I have a tendency to live with my head in the clouds on a daily basis; I’ve been known to daydream mid-lecture or class and plan an entire trip during this daydream. Yesterday, one of my daydream trips became real: I ventured into the highlands of Scotland, and it was stunning, so much more than any national geographic photographer can convey in a single shot.
I flew into Inverness (pronounced with an emphasis on the “ness,” breaking it up into Inver-ness), figured out the bus situation (Thank you, Google Maps) and by the grace of God somehow wandered through town and arrived at the cute little B&B, Sandy’s.
As I’ve mentioned before, my current living situation is less than ideal, so every where I have ever stayed on trips has seemed like a royal palace (even sleeping on the floor in Paris. At least it was a clean floor!). However, Sandy’s actually was awesome. Two beds with real mattresses, a cute recently renovated bathroom, and a sink/fridge/counter area where you could make a few simple meals if you were so inclined. The floral wallpaper and bedspreads were absolutely adorable and hit the nail on the head with the sweet Scottish vibe.
Excuse my gear on the bed
As I was in Scotland over Easter weekend, from Thursday until Saturday morning, I had to cram in everything I wanted to do into 1.5 days. Challenge accepted!
I kicked off Thursday with searching for Clava Cairns after dropping my stuff at the B&B. Anyone heard of the books series Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon? It’s awesome, I highly recommend it. In the series, Claire travels through time after touching ancient standing stones called Craigh na Dun, subsequently meeting the love of her life and Scottish highland warrior, Jamie. Being the book nerd that I am, I absolutely had to see these stones while I was in Scotland. Lots of googling later, I found out Craigh na Dun was based on Clava Cairns in, you got it, INVERNESS!
A bus ride and two mile trek down a one way road in the middle of no where later, and I found the magic. Clava Cairns is a kind of park, consisting of three neolithic, Bronze Age stone circles, each one a pile of stones constructed with a short walkway to the center, and this pile is surrounded by standing stones.
It was a long walk, but it was pretty!
Someone had left flowers in front of one of the stones.
The stones were surrounded by this super awesome, moss covered forest
It was incredible. Eerie, because no one else was there, it was away from civilization and city noises. It was beautiful. I tried to travel through time and see if I could induce my own Jamie and Claire love story, but alas, I did not fall through a portal and instead only encountered mossy rock. Still cool! And probably for the best, because I do not want to think about having to live in the past pre-indoor plumbing and above-the-knee dresses.
Attempting to time travel
Day Two in Inverness. The Inverness public transportation system is less than ideal for the budget backpacker. There are buses, but these are not frequent and don’t strictly adhere to time tables so you can be left waiting for a good hour in hopes of a bus passing by. Also, the buses are primarily for the city area of Inverness, and I was determined to see the Highlands in all of it’s mountainous glory. So, I booked an all-day tour that promised I would see Loch Ness, the Black Isle, Invermoriston, the Isle of Skye, Elgon, Eileen Donan Castle, Achnaseen City, Cuilin Hills, the Five Sisters, and beachcombing. It was a ten hour day, and a bus took you to all of these places, starting and ending in the Inverness city centre.
What I didn’t realize but was clear immediately upon leaving the city, was that all of the wonderful things listed on the tour website I would see, but only through the window of a bus. We made stops about every hour, but they were at public bathrooms, not the idyllic scenery I wanted. I had stepped into a photographer’s hell: the beauty of Scotland was right there, outside the window, and I couldn’t photograph it! I could only wave at Loch Ness as we drove by. Commence inner panic that I had signed up for an entire ten hours of this.
I went through an abbreviated version of the five stages of grief, tried some prayer, tried some meditation, and thankfully within the first hour found some inner peace so I could let it go and enjoy the day. While it wasn’t ideal, it did give me the opportunity to really focus on what I was seeing and soak it in. I wasn’t going to be getting any stellar photos through the window (not that I didn’t try), so I let it go and absorbed everything I could without worrying about getting the best composition.
The pictures from the bus window were rough. But still pretty!
Thankfully, there were some beautiful stops mixed in with the rest breaks. Eileen Donan Castle, featured in Braveheart, Highlander, and a host of other Hollywood movies, was something straight out of a fairytale, and I got to tour the inside and walk along the loch nearby. The surrounding loch glimmered in the sunlight, there were still snowy mountains in the background, and the walkway up to the castle was totally kick ass.
After the castle, we made it to the Isle of Skye. This isle has been on my bucket list since I discovered pinterest my freshman year of high school. It was breathtaking. I hope I can go back someday, because I could spend weeks soaking up that beauty. There are only small, single lane winding roads around the island, with a handful of phonebooths, and a total trip back in time. Most of the nature and landscape are untouched. We drove through the mountains to reach Elgon, a small fishing village. On the way to the village, what seemed like intense fog set in. The driver/guide, Mike, explained it wasn’t fog, it was a low cloud. I was in the clouds!! My head in the clouds, literally for once. Incredible.
Bridge over to the Isle of Skye
You could barely see out the front of the bus because of the cloud. Nerve-wracking yet incredible.
On the way back to Inverness from the Isle of Skye, I took in more of the Highlands, including the absolutely adorable sheep (many of which had recently given birth, meaning lambs were abundant and beyond cute), some wild mountain goats, and red deer.
This deer was just posing for me!
The highlands of Scotland are breathtaking. While the tour wasn’t what I thought, it was still amazing, and I got to see the highlights of the Highlands, enough to let me know I can’t wait to go back someday (hopefully as an established person with the ability to rent a car).
xox,
Lauren
p.s. Lola had fun, too
This brings back so many memories…after a summer studying in London, I took a week-long, hop-on/hop-off bus tour of Scotland. It was called Blue Banana – it it’s still around, it’s perfect for college kids. you stay in hostels each night, and make lots of friends along the way, because they all take the same route.
I didn’t know craigh na dun was near inverness…i totally would have gone, and I was racking my brain as to why I didn’t do that when I was there back then…oh YEAH! That was 1996, before Gabaldon had written her awesome books (you know there’s a series on cable about it, right?). I think one of the coolest moments for me was standing on the Culloden battlefield, where the clans were wiped out, and realizing that it was Forbes land (my great grandfather was a Forbes)! my land! haha maybe.
When we went to Skye, they had just built the bridge and loved to tell how everyone hated it so much that some people would still pay in pennies and count them out slowly just to back up traffic and voice their dissent. It is also the site of my ill-fated run down the faerie hill to reach the van’s shotgun seat first (it was SO FRIGGING COLD and that was the only seat that got some warmth). Yep, slipped on sheep sh*t (SO MUCH SHEEP SH*T EVERYWHERE!), ruined my new levi’s and killed my knee for weeks. Then I got the seat out of pity because I was injured. Good times.
Ah yes, one last account: while listening to some bagpiper wailing away on the steps of the edinburgh castle, there’s a true teenage scot sitting on the step of the castle door, downing budweisers out of a plastic grocery bag, wearing a kilt. And no’ a stitch underneath. He wasn’t sitting like a lady. I learnt what “going regimental” meant that day…needless to say, when he tried later to hit on me and my friend, we ran away! haha
Try to get back there for at least a week. One of my favorites to this day, sheep sh*t and all. Did you get to see a hairy coo? They’re so darn cute.
I need to go back.
have fun!
nan (danielle’s aunt)
That is so cool!! I wish I had had more time there to explore Skye more. They are still telling the stories about how people pay in pennies on the Skye bridge to show how upset they are about the cost! Too funny. When I went, it was SO cold, and I can totally see how easy it would be to slip and fall. The sheep were everywhere! And yes, I got to see a hairy cow, they were absolutely adorable! You should go back! I want to go back too! Thanks Nan 🙂