Our trip to Scotland--Day 4, June 11

After leaving the Isle of Skye after a big breakfast (almost every stop had a similar breakfast menu--eggs (2 styles), back (lean) bacon, sausage links, some form of potato cakes, grilled tomatoes, grilled mushrooms,  navy beans, toast, a variety of pastries, fresh fruit, yogurt, cold cereal, orange juice, coffee--but no decaf--and tea) we travelled along Loch Ness. It is the second largest lake in Scotland, 23 miles long and the biggest in volume in the British Isles southwest of Inverness in the Highlands.  We enjoyed hearing stories from our guide John about the monster. At a rest stop we had the opportunity to view all the Nessie gift and memorabilia related items. She/he is obviously an important part of the local economy, whether or not real.  Here I am looking for the Loch Ness monster.

Norma at Loch Ness

And then it was on to the Culloden Visitor Center at Inverness which memorializes April 16, 1746, the final battle of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, Bonnie Prince Charlie's failed attempt to bring back freedom and Stuart control to Scotland. Each year there is an April memorial, and this is the one from 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqm_tSvPlm8 If you read the comments under the video you see that there is still disagreement on what happened to whom by whom.

"The Jacobites were mainly Highlanders, led by Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie", the grandson of the exiled King James VII of Scotland and II of England. The objective being to restore the King to the British throne. Prince Charles Edward Stuart never mounted any further attempts to challenge Hanoverian power in Britain after the Battle of Culloden. The Jacobite army consisted largely of Highlanders, plus a number of Lowland Scots, a small detachment of Englishmen from the Manchester Regiment, French and Irish units loyal to France. . . The government force [commanded by Charles Edward Stuart's cousin, William Augustus Duke of Cumberland, a younger son of George II, loyal to the British throne and House of Hanover] was mostly English, plus a significant number of Scottish Lowlanders and Highlanders, a battalion of Ulster men from Ireland, and a small number of Hessians from Germany and Austrians." http://www.explore-inverness.com/what-to-do/attractions/culloden-battlefield

Headstone marking mass graves of Jacobites

Memorial cairn (Gaelic for pile of rocks) erected in 1881

Then it was on to what some thought was the highlight--we got to hold puppies and watch a champion shepherd, Neil Ross, at Leault Farm work with his 8-10 border collies. It was just amazing to see how the dogs responded to voice and whistle.

Rounding up the sheep

Shearing demonstation

Puppy love

Then we drove through Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands to the Victorian mountain resort of Pitlochry for a wee bit of shopping, photography and fellowship. It is a beautiful town, in the county of Perthshire, on the River Tummel. It is administered as part of Perth and Kinross with a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census. It seemed much larger, I suppose because of all the tourists.  Even though it was Sunday, most shops were open. Tourism seems to be the main industry, brought here by Queen Victoria in the 19th c. who loved the area, and it has an active arts community.  I bought a lovely deep teal cardigan as a souvenir, and also because it was chilly.

Lovely shops

Church of Scotland built 1884

We enjoyed some refreshment with Rose and Ann at a local eatery.

Then it was back on the bus for a lovely drive to our next hotel in Dundee, the Doubletree Hilton. The Globus tours has a seating rotation system, so if you begin the trip at the front, you'll end it in the back. We met our tour group before dinner for a complementary drink and moved on to the glass room dining area overlooking a lovely garden. Because of the season and our far north location, it stayed a light a long time--in fact, didn't seem to ever really get dark, sort of like summer in Finland or Russia where we visited in 2006. The hotel is attached to a large old mansion from the days when Dundee had many millionaire connected to the jute industry.  There was a small display in the lobby about that industry.

 

We are at the 3rd table back with Robin and Karen, and Eugene and Barbara, and Pat

 

Our trip to Scotland--day 3, June 10

Last night we went out to eat with our neighbors Joan and Jerry, and then came back here for some Key Lime Pie.  They went to Scotland some years ago, but enjoyed seeing our album of prints, already prepared by Bob with annotations before I even got my blog up and running!

On Day 3 we had to have our bags outside our room before breakfast. Our take off was delayed a bit when we needed a substitute Globus bus.  It didn't take long, and soon we were leaving Glasgow for the beautiful scenery of Scotland, past many "lochs" or lakes. We were told the story behind the song, "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomand" a song based on a poem which may have been based on a Jacobite lament written after the Battle of Culloden which we would visit on day 4. There are many interpretations, but the one we heard was that the "low road" refers to the one souls take who die outside of Scotland.

Chorus:
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland a'fore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

We were headed to the Scottish Highlands, which is both a political entity, geography, a culture and a history that is different than the lowlands and big industrial cities of the 19th century. This is the land of the Gaelic speaking Clans who warred with each other and the British. We would be spending the night on the Isle of Skye, the biggest island of the Hebrides off the west coast, but also our driver took us through the most fantastic, mystical and moody scenery you can imagine. This first photo was taken by the youngest (and prettiest) tour member, Emily. Isn't it just amazing? We didn't have a lot of sunshine on this trip, but when it appeared, it was dramatic.

 One beautiful area, Glencoe we passed through that day, is the site of a now inactive super volcano (can you say climate change?) and we saw many hikers and bikers--even children. Edinburgh also is an area with many inactive volcanoes which we would see on day 6. The next photos were taken at our rest stop at Glenfinnan to view the viaduct (scene in Harry Potter movie) and the Glenfinnan monument erected, in 1815, in tribute to the Jacobite clansmen who fought and died in the cause of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Bob climbed the look-out to take photos, I walked the monument circle.  You can only see the viaduct if you look very closely because of the distance, and the young female bagpiper was at the visitor centre.

Another monument in the Highlands we visited was the WWII Commando memorial, near the village of Spean Bridge. It depicts British Commandos who were specially trained in Spean Bridge to perform raids. The monument reaches a height of 17 feet.

From there our whole tour group took a special add-on side trip to the Eilean Donan Castle (island of Donan, St. Donnan of Eigg, a Celtic saint) where 3 lochs meet and it is part of the Hebridean islands. The castle was a fortress in the 13th century, but was built and re-built several times. It was partially destroyed in the Jacobite rebellion of the 18th century, and was in ruins for 200 years until John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911 and restored it.  It still belongs to the family, but is heavily visited by tourists and used for special events like weddings. It has a nice visitor centre for shopping and eating--which is something our whole group did very well. No photos allowed inside.

A wee bit wet from the rain, but happy for the sun. I made the silk scarf at the Rhein Center in Lakeside.

We then headed to a Pub, The Clachan, for a wee bit of fun and fellowship.

Norma, Ann and Rose who are Canadians

Emily, Kelly and Stacey

The water was too rough to take the planned ferry from Mallaig to the Isle of Skye and the Dunollie Hotel, so it was back to Ft. William and the bridge between the villages of Kyle of Lochalsh (mainland) and Kyleakin (Skye). There are very few accommodations on Skye that a large tour can use, so the hotel was a bit from the last century, perhaps the 1970s, and our room was in the basement.  Enough said. Good food and beautiful views. I think Bob will get some good watercolors of one of his favorite topics, old boats.

View from the dining room

Dunollie Hotel with John our tour guide

On Day 4, Sunday, we left the Hebrides and headed for the Loch Ness to see if we could find Nessie (didn't see her/him), the Culloden Visitor Center, A sheepdog demonstration, and the mountain resort of Pitochry.