I arrive in Edinburgh around 2PM where I'm met by Karen Mawhinney's cousin, Lyn. She gives me a driving tour of the amazing, beautiful city, and helps me sort out my train ticket to London.
Waverly Train Station in EdinburghI stay overnight with Lyn and her husband Phil (minister of the Presbyterian church) in their gorgeous old townhouse downtown Edinburgh, and then she drops me off at the Wild in Scotland office building.
Its pretty awkward to begin with. There is a whole bunch of people standing around outside with big duffel bags. No one really knows what to say to each other.
Finally the office opens and we all start signing in, and get sorted into groups.
I find myself on a tiny white 17-passenger bus with only 7 others on board. Besides our enthusiastic and very Scottish guide, Fiona, I am the only one that came by myself. There are two Canadian girls that strike me as very possibly homeschooled (take that how you will), two Aussies, and three Brits: two girls and a guy.
Probably like the lone guy, I'm beginning to wonder what I've gotten myself into.
Everyone seems way older than me, and they've all brought friends!
At this point I'm wishing myself on a flight home.
Edinburgh Castle overlooking the Princess GardensFiona tells us that we will have some more people joining us the next day, since they will be leaving their 4-day tour and joining us for an additional 5 days. Then she talks us through Edinburgh's history as we make our way out of the city. Eventually the bus goes quiet, and she turns up the music. I start to fall asleep. Driving does that to me...when I'm not at the wheel of course.
The Wallace MonumentOf course we stopped at the famous river where Braveheart had his great victory over the British army, and were told the tale of his life and death. I was the only one that hadn't seen the movie, a fact that brought me much shame over the week.
At this point we also introduced ourselves to overcome the awkwardness, which of course DOESN'T WORK. It just became more awkward.
I wasn't really seeing any potential tour buddies and was having visions of loner-ness on my horizon. Everyone seemed to be keeping pretty much to their selves, and I'm not really that outgoing- in case you haven't noticed.
We drove for another long time. The scenery in the lowlands of Scotland is really nice! Very lush. I found it far more mountainous than Ireland, and more trees. And of course its abundant with European charm.
Hamish, the Highland CowAfter a potty break, we bid Hamish goodbye and hopped on the bus again.
The River in Killin
Tim, Kathryn, and Jenny"Hey Jill!"
The Brits were walking behind me, and Kathryn waved at me.
"Want to have lunch with us?" She asked. Normally I might not want to hang out with 3 friends who know each other, are way older than me, and possibly have nothing in common with me...but I wasn't going to be choosy! And I'm so glad. Kathryn, if you ever happen to read this: thank you for that invitation! You saved my week.
We went to a little fancy little tea house and ordered nothing but tea and a scone, totally enraging the old waitress.
The three of them were a lot of fun to hang out with- always cracking jokes and bugging each other. We eventually wandered down to the river in the center of the village and took some pictures.
Later in the afternoon we pulled over in rainy, and fiercely windy, Glen Coe. It was about this point that we entered the Highlands, and the landscape began to change. It became even more mountainous, the road signs were given in Gaelic (a slightly different dialect than in Ireland), and it was COLD.
We hiked up a trail for about 15 minutes for a view over the valley, where Fiona told us the story of its dark and violent history. (Many, many years ago) The Campbell clan was forced by the king to attack the clan that lived in the valley. On the way they ran out of food and supplies and ended up cold and starving on the doorstep of those they were sent to kill. The clan (unaware of the Campbell's mission) took them in and fed them. After a week of warm hospitality, the Campbells were forced to massacre their hosts.Apparently you can still hear the eerie shrieks of the murdered in the valley, and anyone under the name of Campbell is unwelcome in Glen Coe to this day. There are still very hard feelings among the locals.
After that very depressing story, we were shipped out to the Commander Memorial, which commemorated past and present soldiers.
We had anther snack break in Fort William and watched the boats go through the lock system to get from one lake into Loch Ness.
I think we also went to a place called St. Augusta, but I have no pictures, and no other memories of what it was about...so...I guess it wasn't that interesting.The bus pulled into our hostel in Altguish around 8 or 9 PM and we were all relieved to get off and stretch our legs. We were given two rooms, and I bunked with my new British friends, while the Canadians and Aussies went in the other.
The hostel was FREEZING, and the water was brown with peat, which apparently wasn't harmful and didn't have a flavor...but there was a mental block there when you were served cloudy brown water in your glass, or ran a bath (there were no showers) that looked like lake water.We met up with the rest of our tour inside the pub next door. Two more Canadians (Calgary Cowboys...haha...the Brokeback Mountain kind), a really funny guy from South Africa, a British burn-out, two Germans (a girl and a guy), and two hilarously awesome Scottish women.
The group began to gel a little with the help of the new additions, and some bevvies.
So that pretty much sums up the first day! It was packed full, and we covered a lot of ground. Tune in next time I have an hour to blog for an update!
