The views from the top were unreal! We spent about an hour walking around (the rain had luckily ceased), and I felt a little like we were in the last scene of the Sound of Music, hiking through the Alps...lol.
As the sun
began to shine, we headed n
orth to Achnacarry, where the Clan Cameron museum and estate is. The museum sits on the vast 60,000 acre estate, which is set in a beautiful valley amongst the mountains. We were able to walk up fairly close to the beautiful manor house, which the current Clan Chief, Donald Cameron, and his family, still reside in. The museum was really interesting, with the history of the Cameron’s, memorabilia, and a huge map of the world, with tiny little dots all over, representing the location of the many Cameron’s left.
After an hour or so, we set off, eager to make the ferry to the Is
le of Skye. The road, which led straight through the mountains and valleys, is called the ‘Road to the Isles’. It is a beautiful route, and goes right through Glenfinnan, which was the next stop on our list. At Glenfinnan, a monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie has been erected at one end of the beautiful lochs, which is set between 5 or so mountains. It was a stunning view, and although it wasn’t as green as I had expected (winter stayed a little later in the Highlands this year), it still attracted many visitors. On the other side of the road, is a beautiful train tressel, that was used in the Harry Potter movies to show the route to Hogwarts. This rail line is used by the Jacobite Steam train (also featured in Harry Potter) that runs from Fort William to Mallaig (the access to Skye) during the summer months, and is apparently the most beautiful train ride in Scotland. This is not hard to imagine!
From Glenfinnan, w
e pressed on to Mallaig, hopi
ng to make the 16:30 ferry. Although we arrived shortly before hand, the ferry operators insisted we had to wait for the next ferry at 18:00. This wasn’t a big deal, as we were able to explore Mallaig a little and have a bite to eat. Mallaig is a beautiful little fishing town, directly across the water from Skye. It reminded me quite a bit of P.E.I. We walked around a little, and found a place to have a nice seafood dinner…We had mussels and haggis to start, and then had fish and 
chips and shrimp. Everything really was delicious! Refreshed from our meal, we drove on to the ferry for a beautiful ride across the water to Skye. Less than half an hour later, we landed on the banks of Scotland’s largest, and most popular, island.
At first impression, Skye seemed rather flat compared to what we had imagined. That soon changed. We drove from Mallaig to Portree, the main town on Skye, which took just under an hour. The drive there reminded Dad quite a bit of Hawaii…as it was quite hilly and had only a few trees. We arrived at Portree around 7:30, in time to check out our B & B and head to bed (as we were exhausted by this point). Portree is a quaint little town, set on the side of a hill by the water, with tiny multi-coloured shops and restaurants lining the streets. Portree’s Quay St. is the most photographed, which shows a row of multi-coloured linked buildings right on the side of the docks. The pink building in the middle, is the bed and breakfast that we stayed at. It was a great location, but the room was a little tight..haha. After a quick walk around the town, we tucked in for bed.
DAY THREE:
On day three, we set off first to see Dunvegan Castle at the tip of Skye, which is the seat of Clan Donald. The Castle is very bea
utiful and has massive stone
towers, and is set on a hill at the banks of a loch. Inside, a majestic staircase leads up to the first floor, where the main rooms are located. While each room was lovely, we started to realize that most castles are similar inside. The grounds were also lovely, with mini waterfalls and flowering trees. There was also a large walled garden accessed by two beautiful rod iron gates. The garden was out of a fantasy, with different plots of land for planting vegetables, and then flowers, and there was also a circular pond in the middle with a fountain, and a walkway covered overhead by creeping vines. Dunvegan was a beautiful sanctuary…a really windy area, but beautiful nonetheless.
From Dunvegan, we travelled to the western most point of Skye, a beautiful a
rea highlighted by our travel guide, called Neist Point. A tiny one-lane road, dotted with sheep, took us to our destination. The wind here was unbelievably strong, but it didn’t deter people from venturing out near the cliffs edge. The point is surrounded by massive cliffs, which drop down to the Atlantic. To see them, we took a steep staircase down the side of the hill to a green peninsula. There weren’t any fences protecting the edge, so it was a little nerve racking!! But the detour, and the staircase, were definitely worth braving for the view!
Next we drove inland, to see the famous Trotternish Ridge and travel the Quairang Mountain Pass. This area was absolutely unbelievable in terms of scenery. The mountains were massive and intimidating…and a tiny one-lane road would up the side of one of them straight to the top. When a car would come in the opposite direction, we’d have to squeeze to the side of the road, which dropped off steeply to the bottom of the mountain. I held on to the car door handle and my seat the whole time…sometimes closing my eyes. Unbelievably, we also saw some people on bicycles riding up the pass, and they didn’t get off their bikes once! Once at the top, we were able to see from miles and miles. It was stunning, but really cold and windy so we didn’t stay long. Hopefully the pictures can giv
e you a little sense of what we saw. We then travelled down the other side of the mountain, continuing on the tiny road along the edge of cliffs and steep hills, where every now and then, a group of houses were perched. We felt nervous driving in the car on these edges, so it seemed unbelievable that people actually lived here! Not far from the Quairang Pass was a place called Kilt Rock, which was essentially a massive cliff edge hundreds of feet above the water. There were protective railings here, as it seemed it would be easy to fall over. A sign nearby stated that dinosaurs lived in the area, and were often pushed off the edge when quarrelling. This was no surprise to us…I bet the terydacto had no problem with that though! After a long day of driving and exploring, we headed back to Portree for another delicious meal and then an early night in bed.
DAY FOUR:
We woke up to a sunny morning and left Portree shortly after 9:00am to venture back to the mainland via the Kyle of Lochalesh Bridge. After the
bridge, we headed for the famous Eileen Donan Castle, which I couldn’t wait to see. If any of you have seen Made of Honour, it is the castle featured in 
that film, and is also the castle found in the large picture at the bottom of our blog. According to most Scottish travel books, it is the most romantic castle in Scotland. The castle was roughly a five minute drive from the bridge, and it didn’t disappoint! By medieval castle standards, it was the best I’ve seen. The castle is situated on a tiny island, and can be accessed by a stone bridge. When you enter the castle, you come through to a beautiful stone banquet hall, with swords, shields, tapestries and paintings hung everywhere. It is easy to imagine a lord and lady dining here with their guests in front of the roaring fire. Unfortunately, with all of these castles, we were unable to take pictures inside, so you’ll have to use your imagination as to what it looked like!
After Eileen Donan, we drove north to Loch Ness. The lake is much larger than we thought it would be, and if you didn’t know you were in Scotland, you’d think it was a lake in Northern Ontario. We stopped off at the ruins of Urqurhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness, and wandered around them, hoping to see Nessie. We didn’t
catch a glimpse of her, but it’s easy to see why she lives in that lake….beautiful! We did get to see an old catapult though, which was used to destroy Urqurhart Castle. It was huge!
From Loch Ness, we drove north again for another two hours or so to a small little town called Golspie. Golspie is located about an hour south of the uppermost tip of mainland Scotland. While it is a beautiful little town, we d
rove there to see Dunrobin Castle. After reading numerous travel books, I found that there were tons of positive reviews about Dunrobin Castle, and that it was worth the drive to go see it. I must admit, our expectations of the castle weren’t that high, based on some of the others that we had seen, but I trusted the guide books. Boy am I glad I did!!! This castle was, by far, the most impressive I’ve ever seen…it was even better than Versailles!!! Dad and Rob also enjoyed it a lot…which shows you that it must be nice for men to enjoy it..lol.
The castle is owned by the Dukes and Duchesses and Lords and Ladies of Strathmore, a powerful Scottish family with English ties. The family has married close to royalty numerous times over, and have massive estat
es in London near Buckingham as well. The castle is the part time home of Lady Strathmore, who is elderly now, and tends to live in town, as the castle is too large for one person. The castle is situated right on the coast, and the entrance from the road takes you down a long tree-lined drive to the castle at the end. From the outside, the castle is fairytale-like, with towers and turrets, all in immaculate condition. While the castle itself isn’t as large as say, Cinderella’s, it is still a good size. Inside the castle, it gets even better!
You enter through great big wooden doors, which lead to a front entranceway with a huge stone fireplace and the family’s crest above it. Up three wide stone steps and a right ha
nd turn, takes you into the castle proper. Inside there is a massive white stone staircase, with a beautiful wooden banister that leads up to the first floor. On the walls up the staircase are many deer heads that were likely hunted by castle members, and beautiful paintings hung as well. A large crystal chandelier hangs over the staircase. The first room on the first floor is the sumptuous dining room. A massive table (to seat at least 30 people) is set for dinner in a beautiful room with large paned windows looking out to the manicured gardens below. The room also has beautiful 15 foot tall paintings and lovely trinkets set out, as if the family were to sit down to dinner at any moment.
The next room is the music/breakfast room. The room is very large and bright, with beautiful 10 foot windows, a grand piano and reclining chaises in one area of the room, and a round table set casually for breakfast in the other, near a fire. The room is lavishly, but comfortably decorated, and seems like a room that would get a lot of use.
The next room down the corridor was by far, my favourite…..the library. Words cannot even do this room justice. The library is extremely large, with bookcases going to the ceiling, and the ceiling is at least 15-20 feet high. I looked at the dates on some of the books, and there is a wide range, some from the 1400s up until the late 1800, early 1900s. It has many comfortable looking loungers and chairs, a beautiful wooden desk, and at least two fireplaces, above which hung more beautiful paintings of members of the Strathmore family. The room is decorated in rich, dark colours like mahogany. On the floor, there were two large (and real) tiger skins, with the heads of the tigers still on it. Two smaller lion skins lay in another part of the room. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the skins (the boys were though) I would have stayed in that room for ever! It looked as if it was still in use as of the day before.
The rest of the rooms were equally stunning, and included many private suites and bedrooms, bathrooms, a child’s playroom (which was full to the brim with amazing handmade toys), sitting rooms, etc. The best part about this castle is that is was decorated in 18th century and 19th century styles and furniture, so it is fairly recent, and therefore
has immaculate taste. It is opulent, but comfortable, large but cozy. In other words, you wouldn’t have to pay me to live there for awhileJ
The grounds were also stunning. They were surrounded by a high stone wall, outside of which is a large docking area, where the family would arrive from their yacht, be picked up in a horse and carriage, and taken to the castle at the top of the hill. What a life eh? Hopefully the pictures of the outside give you a bit of a feel of what it was like inside. We also bought the guide book for this one, as we were not able to take pictures indoors.
Finally, from Dunrobin, we drove the hour and a half drive south to Inverness to find our final B & B, which was situated in a little hamlet just outside of Inverness. Our family room was very nice and large, much better than the last place! We dropped our bags and then headed out to find somewhere to eat. The owner of the B& B suggested a few places, one of which was supposedly downtown Inverness, so we thought we’d try that to get a view of Inverness. However, we couldn’t find it at all….with the traffic and construction, so we decided to try the quaint country pub he had suggested instead. Inverness is just like any other city, with nothing too special about it, so we left…lol. The pub we ended up at, was in a little hamlet called Cawdor…and it was a fabulous choice. It was a low-lying building, with lots of little nooks and comfortable seats, decorated in dark mahogany with low lighting, and fabulous food and drink! We each had lamb for dinner, and it was delicious….the perfect meal to end off our tour of the Highlands! After dinner, we went back to the B & B and settled in. I grabbed my book, while the boys watched the Masters on tv.
DAY FIVE:
The final day of our trip, the weather was beautifully sunny again, so we set off first to see the Culloden Battle fields, which was less than a five minute drive from our B & B. The battlefield is where the Jacobite rising of 1745 took place, in which the English army d
efeated Bonnie Prince Charlie, and many Highland clans, such as the Cameron’s. To give a little background…
England had installed a new king on the throne, as the old one had been deposed and exiled. Prince Charlie was the son of the exiled king, and many Englishman and Scotsman, hoped that he would be king instead. Rising to the challenge, Prince Charlie rode north to Scotland to gather a force of men to fight the ‘Pretender’. He was promised support from the French, and those in England who hoped Charlie would be king. The Jacobites, as they were known, rode south to just outside of London, and won a major battle there. Feeling victorious, they hoped to press on, but would not do so without the support of the French. The French refused to commit without the support of the English Jacobites…and the English refused to commit without the support of the French. Without this support, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his troops decided to head back to Scotland for the winter and regroup. However, the son of the ‘Pretender’ and the cousin of Prince Charlie, would not let that happen. They tracked the Jacobites north to the area near Culloden battlefield. The Jacobites had a good chance of winning until one fateful event…the birthday of the English general. As the English took the chance to rest up and celebrate the birthday, the Jacobites took the initiative to track through the night to try and catch the English by surprise….however the terrible weather made the going slow…and they didn’t not make it in time, so decided to turn back. By the time they returned to Culloden Battlefield, as it’s known now, the English were fast approaching. Therefore, the Scots were tired, cold, and wet, and hadn’t had anything to eat, while they were facing a crowd of soldiers who were refreshed. They didn’t stand a chance. It was a bloody battle that lasted roughly half an hour, in which the English came out victorious. . No survivors on the Jacobite side were left. As a result of this battle, the English crown set out to abolish the Scottish clan system, and only those who joined the English in the army were permitted to wear the Scottish tartan war uniform. The rest of the clans either died, or fled to other lands…such as Canada! I thought that this was really interesting, as I had no idea the Cameron’s were partially responsible for the upheaval and demolition of the clan system in Scotland!!! The battlefield remains in great condition, with the mass graves of the clans marked out by beautiful head stones. There is a new visitors centre there that details the battle and the history behind it. While reading everything in the centre and walking through the exhibit can be a bit tedious, the tour is definitely worthwhile, as the guide highlights it all in under half and hour, while touring the battlefield.
From Culloden, we took the three hour, fairly boring highway drive back to
Edinburgh. Once there, we showed Dad around the city, took a ghost tour into the vaults beneath the Royal Mile, were many poor lived, and victims of the plague were found…and then went for a very Americanized, but welcome, dinner at the Hard Rock Café. Dad stayed over that night, and then dropped me off at work in the morning on the way to the airport to head home. We couldn’t have asked for a better trip! Hope you’ve enjoyed the rather lengthy commentary, lol, and the beautiful pictures. Wait next for our Ireland trip! (Promise it won’t be that long...lol)
Much love,
Rob and Sarah
P.S. A couple of our beautiful pictures we have blown up and posted at the bottom of the blog...so take a look!
So much to say! Well we had a fabulous trip home, and i
t was great to see so many of our friends and family! Nick and A
bby’s wedding was beautiful and a fabulous party as well…we’re both ecstatic they finally tied the knot!! Every day we were home sped like a blur as we were constantly busy. I guess that’s what happens when you miss out on home for over 8 months. But we did get a little taste of winter after all, as the day before we returned to Scotland, a huge snowstorm hit the region…so we didn’t entirely miss seeing the snow after all! On another note, we hope that everyone had a great Easter…we sure did!
t was great to see so many of our friends and family! Nick and A
bby’s wedding was beautiful and a fabulous party as well…we’re both ecstatic they finally tied the knot!! Every day we were home sped like a blur as we were constantly busy. I guess that’s what happens when you miss out on home for over 8 months. But we did get a little taste of winter after all, as the day before we returned to Scotland, a huge snowstorm hit the region…so we didn’t entirely miss seeing the snow after all! On another note, we hope that everyone had a great Easter…we sure did!We arrived back in Scotland on April 8th and had one day to rest up and get adjusted to the time change again,
until we set off to meet my Dad at the airport to start our Easter weekend tour of the Highlands…and what a fabulous trip it was!!! We spent four days touring northern Scotland and half our last day was spent in Edinburgh. I definitely recommend this trip to anyone interested in visiting Scotland in the future. The scenery was stunning, and I’m not sure which was my favourite day, they were all so great! We were able to see so much in the five days we travelled, driving each day for at least six hours…Dad drove a Volkswagen Passat and only had to fill the tank once!! While the pictures we took are beautiful, some of them just don’t do the area justice…so you’ll just have to visit someday if you like what you see! Read on for details of our trip below:DAY ONE:
Met Dad at the airport, picked up the car, and headed north for Fort William, (secondar
y capital of the Highlands). Around Edinburgh, the land is composed of gently rolling hills and trees in bloom. Dad mentioned that he had expected Scotland to be a little hillier, with some mountains as well, and I told him to wait until we entered the Highlands…that’s really where it all begins! He also got a taste of Scottish weather, as he landed in fairly good weather, and within half an hour of driving, it began to rainJ Good thing I had remembered my wellies! Ah Scotland….After
a few hours, we noticed a welcome sign pointing to a nearby pub and to Rob Roy’s grave. A quick u-turn (with much protest from our GPS lady ‘pl
ease make an authorized u-turn’) took us to a cozy pub with plaid covered seats and a roaring fire. It was the perfect thing to warm us up. With a pint each, and some warm soup and sandwiches (and Rob’s hot dog) in our bellies, we planned the next little leg of our journey. According to Uncle Wayne, the Cameron family originated from an area in the Morvern peninsula called Lochaline. As we had plenty of time to head up to Fort William, we decided to take the detour to Morvern. We’re glad we did! We drove up through the beautiful passes of the Three Sisters and Glen Coe and the barren Ranooch Moor, and took a quick 5-minute ferry ride across the river to the Peninsula. From there we took a ‘single-track’ or one lane road that was barely large enough to fit the Passat. The road took us over hills 
and into valleys, and through beautiful countryside. The roads were exciting, as you never knew who could be coming the opposite way over the next hill, and many times, it was a herd of sheep. As a side comment, the sheep in the Hig
hland are everywhere (not fenced in at all) and they are pretty intelligent to boot. When a car comes, they simply move out of the way, without any fuss. I guess they are used to it. There were passing places in spots but it took a little bit of practice to get into the routine of passing, yet by the end of the trip, we were barely slowing down to let cars pass..lol.Morvern, in most places, is a barren land, with hardly any trees, with mountains
and hills, is very windy and just across the sound from the isle of Mull. After over an hour of driving on this tiny road, we came to a little town and area which the Cameron’s are supposed to have lived in. The place had a few houses, and farms, most of which we wondered what they farmed, as it was pretty desolate. One of my bosses at work said that many men during those times were either sailors or soldiers, and that’s how they made their money, as the land could only support sheep. While it is a beautiful place, Dad and I could see why our ancestors picked up and moved to P.E.I.
and hills, is very windy and just across the sound from the isle of Mull. After over an hour of driving on this tiny road, we came to a little town and area which the Cameron’s are supposed to have lived in. The place had a few houses, and farms, most of which we wondered what they farmed, as it was pretty desolate. One of my bosses at work said that many men during those times were either sailors or soldiers, and that’s how they made their money, as the land could only support sheep. While it is a beautiful place, Dad and I could see why our ancestors picked up and moved to P.E.I.
In Lochaline, Uncle Wayne had mentioned that a local cemetery contained many of our ancestors, so we went to have a look. The cemetery was set just outside of the town up on a hill that overlooked the region. It was rainy and windy, but that didn’t deter us from trudging through the final resting places of some of my great great great (however many times removed)…..uncles, aunts, grandmothers and grandfathers. It was a really neat place.
From there, we travelled north along the inland route to Fort William, and arrived there around 7pm. Fort William itself is a tiny little town nestled amongst the hills and on the banks of Loch Eil. We settled in at a b
eautiful bed and breakfast owned by an Aussie family, and then went out to dinner at the recommended Grog and Gruel pub in town. We each got a pint of the local Highland brew, and had a delicious dinner- Rob and Dad began their trend of Scotch pie for dinner, while I stuck with chicken. Dad said, ‘when in Scotland, best to eat Scottish fare’…to which I’ve replied, ‘yes well we’ve been here for 9 months and are quite sick of it actually’ lol. After dinner, we turned in early.DAY TWO:
The following morning, we woke up to another rainy day. We had a full Scottish breakfast, and then set out for our first destination- Ben Nevis. ‘Ben’ means ‘mo
untain’ in Scottish, and Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in Scotland. It is really majestic, and still had some snow near the top. We
arrived at the base, and took the slightly nerve-racking gondola ride up three-quarters of the way up the neighbouring mountain. The views from the top were unreal! We spent about an hour walking around (the rain had luckily ceased), and I felt a little like we were in the last scene of the Sound of Music, hiking through the Alps...lol.As the sun
began to shine, we headed n
orth to Achnacarry, where the Clan Cameron museum and estate is. The museum sits on the vast 60,000 acre estate, which is set in a beautiful valley amongst the mountains. We were able to walk up fairly close to the beautiful manor house, which the current Clan Chief, Donald Cameron, and his family, still reside in. The museum was really interesting, with the history of the Cameron’s, memorabilia, and a huge map of the world, with tiny little dots all over, representing the location of the many Cameron’s left.After an hour or so, we set off, eager to make the ferry to the Is
le of Skye. The road, which led straight through the mountains and valleys, is called the ‘Road to the Isles’. It is a beautiful route, and goes right through Glenfinnan, which was the next stop on our list. At Glenfinnan, a monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie has been erected at one end of the beautiful lochs, which is set between 5 or so mountains. It was a stunning view, and although it wasn’t as green as I had expected (winter stayed a little later in the Highlands this year), it still attracted many visitors. On the other side of the road, is a beautiful train tressel, that was used in the Harry Potter movies to show the route to Hogwarts. This rail line is used by the Jacobite Steam train (also featured in Harry Potter) that runs from Fort William to Mallaig (the access to Skye) during the summer months, and is apparently the most beautiful train ride in Scotland. This is not hard to imagine!From Glenfinnan, w
e pressed on to Mallaig, hopi
ng to make the 16:30 ferry. Although we arrived shortly before hand, the ferry operators insisted we had to wait for the next ferry at 18:00. This wasn’t a big deal, as we were able to explore Mallaig a little and have a bite to eat. Mallaig is a beautiful little fishing town, directly across the water from Skye. It reminded me quite a bit of P.E.I. We walked around a little, and found a place to have a nice seafood dinner…We had mussels and haggis to start, and then had fish and 
chips and shrimp. Everything really was delicious! Refreshed from our meal, we drove on to the ferry for a beautiful ride across the water to Skye. Less than half an hour later, we landed on the banks of Scotland’s largest, and most popular, island.
At first impression, Skye seemed rather flat compared to what we had imagined. That soon changed. We drove from Mallaig to Portree, the main town on Skye, which took just under an hour. The drive there reminded Dad quite a bit of Hawaii…as it was quite hilly and had only a few trees. We arrived at Portree around 7:30, in time to check out our B & B and head to bed (as we were exhausted by this point). Portree is a quaint little town, set on the side of a hill by the water, with tiny multi-coloured shops and restaurants lining the streets. Portree’s Quay St. is the most photographed, which shows a row of multi-coloured linked buildings right on the side of the docks. The pink building in the middle, is the bed and breakfast that we stayed at. It was a great location, but the room was a little tight..haha. After a quick walk around the town, we tucked in for bed.
DAY THREE:
On day three, we set off first to see Dunvegan Castle at the tip of Skye, which is the seat of Clan Donald. The Castle is very bea
utiful and has massive stone
towers, and is set on a hill at the banks of a loch. Inside, a majestic staircase leads up to the first floor, where the main rooms are located. While each room was lovely, we started to realize that most castles are similar inside. The grounds were also lovely, with mini waterfalls and flowering trees. There was also a large walled garden accessed by two beautiful rod iron gates. The garden was out of a fantasy, with different plots of land for planting vegetables, and then flowers, and there was also a circular pond in the middle with a fountain, and a walkway covered overhead by creeping vines. Dunvegan was a beautiful sanctuary…a really windy area, but beautiful nonetheless.From Dunvegan, we travelled to the western most point of Skye, a beautiful a
rea highlighted by our travel guide, called Neist Point. A tiny one-lane road, dotted with sheep, took us to our destination. The wind here was unbelievably strong, but it didn’t deter people from venturing out near the cliffs edge. The point is surrounded by massive cliffs, which drop down to the Atlantic. To see them, we took a steep staircase down the side of the hill to a green peninsula. There weren’t any fences protecting the edge, so it was a little nerve racking!! But the detour, and the staircase, were definitely worth braving for the view!
Next we drove inland, to see the famous Trotternish Ridge and travel the Quairang Mountain Pass. This area was absolutely unbelievable in terms of scenery. The mountains were massive and intimidating…and a tiny one-lane road would up the side of one of them straight to the top. When a car would come in the opposite direction, we’d have to squeeze to the side of the road, which dropped off steeply to the bottom of the mountain. I held on to the car door handle and my seat the whole time…sometimes closing my eyes. Unbelievably, we also saw some people on bicycles riding up the pass, and they didn’t get off their bikes once! Once at the top, we were able to see from miles and miles. It was stunning, but really cold and windy so we didn’t stay long. Hopefully the pictures can giv
e you a little sense of what we saw. We then travelled down the other side of the mountain, continuing on the tiny road along the edge of cliffs and steep hills, where every now and then, a group of houses were perched. We felt nervous driving in the car on these edges, so it seemed unbelievable that people actually lived here! Not far from the Quairang Pass was a place called Kilt Rock, which was essentially a massive cliff edge hundreds of feet above the water. There were protective railings here, as it seemed it would be easy to fall over. A sign nearby stated that dinosaurs lived in the area, and were often pushed off the edge when quarrelling. This was no surprise to us…I bet the terydacto had no problem with that though! After a long day of driving and exploring, we headed back to Portree for another delicious meal and then an early night in bed.DAY FOUR:
We woke up to a sunny morning and left Portree shortly after 9:00am to venture back to the mainland via the Kyle of Lochalesh Bridge. After the
bridge, we headed for the famous Eileen Donan Castle, which I couldn’t wait to see. If any of you have seen Made of Honour, it is the castle featured in 
that film, and is also the castle found in the large picture at the bottom of our blog. According to most Scottish travel books, it is the most romantic castle in Scotland. The castle was roughly a five minute drive from the bridge, and it didn’t disappoint! By medieval castle standards, it was the best I’ve seen. The castle is situated on a tiny island, and can be accessed by a stone bridge. When you enter the castle, you come through to a beautiful stone banquet hall, with swords, shields, tapestries and paintings hung everywhere. It is easy to imagine a lord and lady dining here with their guests in front of the roaring fire. Unfortunately, with all of these castles, we were unable to take pictures inside, so you’ll have to use your imagination as to what it looked like!
After Eileen Donan, we drove north to Loch Ness. The lake is much larger than we thought it would be, and if you didn’t know you were in Scotland, you’d think it was a lake in Northern Ontario. We stopped off at the ruins of Urqurhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness, and wandered around them, hoping to see Nessie. We didn’t
catch a glimpse of her, but it’s easy to see why she lives in that lake….beautiful! We did get to see an old catapult though, which was used to destroy Urqurhart Castle. It was huge!From Loch Ness, we drove north again for another two hours or so to a small little town called Golspie. Golspie is located about an hour south of the uppermost tip of mainland Scotland. While it is a beautiful little town, we d
rove there to see Dunrobin Castle. After reading numerous travel books, I found that there were tons of positive reviews about Dunrobin Castle, and that it was worth the drive to go see it. I must admit, our expectations of the castle weren’t that high, based on some of the others that we had seen, but I trusted the guide books. Boy am I glad I did!!! This castle was, by far, the most impressive I’ve ever seen…it was even better than Versailles!!! Dad and Rob also enjoyed it a lot…which shows you that it must be nice for men to enjoy it..lol.The castle is owned by the Dukes and Duchesses and Lords and Ladies of Strathmore, a powerful Scottish family with English ties. The family has married close to royalty numerous times over, and have massive estat
es in London near Buckingham as well. The castle is the part time home of Lady Strathmore, who is elderly now, and tends to live in town, as the castle is too large for one person. The castle is situated right on the coast, and the entrance from the road takes you down a long tree-lined drive to the castle at the end. From the outside, the castle is fairytale-like, with towers and turrets, all in immaculate condition. While the castle itself isn’t as large as say, Cinderella’s, it is still a good size. Inside the castle, it gets even better!You enter through great big wooden doors, which lead to a front entranceway with a huge stone fireplace and the family’s crest above it. Up three wide stone steps and a right ha
nd turn, takes you into the castle proper. Inside there is a massive white stone staircase, with a beautiful wooden banister that leads up to the first floor. On the walls up the staircase are many deer heads that were likely hunted by castle members, and beautiful paintings hung as well. A large crystal chandelier hangs over the staircase. The first room on the first floor is the sumptuous dining room. A massive table (to seat at least 30 people) is set for dinner in a beautiful room with large paned windows looking out to the manicured gardens below. The room also has beautiful 15 foot tall paintings and lovely trinkets set out, as if the family were to sit down to dinner at any moment.The next room is the music/breakfast room. The room is very large and bright, with beautiful 10 foot windows, a grand piano and reclining chaises in one area of the room, and a round table set casually for breakfast in the other, near a fire. The room is lavishly, but comfortably decorated, and seems like a room that would get a lot of use.
The next room down the corridor was by far, my favourite…..the library. Words cannot even do this room justice. The library is extremely large, with bookcases going to the ceiling, and the ceiling is at least 15-20 feet high. I looked at the dates on some of the books, and there is a wide range, some from the 1400s up until the late 1800, early 1900s. It has many comfortable looking loungers and chairs, a beautiful wooden desk, and at least two fireplaces, above which hung more beautiful paintings of members of the Strathmore family. The room is decorated in rich, dark colours like mahogany. On the floor, there were two large (and real) tiger skins, with the heads of the tigers still on it. Two smaller lion skins lay in another part of the room. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the skins (the boys were though) I would have stayed in that room for ever! It looked as if it was still in use as of the day before.
The rest of the rooms were equally stunning, and included many private suites and bedrooms, bathrooms, a child’s playroom (which was full to the brim with amazing handmade toys), sitting rooms, etc. The best part about this castle is that is was decorated in 18th century and 19th century styles and furniture, so it is fairly recent, and therefore
has immaculate taste. It is opulent, but comfortable, large but cozy. In other words, you wouldn’t have to pay me to live there for awhileJThe grounds were also stunning. They were surrounded by a high stone wall, outside of which is a large docking area, where the family would arrive from their yacht, be picked up in a horse and carriage, and taken to the castle at the top of the hill. What a life eh? Hopefully the pictures of the outside give you a bit of a feel of what it was like inside. We also bought the guide book for this one, as we were not able to take pictures indoors.
Finally, from Dunrobin, we drove the hour and a half drive south to Inverness to find our final B & B, which was situated in a little hamlet just outside of Inverness. Our family room was very nice and large, much better than the last place! We dropped our bags and then headed out to find somewhere to eat. The owner of the B& B suggested a few places, one of which was supposedly downtown Inverness, so we thought we’d try that to get a view of Inverness. However, we couldn’t find it at all….with the traffic and construction, so we decided to try the quaint country pub he had suggested instead. Inverness is just like any other city, with nothing too special about it, so we left…lol. The pub we ended up at, was in a little hamlet called Cawdor…and it was a fabulous choice. It was a low-lying building, with lots of little nooks and comfortable seats, decorated in dark mahogany with low lighting, and fabulous food and drink! We each had lamb for dinner, and it was delicious….the perfect meal to end off our tour of the Highlands! After dinner, we went back to the B & B and settled in. I grabbed my book, while the boys watched the Masters on tv.
DAY FIVE:
The final day of our trip, the weather was beautifully sunny again, so we set off first to see the Culloden Battle fields, which was less than a five minute drive from our B & B. The battlefield is where the Jacobite rising of 1745 took place, in which the English army d
efeated Bonnie Prince Charlie, and many Highland clans, such as the Cameron’s. To give a little background…
England had installed a new king on the throne, as the old one had been deposed and exiled. Prince Charlie was the son of the exiled king, and many Englishman and Scotsman, hoped that he would be king instead. Rising to the challenge, Prince Charlie rode north to Scotland to gather a force of men to fight the ‘Pretender’. He was promised support from the French, and those in England who hoped Charlie would be king. The Jacobites, as they were known, rode south to just outside of London, and won a major battle there. Feeling victorious, they hoped to press on, but would not do so without the support of the French. The French refused to commit without the support of the English Jacobites…and the English refused to commit without the support of the French. Without this support, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his troops decided to head back to Scotland for the winter and regroup. However, the son of the ‘Pretender’ and the cousin of Prince Charlie, would not let that happen. They tracked the Jacobites north to the area near Culloden battlefield. The Jacobites had a good chance of winning until one fateful event…the birthday of the English general. As the English took the chance to rest up and celebrate the birthday, the Jacobites took the initiative to track through the night to try and catch the English by surprise….however the terrible weather made the going slow…and they didn’t not make it in time, so decided to turn back. By the time they returned to Culloden Battlefield, as it’s known now, the English were fast approaching. Therefore, the Scots were tired, cold, and wet, and hadn’t had anything to eat, while they were facing a crowd of soldiers who were refreshed. They didn’t stand a chance. It was a bloody battle that lasted roughly half an hour, in which the English came out victorious. . No survivors on the Jacobite side were left. As a result of this battle, the English crown set out to abolish the Scottish clan system, and only those who joined the English in the army were permitted to wear the Scottish tartan war uniform. The rest of the clans either died, or fled to other lands…such as Canada! I thought that this was really interesting, as I had no idea the Cameron’s were partially responsible for the upheaval and demolition of the clan system in Scotland!!! The battlefield remains in great condition, with the mass graves of the clans marked out by beautiful head stones. There is a new visitors centre there that details the battle and the history behind it. While reading everything in the centre and walking through the exhibit can be a bit tedious, the tour is definitely worthwhile, as the guide highlights it all in under half and hour, while touring the battlefield.From Culloden, we took the three hour, fairly boring highway drive back to
Edinburgh. Once there, we showed Dad around the city, took a ghost tour into the vaults beneath the Royal Mile, were many poor lived, and victims of the plague were found…and then went for a very Americanized, but welcome, dinner at the Hard Rock Café. Dad stayed over that night, and then dropped me off at work in the morning on the way to the airport to head home. We couldn’t have asked for a better trip! Hope you’ve enjoyed the rather lengthy commentary, lol, and the beautiful pictures. Wait next for our Ireland trip! (Promise it won’t be that long...lol)Much love,
Rob and Sarah
P.S. A couple of our beautiful pictures we have blown up and posted at the bottom of the blog...so take a look!
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