(Photo is from 2008 trip)
It was a pretty bleak winter so I decided on this trip at quite a last minute. Going north in winter.. What was I thinking?! SNOW!!! :p
First written in January 2003 and edited 1 Apr 2011:
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Monday, 6 Jan 2003
It was quite an adventure from the start, from the moment I reached Oxford train station and saw that my 6.34 am direct train to Edinburgh has been cancelled due to flooding in the region!! Together with two girls heading for the same destination, I took a chartered coach to Didcot to change to a train for London Paddington. Emma the lawyer in our group was livid that she would miss her first lecture of the new term; Virgin Trains had told her the train would run when she called them the day before. Susan, on the other hand, wasn’t too glad about the train mess but she seemed to be more reserved about her frustration. In the end, it was Emma who called up Virgin Trains to complain on our behalf. From Paddington, we took a cab to Kingcross Station where we boarded a GNER train bound for Berwick and from there, a caoch was arranged to bring us to Edinburgh because the rail between Berwick and Endinburgh had some ongoing engineering work. It was past 3 pm now but well, at least I got to Edinburgh!
My hostel was on the High St aka the Royal Mile, as the Holyrood Palace and the Edinburgh Castle are at either ends of the street, about a mile apart. Brodies looked cosy enough, but you didn’t know how cold it was in the bunks! There was NO heating whatsoever in my room, and I had to get an extra duvet and wear socks and jacket to bed. My hair didn’t dry well and I caught a slight chill over the night :(
Tuesday, 7 Jan 2003
Alright! Finally it was the morning of a new day and time to start exploring the city! On the way to Edinburgh Castle, St Giles Cathedral beckoned with her imposing golden crown spire. There wasn’t much inside though, as it was under some repair work.
I reached the castle just in time for the 10.15 am guided tour. Ok, it wasn’t exactly a guided tour as the guide just brought us up to the palace area before we went our separate ways to look through the buildings at the top of the castle. I didn’t find the buildings particularly fantastic, although I must say that the Royal Regalia still look pretty good despite being the oldest around (in the world?). There was, however, one little chapel that caught my eye – St Margaret’s Chapel, the oldest building in the castle. It was really small, with a capacity of about 20 people, just nice for a cosy little wedding ceremony, and about two would take place each week in the lovely chapel.
A little exhibition showed how the people in Edinburgh used to tell the time. The One O’Clock canon is still being used today to tell people that the time is, well, 1 pm! They used to raise a big white ball on Nelson Monument and drop it at 1pm so it was subject to good visibility. However, the cannon is not without setbacks. Since sound travels much slower than light, slight adjustments need to be made so that people can tell the time accurately.
One of the stories the guide told us was about Queen Mary, who was crowned as an infant and sent to France to live for safety. She became the queen of France as well, when she married the king of France so at the tender age of 17, she was already the queen of two countries. When her husband died a year later, she returned to her throne in Scotland. However, many people did not like Queen Mary, who was Catholic, being raised in France. The Protestants wanted her son James to be King and after five years of seige on the castle, guarded by this old guy whose name I have since forgotten, they succeeded in forcing Queen Mary to abdicate. James I became King of Scotland. At that time, the King of England died without a heir and they asked James I of Scotland to be King of England, so he became James VI of England on top of being James I of Scotland.
It was bitterly cold and I decided to go off after some two hours, to Britannia the Royal Yacht! It was “just two miles from the city centre”. But blur me thought that was just over 1km; it was actually over 3km!!! After one gruelling hour of walking on slippery icy ground and taking a couple of wrong turns, I finally arrived at Ocean Terminal, a huge shopping centre outside town from which people could access the yacht. It took me more than an hour to browse through the five decks of the yacht, learning from an audioguide how the royal family used to live on the yacht and about the workings of the crew in general. There was also a sweet shop on the second lowest deck where I bought super yummy vanilla swirl choc fudge!
By the time I got on the bus to get back to town without breaking my legs, the sun had already set. I headed for the museums in the old town; I was lucky that they close late on Tuesdays else I would only have 30min for the two adjoining museums. But then again, I didn’t find them particularly interesting...
Wednesday, 8 Jan 2003
Woke up refreshed on the morning of my 23rd birthday after sleeping for ten hours! So, happy birthday to me! :p It was also the start of my Haggis 3-day tour to other parts of Scotland. More than twenty people assembled in the Haggis office on the Royal Mile. We then boarded the little yellow bus and happily set off, all the while listening to endless banter from our crazy driver-cum-guide.
We first stopped at Dunkeld Cathedral to have some tea and coffee on the lawn of the cathedral. I just learnt that a town with a cathedral would make a city. The whole place was covered in snow, and yes, it was cold! It wasn’t long before I sought warmth in the cathedral but it wasn’t much warmer in there... Sigh! So glad when we finally returned to our warm bus.
Our next stop was at this place with some big stone things. Not too sure of the name of the place, likely the Hermitage, but anyway, it was real fun there as it snowed! Big time! We had a wee snow fight and built three mini snowmen, one male, one female, one of undetermined gender :p
After lunch at a small town called Kingussie, we drove on to Loch Ness via Inverness (inver meaning mountain) to find Nessis the monster! We did a ridiculous little dance to try to lure Nessie to shore. It goes like this:
“Oooh… Ah! Oooh… Ah! Oooh… Ah! (bend knees, extend arms, then pull back thrice!)
(still, bending, slap thighs three times in a row twice)
Come to me, come to me (still bending! Extend arms and grab back twice)
Nessie! (turn to left and use right hand to form the shape of a mouth)
Come to me, come to me (still bending! Extend arms and grab back twice)
Nessie! (turn to right and use left hand to form the shape of a mouth)”
But we didn’t see any monster. Too bad..!
Our last stop for the day was Urquhart Castle, a pretty little thing built on extended land on Loch Ness itself. After that, we checked into the best hostel ever! Although it was a bit cramped at six to a room, we had our own shower and toilet in perfect conditions! And the most important thing: it was warm and cosy =) The second best thing about Morags was the yummy dinner and the TV in the common area.
Thursday, 9 Jan 2003
The next day, we were due to cross over to the Isle of Skye. But before that, we visited the Eileen Donan Castle. The story of the castle was that it was very much in ruins once and one man dreamed of himself in a castle and when he woke, he drew out the plan, asked a rich American woman for funds and rebuilt the castle as it stood today. In the past century, historians found the original plans for the castle, which matched the man’s dreams!
On the way to Skye Bridge, Graham told us another wee storee. The bridge was built with an arch in the middle to allow the Queen’s ship to pass through as she used to sail to Skye every year. However, when the bridge was completed, she soon sold that ship *.* Also, as it was expensive to build the bridge, a toll was charged on every vehicle. Our bus cost £27.90!
We had a cheap lunch in a small town Kyleakin where I bought a little wooden box. Very soon, we worked off our lunch as we hiked down to a small waterfall. It was a bit high from where we started but it was not really muddy nor slippery. As our guide said, “Overcome your fear of height!” :p Down at the valley, we were told yet another wee storee, this time about Scottish mermaids, the Silkies! They were beautiful creatures who swam from their kingdom each year in their sealskins to bathe in the river under the waterfall. Of course they had to remove their sealskins to do this. And there were three evil brothers who lived at the top of the hill and they knew of these Silkies and, so beautiful were they that they wanted one for a wife. So one year, they sneaked down to the valley and stole three sealskins. So when the time comes for the Silkies to swim home, three maidens could not find their sealskins. The three brothers then appeared and offered shelter while they helped to look for the sealskins. Of course nothing was found and the Silkies realised that they could never return to their kingdom and so married the three brothers and stayed on land.
When the eldest brother’s wife had a son, she described to him, in detail, all about her world of the Silkies, and asked him to bring her a sealskin if he should ever find one. So one day, the son went through his father’s drawers and found a hidden box. He opened it and needless to say, he found his mother’s sealskin! His mother was delighted. After instructing him to leave his evil father and to meet her at a secret place once a year, she swam back to her kingdom.
The second brother, when he heard of this, took out his wife’s sealskin and burnt it in front of her. She was so upset that she could now never hope to return to the sea that she threw herself into the fire as well.
Now the third brother, a man not as evil as his two older brothers, brought his wife’s sealskin to her and begged her to stay, for he had truly fallen in love with her. But as a Silkie, her only dream was to go back to her kingdom so she left but still returned each year to meet her husband. This went on until he grew older and older but she still remained as beautiful as the day he saw her. Finally, one year, it looked as if he would not live until their next meeting. Suddenly, she appeared, and behind her was a huge Silkie, the King of the Silkies! The King told the youngest brother that he had proved that he could truly love a Silkie, and bestowed on him a sealskin so that the three of them swam back to the kingdom of the Silkies together and lived happily ever after...
“Such is the true, deep Scottish kind of love that you’ll never experience until you love someone Scottish or someone Scottish loves you,” said our guide.
The next stop was outside Sligachan Inn. From there we can see Glamaig, the hill for a hill race held every year, from the bottom of the hill to the top and back again. The record was a super 45 minutes! But no we did not race each other up the hill. Instead, we came to a half frozen river just a few seconds from the Inn where yet another wee storee about faeries was told but then, I wasn’t paying much attention as I took in the sights.. At the end of the storee, we were invited to dip our faces into the river for a full seven seconds! Something to do with the faerie business... Be beautiful or something.. I did it! But for about one second; it was so cold!!
And as we continued on our way across Skye, we saw in front of us two big stones on a hill top, one bigger than the other one. There was a wee love storee about them. Alas, I wasn’t paying much attention in the bus but the gist was that the two stones were the Old Man and Old Woman of Storr. Again faeries were involved; Skye has this association with fairies. When they were still human beings, the Old Woman was very ill and the Old Man begged the faeries to save her. However, the faeries could not, and turned the couple into 2 big stones. As the Old Woman was ill, her stone collapsed one day and the Old Man was so sad that he cried and cried. To this day, there is still a stream running down from the hill to the bottom of the hill where a lake has formed from all his tears.. Awww...
Final stop for the day was the ruins of Duntulm Castle, the oldest MacDonald castle. There is a curse surrounding one particular window of the ruins. Legend had it that the faeries (again) told the owner of the castle that all women in the castle would be infertile and their clan would die out. He did not believe, and soon his wife gave birth to a healthy son, which added to his belief that his clan would survive. One day when he was at sea, the nanny brought his son to the window facing the sea, to wave to his father. However, it appeared that the faeries caused her to sneeze and drop the poor baby who died on the stone of the window. Now the old MacDonald believed that if he did not leave the castle, his clan would not survive another generation and so the whole clan moved from the northern tip to the southern tip of Skye and the castle was left to ruins. Now, it is believed that any woman who looked out of the window will become infertile, thus was the warning given by our guide.
Duntulm Castle faces the Atlantic Ocean, being at the end of Europe. Long ago, there was a rowing contest between the MacDonalds and a rival clan. It was a close race until towards the end, when it seemed that the MacDonalds might be losing. With the whole MacDonald clan cheering on from the castle, the captain would not allow this to happen. He took a knife, sliced off his left hand, stabbed the knife onto the hand and threw it onto the shore before the rival clan reached it, so winning the race!
Towards the end of the day, we were once again back near the Skye Bridge to stay for the night, at this hostel called Saucy Mary. Why? Now listen to this wee storee: There was this castle where the king died, leaving behind a daughter Mary. To support herself, she had to charge a fee to people who wished to cross the river in front of the castle. However, she felt guilty to make them pay so she flashed herself at passing boats!!
Friday, 10 Jan 2003
The next morning, as we drove to Fort William, we passed five mountains known collectively as the Five Sisters. The storee goes that long time ago, a clan leader had seven beautiful daughters whom he wished to marry off. One day, the two youngest sisters were out when they met two brothers. They agreed to meet each day after that and after six weeks (for some reason, this kind of meeting kept popping up in our guide’s storees), they fell in love and decided to get married. However, the leader refused to marry his daughters! He said if the youngest two daughters got married, then no one would want to marry his older five and asked them to marry his eldest two instead. Of course the brothers were not willing. But they came up with a devilish plan. They told the leader that if he would let them marry his youngest two, they would bring them home, and showed them to their five older brothers who would be so captured by their beauty that they would return in six months to marry his five daughters. The leader happily agreed, since he could marry off all his daughters! What he did not know was that, there were no five older brothers! After ten months of waiting, the leader decided to consult a witch. The witch told him to send her his daughters if no brothers returned by the twelfth month of the weddings. True enough, no brothers appeared and the leader sent his daughters to the witch. Days passed but the girls did not return. When the leader went to find the witch, he was told that she had turned them into ageless mountains to preserve their beauty, until their would-be husbands returned for them. So alone and sad they stood to today, no husbands ever returning to claim them as wives.
We stopped by the film site of Braveheart and learnt the story of William Wallace who died a horrible death when he was caught by the English. Also there was inaccuracies in the movie. In particular, Robert the Bruce did not betray Wallace; in fact he helped him. Or something like that!
Then we came to Glencoe, the Valley of the Dogs and of course there is a storee behind the names. The MacDonald clan used to occupy the valley. One day, their enemy the Campbells sought highland hospitality, which the highlanders would give even to their arch enemies. So the Campbells stayed in the homes of the MacDonalds, ate their food and slept on their beds for thirteen days. There was no fighting; it was peaceful. However, on the fourteenth day, the Campbells woke silently and slit the throats of their hosts who were asleep. Those who woke and tried to escape up the mountains ended up dying from the cold. So the clan was wiped out. From that day, all buildings in Glencoe had a sign saying “No Campbells nor dogs allowed” and hence the name.
One more thing about this visit: on the way down from a viewpoint, my left foot slipped on ice and I fell hard, on my right butt and palm. As I’m writing this, my palm has recovered while the big ugly bruise behind still hurts. =(
As we were leaving the highlands, we visited Rob Roy’s grave by a church before going on to Stirling for the Wallace monument. We did not go up to the monument due to lack of time; it was mainly taking photographs at the foot of the hill. There is a statue of William Wallace at the bottom, one of the ugliest statues I have seen so far, I’m afraid. Apparently, this guy was so inspired by the movie Braveheart that he took to sculpting this with the word Braveheart on it. Not too impressive nor flattering as Mel Gibson described it as him with Elephantasis!!
Saturday, 11 Jan 2003
So my 3-day Haggis tour ended as we pulled into Edinburgh. And the next morning was my last in Scotland. My trip to Calton Hill yielded nothing much as the view from the top of the Nelson Monument wasn’t particularly spectacular. There was also this smell in the air which I later learnt was from the various breweries around Edinburgh.
The highlight of the day was the historic tour of the vaults which started from the Mercat Cross on the Royal Mile. These underground tunnels were only discovered recently and people actually used to live in there. Of course in such old places, ghost stories are everywhere and it felt quite eerie in there. I was glad I was in a big group! :p
Scotland is really beautiful in winter even though the days are short, and I’m glad I went when I did, else I guess it would be too similar to what I saw in Norway. I regret that I could not be more accurate about the names of places I have been to, nor the stories that I have heard, since my poor memory is really failing me.. Sighs...
