The Mr X factor 17: August 2008
Scotland holiday – Edinburgh with Ken & Rosemary - Haggis tour of the highlands – awesome guide: Russell – Loch Ness – Quilt wearing & Highland life show - Cruise on Loch Ness – mad Nessie scientist! - Inverness – Battle of Culloden – Bonar Bridge & Carbisdale Castle –Western Highlands – Stack Polly – amazing scenery – Eileen Donan Castle – Isle of Skye – stunning sunset on Skye – Totternish Peninsula – Old Man of Storr – stunning hilltop views – Kilt Rock Waterfall – Sound of Sleat – Swim at Silver Sands of Morar – Glenfinnan Monument – Oban – Glen Coe (massacre) – Stirling: William Wallace Monument – To Glasgow – relaxing weekend with Renee and Alan – To St Andrews – week slowing down, chilling out with John & Jannah + Theo – exploring St Andrews – East Neuk – home to London by train
For my Scotland holiday photos visit:
Gotta love Scotland!! For two weeks in August I had a much needed holiday there. The English ‘summer’ was (once again) so poor that I headed to Scotland in search of better weather. I had a great time. After catching the train north, my first weekend was spent in Edinburgh, where I caught up with an old NZ high school mate Ken, and his cycling-mad partner, Rosemary (she has 7 bikes!). We chilled out at Leith Harbour on the Firth of Forth, near where they live, catching up on gossip and sharing ideas about Scotland, travel, common friends, NZ and UK life etc....
Next day we cycled into town and headed to the world famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a play at the Pleasance Courtyard, then down to the Meadows Common to catch the vibe, and watch some of the busking acts, before more cycling, then another play (this one in a squash court!) before heading home.
On the Monday I rendezvoused with about 80 other travellers on High St at Haggis Tours office – we were all off on our respective tours of Scotland. Our minibus took about 30 people and we were blessed with Russell, a good driver and superb guide – passionate about Scotland, history, and sharing it with the travellers on his bus. He had just the right blend of story-telling ability, history knowledge, humour, and Scottish rock bands on his sound system, to keep us informed and entertained on the tour.
So, where did we go? Well, it was a five-day trip around the Scottish highlands, in an anti-clockwise direction around Scotland, starting from Edinburgh. The link to the itinerary is here: http://www.haggisadventures.com/Scotland/Compass-Buster.htmlDay 1 was a drive north into the Central Highlands. We were into Loch country quite quickly, including Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, and of course Loch Ness. We ended up at the southern end of Loch Ness, in the town of Fort Augustus, where we had a presentation for tourists on how to workshop on how to put on a quilt properly (the size of the material, before it gets folded and arranged to be wearable was amazing – about the size of a sheet for a large double bed!).
We also had a presentation on how the highland Scots lived centuries ago – in their highland huts in the depths of dark and freezing winters – very interesting, though not very appealing. Thank goodness for central heating!
After this we headed down to the waterfront where we witnessed the most stunning rainbow I have ever seen. After a light shower, it just appeared – it was so vibrant, wide and close to us.
After this stunning surprise we boarded a boat for an hour’s cruise on Loch Ness - in search of course, of Nessie. Our ship, was actually a research vessel, funded by MIT in the USA – and it had a passionate, if somewhat obsessed, ‘Nessie expert’.
He proceeded to intrigue us with his arguments & questions about the existence of the monster itself. He’d been working on the Loch for years and actually claims to have glimpsed Nessie. His boat was kitted out with all sorts of sea scanning equipment – depth sounder, radar and tracking devices recording the topography of the Loch-floor we had passed over. It definitely made us think more critically, about whether Nessie actually exists, and we discussed the cruise (and our obsessed Loch Ness guide!) for a while, in the pub afterwards.
Next day we headed further north, along the edge of Loch Ness, and eventually to Inverness briefly, before heading to Culloden, where we visited the scene of the Battle of Culloden from 1746. There was an interesting museum taking us through the detail of the battle, which was the final battle of the Jacobite uprising fought on British soil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden).
Prior to this we had had a full explanation from Russell about the background to the Battle of Culloden – the Jacobites and Bonny Prince Charlie in particular, so we found this exhibition very informative. Naturally I had my Lonely Planet Britain at the ready, to fill in the gaps with a bit of reading on the bus, and solidify all the interesting history we were learning. The fierce Scottish national patriotism is always inspiring, much of it stemming from the historical battles with the hated English, over the centuries.
After lunch in Inverness we headed north-west, staying overnight near Bonar Bridge, at Carbisdale Castle, allegedly a haunted castle. We were doing a lot of miles in the bus and by now I had struck up some cool conversations down the back of the bus, with a few people, Leonie and Matt in particular, each from Australia, and on three-month trips over here. I was loving being on holiday and just driving through the countryside, thinking about anything and not having any pressures.
During day 3 we were heading into the Scottish highlands proper – our first true glimpse of this was the mountainously shaped Stack Polly landmark, as we headed for the Isle of Skye. This was rugged countryside – quickly reminding me of New Zealand – sort of a cross between the Marlborough Sounds and the scenery from the stunning drive from Geraldine to Queenstown. 
From there, it was a drive through stunning scenery and Scottish highland coastal villages, including Ullapool, where I bought another patch for my Scout blanket – 11 in total purchased on this trip!). It was an overcast but still and peaceful Scottish day. However, the thatched roofs with a series of rocks hanging off their edges via wires, was a stark reminder of how the fierce northern wind can blow and blow much of the year.
The afternoon consisted of fish’n’chips for lunch at Kyle of Lochalsh. Then we headed for the lovely Eileen Donan Castle – filmed in the movie Entrapment. We had a look around the castle – disappointingly there was no sign of Catherine Zeta-Jones!
Then we headed across the controversially built Skye Bridge (abominably badly project-managed, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skye_Bridge) and we were onto the Isle of Skye. On cue, the weather had cleared up during the afternoon, and after dinner in our hostel, four of us headed off on a 20-minute walk around the coastal rocks to a nearby castle. There we got some stunning sunset shots looking westwards, with the township of Kyleakin, the soaring Skye Bridge, and the western Scottish islands silhouetted by the sun moving towards the horizon. 
The next day was spectacular on the weather front - Russell said it was the best day he had seen since Christmas day 2007 – perfect blue sky, visibility forever and warm temps – it made for a magic day on the beautiful Isle of Skye. We headed for the Totternish Peninsula. Russell was full of stories, history and commentary, one story ending with us holding a group face-washing ceremony in the Sligachan River, beneath the Black Cuillin mountains.
Next we climbed a hill for a view of the ‘Old Man of Storr’ rock stack and surrounding cliffs, before driving up a steep and windy road for an even more stunning vista of the Totternish Peninsula. With every corner we turned, and the view was stunning – reminding me how much I love and miss the coast, whilst living in London.
After this, we stopped for the Kilt Rock Waterfall – again more stunning coast, before winding our way down the other side of the Totternish via Uig, and finally to Armadale, where we met our ferry which carried us across the ‘Sound of Sleat’ (beautifully alliterated that - could have been in that horse race in ‘The Twelfth Man Again’ – Go Silver Sovereign!!!) to the mainland. 
We drove south stopping at the Glenfinnan Monument, famous for where Bonny Prince Charlie made landfall in 1745 (http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfamcharlie.htm) - a lovely glen, and a land-loched [sic!] loch, this one.
From there we headed past Fort William, catching a glimpse of Ben Nevis, before finally ending up in the lovely seaside fishing town of Oban, for our final night of the tour. We dropped our gear at the hostel, freshened up, then headed out for a restaurant meal in the respective groups we had merged into over the previous 4 days. Later, we all met up in a pub for some drinks and a cool time reflecting on the week and chatting over some drinks.
Next day the weather had changed as we headed to the beautiful valley of Glen Coe. This place reminded me of Arthur’s Pass in NZ. Russell told us about the horrific story of the Glen Coe massacre of 1692 (http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/glencoe.htm).
Having got our group photo, finally we drove across the Firth of Forth Bridge again, and wound our way into Edinburgh. The trip was over, and after a fun and fascinating trip, we went our separate ways, with email addresses swapped (I am a non-Facebooker – Don’t give in people - Rage against the machine!!).
It wasn’t the end of my Scottish sojourn though - I was only half way through!! I jumped on a train from Edinburgh, and headed to Glasgow, where I spent a relaxing weekend with Renee Milkop-Kerr (someone I first knew in Kindergarten!), and her husband Alan.
We explored Glasgow by bike on the Saturday, cycling alongside the River Clyde – the historical source of Glasgow’s wealth - before having a lovely meal in, chilling out and catching up on how things had been going on for us, in Glasgow and London respectively. On the Sunday we went to a nice cafe for lunch, and then early evening we went for a walk in the nearby Botanical Gardens.
Monday 18 August was the start of the second week of my holiday. I headed to St Andrews. I was off to stay with my good NZ friends studying at St Andrews, John and Jannah Dennison, and their son Theo. This was a lovely and relaxing week. I wanted to slow down and find some stillness, restore some balance, sleep, read books, hang out in some cafes, reflect on stuff, seek the Lord. 
John and Jannah had been living in Scotland a year by now (John is studying for a PhD), and so were reasonably well established, and had their work-life patterns seemingly well built around Theo. John would be off to study early in the morning, Jannah was either at home or on a trip around town with Theo, and I was able to wake up a bit later (yay for earplugs!), then explore the lovely St Andrews by bike, before ending up in a cafe, reading, journaling or watching the St Andrews scene out the cafe window. 
Two of the cafes also had backgammon, so I was able to teach John how to play this strategic and centuries-old game, so we would meet up for a game or three, during one of his study breaks. In the evenings, it was great to hang with John and Jannah and chat about all sorts of things, once Theo was down. 
We also did a few trips in the car, across the East Neuk Peninsula, to the quaint fishing village of Pittenweem in particular - hanging out in a favourite cafe of John and Jannah's.
We also had a presentation on how the highland Scots lived centuries ago – in their highland huts in the depths of dark and freezing winters – very interesting, though not very appealing. Thank goodness for central heating!
After this we headed down to the waterfront where we witnessed the most stunning rainbow I have ever seen. After a light shower, it just appeared – it was so vibrant, wide and close to us.
After this stunning surprise we boarded a boat for an hour’s cruise on Loch Ness - in search of course, of Nessie. Our ship, was actually a research vessel, funded by MIT in the USA – and it had a passionate, if somewhat obsessed, ‘Nessie expert’.He proceeded to intrigue us with his arguments & questions about the existence of the monster itself. He’d been working on the Loch for years and actually claims to have glimpsed Nessie. His boat was kitted out with all sorts of sea scanning equipment – depth sounder, radar and tracking devices recording the topography of the Loch-floor we had passed over. It definitely made us think more critically, about whether Nessie actually exists, and we discussed the cruise (and our obsessed Loch Ness guide!) for a while, in the pub afterwards.Next day we headed further north, along the edge of Loch Ness, and eventually to Inverness briefly, before heading to Culloden, where we visited the scene of the Battle of Culloden from 1746. There was an interesting museum taking us through the detail of the battle, which was the final battle of the Jacobite uprising fought on British soil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden).Prior to this we had had a full explanation from Russell about the background to the Battle of Culloden – the Jacobites and Bonny Prince Charlie in particular, so we found this exhibition very informative. Naturally I had my Lonely Planet Britain at the ready, to fill in the gaps with a bit of reading on the bus, and solidify all the interesting history we were learning. The fierce Scottish national patriotism is always inspiring, much of it stemming from the historical battles with the hated English, over the centuries.
After lunch in Inverness we headed north-west, staying overnight near Bonar Bridge, at Carbisdale Castle, allegedly a haunted castle. We were doing a lot of miles in the bus and by now I had struck up some cool conversations down the back of the bus, with a few people, Leonie and Matt in particular, each from Australia, and on three-month trips over here. I was loving being on holiday and just driving through the countryside, thinking about anything and not having any pressures.During day 3 we were heading into the Scottish highlands proper – our first true glimpse of this was the mountainously shaped Stack Polly landmark, as we headed for the Isle of Skye. This was rugged countryside – quickly reminding me of New Zealand – sort of a cross between the Marlborough Sounds and the scenery from the stunning drive from Geraldine to Queenstown. From there, it was a drive through stunning scenery and Scottish highland coastal villages, including Ullapool, where I bought another patch for my Scout blanket – 11 in total purchased on this trip!). It was an overcast but still and peaceful Scottish day. However, the thatched roofs with a series of rocks hanging off their edges via wires, was a stark reminder of how the fierce northern wind can blow and blow much of the year. The afternoon consisted of fish’n’chips for lunch at Kyle of Lochalsh. Then we headed for the lovely Eileen Donan Castle – filmed in the movie Entrapment. We had a look around the castle – disappointingly there was no sign of Catherine Zeta-Jones!Then we headed across the controversially built Skye Bridge (abominably badly project-managed, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skye_Bridge) and we were onto the Isle of Skye. On cue, the weather had cleared up during the afternoon, and after dinner in our hostel, four of us headed off on a 20-minute walk around the coastal rocks to a nearby castle. There we got some stunning sunset shots looking westwards, with the township of Kyleakin, the soaring Skye Bridge, and the western Scottish islands silhouetted by the sun moving towards the horizon. The next day was spectacular on the weather front - Russell said it was the best day he had seen since Christmas day 2007 – perfect blue sky, visibility forever and warm temps – it made for a magic day on the beautiful Isle of Skye. We headed for the Totternish Peninsula. Russell was full of stories, history and commentary, one story ending with us holding a group face-washing ceremony in the Sligachan River, beneath the Black Cuillin mountains.Next we climbed a hill for a view of the ‘Old Man of Storr’ rock stack and surrounding cliffs, before driving up a steep and windy road for an even more stunning vista of the Totternish Peninsula. With every corner we turned, and the view was stunning – reminding me how much I love and miss the coast, whilst living in London.
After this, we stopped for the Kilt Rock Waterfall – again more stunning coast, before winding our way down the other side of the Totternish via Uig, and finally to Armadale, where we met our ferry which carried us across the ‘Sound of Sleat’ (beautifully alliterated that - could have been in that horse race in ‘The Twelfth Man Again’ – Go Silver Sovereign!!!) to the mainland. In the warm sunshine, we stopped at the Silver Sands of Morar, where four of us Antipodeans went for a swim in the lovely bay, while the rest of the tour group sat on the beach or played Frisbee.
We drove south stopping at the Glenfinnan Monument, famous for where Bonny Prince Charlie made landfall in 1745 (http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfamcharlie.htm) - a lovely glen, and a land-loched [sic!] loch, this one.From there we headed past Fort William, catching a glimpse of Ben Nevis, before finally ending up in the lovely seaside fishing town of Oban, for our final night of the tour. We dropped our gear at the hostel, freshened up, then headed out for a restaurant meal in the respective groups we had merged into over the previous 4 days. Later, we all met up in a pub for some drinks and a cool time reflecting on the week and chatting over some drinks.Next day the weather had changed as we headed to the beautiful valley of Glen Coe. This place reminded me of Arthur’s Pass in NZ. Russell told us about the horrific story of the Glen Coe massacre of 1692 (http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/glencoe.htm).From there, we drove across Rannoch Moor, where Ewan McGregor filmed the Trainspotting scene – ‘It’s shit being Scottish...!’. Then it was onto the pivotal town of Stirling - ‘control Stirling and you control Scotland’, it being the key transport route between the highlands and southern Scotland. We drove across Stirling Bridge, and headed for a quick walk up to the William Wallace monument.
Of course, with the success of the Braveheart movie in the late 1990s, the Wallace legend is alive and well. But Russell picked the fact and fiction of the movie and legend apart for us, as we left Stirling, and I was glad to have bought a book on Wallace’s life, so I could read up on it in more depth, later.
Of course, with the success of the Braveheart movie in the late 1990s, the Wallace legend is alive and well. But Russell picked the fact and fiction of the movie and legend apart for us, as we left Stirling, and I was glad to have bought a book on Wallace’s life, so I could read up on it in more depth, later. Having got our group photo, finally we drove across the Firth of Forth Bridge again, and wound our way into Edinburgh. The trip was over, and after a fun and fascinating trip, we went our separate ways, with email addresses swapped (I am a non-Facebooker – Don’t give in people - Rage against the machine!!). It wasn’t the end of my Scottish sojourn though - I was only half way through!! I jumped on a train from Edinburgh, and headed to Glasgow, where I spent a relaxing weekend with Renee Milkop-Kerr (someone I first knew in Kindergarten!), and her husband Alan.
We explored Glasgow by bike on the Saturday, cycling alongside the River Clyde – the historical source of Glasgow’s wealth - before having a lovely meal in, chilling out and catching up on how things had been going on for us, in Glasgow and London respectively. On the Sunday we went to a nice cafe for lunch, and then early evening we went for a walk in the nearby Botanical Gardens.Monday 18 August was the start of the second week of my holiday. I headed to St Andrews. I was off to stay with my good NZ friends studying at St Andrews, John and Jannah Dennison, and their son Theo. This was a lovely and relaxing week. I wanted to slow down and find some stillness, restore some balance, sleep, read books, hang out in some cafes, reflect on stuff, seek the Lord. John and Jannah had been living in Scotland a year by now (John is studying for a PhD), and so were reasonably well established, and had their work-life patterns seemingly well built around Theo. John would be off to study early in the morning, Jannah was either at home or on a trip around town with Theo, and I was able to wake up a bit later (yay for earplugs!), then explore the lovely St Andrews by bike, before ending up in a cafe, reading, journaling or watching the St Andrews scene out the cafe window. We also did a few trips in the car, across the East Neuk Peninsula, to the quaint fishing village of Pittenweem in particular - hanging out in a favourite cafe of John and Jannah's. It was great to check out St Andrews, too - the golf course of course, as well as the Cathedral remains, surrounding cemetery, and St Andrews Castle. 
The Beijing Olympics were also on, and we managed to get down to a pub one afternoon to watch Kiwi Nick Willis run the race of his life to get the Bronze medal in the 1500m final. I know some of his family from Wellington, so it was great to cheer him (deafen the pub!!) down the home straight. Well done Nick - fantastic stuff!!
Alas, my two-week break neared its end, and on the Bank Holiday Monday (25 August) I said goodbye to John, Jannah and Theo, before jumping on the train and heading south for London. Another memorable trip done!!
posted by MrXfactor at
1:49 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Dave
Nice nessie photo!!!! Are you heading home again soon? I've applied for a new job which may mean a move back to the old haunts; and a job within! Will keep you posted! :)
Kim
By
Bonntastic, At
10:34 AM
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