Where to start...We started out by heading to the hostel that was doing this trip. It's through MacBackers. Our tour guide was fantastic and hilarious. He was extremely knowledgeable about seriously -everything-. He talked a lot and told us funny stories and old legends.
I'll be updating later with photos and way better descriptions and names of places we went. There was too much for me to remember!
So the gist is: we went on a guided tour with a tourguide named Ewin. We stayed in a small town on the Isle of Skye. We stayed in Hostel for 2 nights. There were Bluebells -everywhere- on the hills. We had a great time.
On the first day we saw the Wallace Monument. That was quite the trek up the hill it was on! But it was a great view and there were bluebells all over the hill.
Next we saw the famous "hairy coo" (hairy cow) Hamish! He's 17 years old and one of the oldest male Highland cattle living. Usually the males are turned into tasty meat around the age of 3 (I guess that's when they taste best). Hamish somehow got lucky. His girlfriend was also there too! I was able to get better photos of her because everyone was crowding Hamish.
We also saw -many- different lakes (lochs) including Loch Lochy and Loch Garry which is shaped like Scotland.
We also drove through Glen Coe which is where I believe a giant massacre happened that gave the Campbell clan their bad name.
We also saw the Commando Memorial. It was dedicated to those I think in current and previous wars.
We arrived at Skye going over the Skye Bridge (of course). The town we stayed at was called Kyleakin. It was a cute town with two Pubs and a great view of the water. The hostel was rather nice and even had free breakfast!
That night we played a drinking card game called Presidents and A**holes. I didn't drink but it was still fun. After so many rounds of being the President you get to make up a rule. The President gave us all nick-names. Katie was GPS because she has a bad sense of direction, Ashley was Misplaced because she loses things then finds them later or finds something else, Jill was Lumber Jack Jill because of an inside joke I wasn't there for, Kelly was Squeakers because her camera bag and flip flops squeaked all the time and I was Bear Bait and that's a funny story. We were walking to the bus stop after seeing Craig Millar Castle. I told Kelly to not worry about the bears, because of me being the slowest one I'll distract them so they can all run to safety. So that was the joke of the night. We went out to the bars later. One of them was having a special so I got one drink and then left for the hostel.
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We went to the Sligachan River to dip our faces into it to bring us luck, beauty and fortune. I did dip my face in I have photos to prove it :P
We stopped at Bridal's Veil waterfall and got photos. It was super pretty and we were able to get close to our first sheep!
We then stopped at a little town called Portree. I got a Peatbog Faeries CD and something for my mom :)
We stopped at Duntulm Castle sometime after that. There were sheep on the hill nearby so we were all happy to get pictures of a couple of lambs. One had a hurt leg so we named him "Gimpy".
Kilt Rock was another destination. It was really cool to see the rock sediment from Prehistoric times. Apparently the smallest dinosaur ever was found in the area. The rocks are meant to look like pleats on a kilt.
We had a random stop to this place Ewen randomly found when camping years ago called Macurdie's Barn of laughs. You went in and it had random fishermen jokes and play on words and phrases. We also walked down to the beach nearby. That was a tricky climb.
We stopped in the town of Uig for a bathroom break. The harbor view was beautiful. They have a distillery there as well.
Last part of the day we stopped at Faerie Glen. It was a magical feeling place. I left a pebble and made a wish for the faeries. I thought a mama sheep was going to charge me because I was taking photos of her with her baby and she just kept staring at me. That's another thing, there are sheep -everywhere-. The world is their pasture!
That night we played more drinking games and headed to the pub. Ewen danced with me a bit and that was fun. I had a great time hanging out with the girls. I didn't stay out for nearly as long though :P
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Third day we packed up and left Skye. We first stopped at Loch Ness! I went in! Or at least my hand did!! :D We looked around the town a bit as well. Then went to a castle on the Loch called Urquhart Castle. I was hoping to see Nessie but that didn't happen :(
We also stopped at Ruthven Barracks where I was nearly charged by a Highland bull. That got the adrenaline going! I'm ok so no worries! Just another story to add to my list :P
We stopped at the Battlefield of Culloden Moor. I don't quite remember the whole history behind it so linked is the Wiki page! Have fun!
We also went to The Hermitage, a park where there was a beautiful waterfall. Then we pretty much headed home and said our last goodbyes.
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Some fun legends that I remember:
Kelpies: Or Water Horses. Chestnut mares that wait on the banks of a sea loch, waiting for unsuspecting victims. They're beautiful and charm you over to them by shaking their heads an showing off their flowing manes. If you happen to get on the mare her eyes will burn a fiery red and she'll take you into the loch, never to be seen again.
Selkies(sp?): The Seal people. These seals emerge onto the shore and take off their skins, revealing beautiful people that love to dance in the moonlight. Legend has it that a fishman was walking home and saw these beautiful people. He stole one of their skins and went home and stashed it. The next day he saw a beautiful nude woman curled up on a rock crying. He put his jacket around her and invited her into his home. The two grew to fall in love. They got married and had two children. Years later while the fisherman was at work the children found an old chest in the attic and found the seal skin in it. They showed to their mother who was furious. She took her two children down to the shore, dawned her seal skin and swam away with her kids. The fishman was devastated, but not nearly as much as her having found out he was the man that stole her life from him.
If you see 30 white Highland horses in one place at the same time, the next person you see will be your true love. Our other tour guide said that if you counted 30 total during your time in the Celtic countries that it counted. I don't know which to believe :P
That's all I have for now. I'm off to Ireland in the morning! Tata!
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