Making it to Scotland was a fun adventure in and of itself. Just watching the English countryside roll by as we made our way north was so enjoyable. I especially loved it when our train started following the east coast since I got to watch the waves wage their inexhaustible war against the land. It was a wonderful sight to behold as we passed into this country that has become so dear to my heart, or at least its northern portion has.
The time I spent in Edinburgh was fairly brief and only lasted for the part of Friday that we were there for, starting around eleven. Finding our hostel was a fascinating challenge since I had never received the e-mail that told us where we were staying, but Jaci and I found the tour company that we had booked with and got it all straightened out. After that, we really just walked around the city. The only thing that really peaked my interest was King Arthur's Seat, and it was too late in the day to try and begin to climb it. So instead, we just walked around for a while and enjoyed the wonderful architecture of the city while shopping for souvenirs and gifts. Overall, it was quite the enjoyable afternoon evening. I wouldn't mind making it back, but a day or two would be more than sufficient for me there.
But. Then came my favorite part of the trip. The next morning, we left bright and early for a two day Scottish Highlands tour and I consequently fell in love with the place.
What words can I use to describe it? Even if a picture is a thousand words and you count the couple hundred or so that I took, the novel still would not begin to state what a wondrous place this was and the magic that it worked upon me. I fell in love with the landscape, drawn to it like Odysseus to the siren's call.
The first morning we stopped by to see a specimen of the Highland cattle; the name of the species escapes me at the moment. The stop was brief before we drove into the Highlands. It was so completely breath-taking that I can even feel it as I write this, weeks later.
The lochs that we passed through that morning were like glass, reflecting the magnificent landscape surrounding us like a mirror. The crags enclosing us on every side; the beautiful pine tree forests with their myriad and riots of color; the distant mix of gold, brown, and gray on the mountain slopes; all of it just completely overwhelmed me, heart and soul. If there was ever a place that I felt G-d's peace and his simplistic joy, it was here. It was here where the entire land looked as if G-d had dragged his fingertips along the ground, creating lochs, glens, straits, and mountains at his own pleasure.
What made it all the more enjoyable were the many stories that our guide had in store for us. We heard stories about Rob Roy, William Wallace, the many different clan wars, everything you could imagine--including the filming of Braveheart and how our guide supposedly took Mel Gibson's wife out bowling (I learned to take a lot of his stories with a grain of salt--ask me for 'em some time, I have plenty notes down to do a decent retelling :).
Our path was winding and twisted but it was a blast. After we stopped by Fort William (and were recommended that going through Fort William by rail takes you through some of the most magnificent scenery in the world, as if it could get any better than what we had!), we actually stopped by the location of the Harry Potter bridge because one of our tour members (the young enigmatic school teacher's assistant from London) wanted to see it. We ended our day by settling down in a hostel in Inverness after making one more impressive stop.
Seeing Loch Ness was such a fun experience. This loch, enclosed on all sides by mountainous terrain, was so long that it looked like air and sky met from where I was standing. And to hear the stories! Apparently, it isn't just Loch Ness that has its fair stories of hidden, lurking creatures. It's common, even to this day, to hear of fisherman with stories of dark shadows, unknown creatures moving across the lochs, especially the ones that are off the beaten track.
To finish the evening off, we went and grabbed some wonderful Thai food at a traditional Scottish pub (yeah, odd mix, right?) and enjoyed a wonderful night of music. I absolutely adored Abigail Gray, the folk music band that played some absolutely beautiful music. The heavy rock band that followed it was enjoyable, but they really weren't that good. I just enjoyed feeling the bass vibrating the entire building.
From there, we continued driving through the Scottish Highlands for a bit longer before making a quick stop at a place where one of Scotland's many rebellions first started. I believe this one was Kett's rebellion, the final result being that the Highlanders were once again defeated and the English made it illegal for them to carry claymores or wear kilts. However, it was really cool to see how inaccessible the Highlands were until the last couple hundred years or so. I can easily understand why it was so difficult to stop the Highlanders from rebelling constantly.
After stopping there, we continued on to St. Andrew's, the birthplace of golf. It was a fun stop for a couple hours and I got a chance to pick up, as usual, a couple of books by Scottish authors, this time choosing The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle as well as Ivanhoe by Walter Scott. But just before we left, I got a chance to stop on the beach for a moment, the beach where the opening scene of Chariots of Fire was filmed.
Then we got back to Edinburgh pretty late that evening, but it had been a good weekend. So, Jaci and I dropped our stuff off at our hostel before going to grab dinner with the group one last time--and it was so much fun. I can't really remember their names (let's face it, our group talked but really didn't use each others names that often--I guess we figured we'd only know each other for a couple of days). I had a chance to try a little bit of Haggis and have decided that I actually like it and also discovered that my favorite Scottish whiskey is MacAllen 10. All in all, it was a wonderful evening to end a wonderful trip. We listened to live music, chatted, hung out, and then Jaci and I grabbed a very early train the next morning back to Grantham.
I am going to make it back to the Highlands of Scotland. End of story. Part of me is still there, exploring the hills, mountains, lochs, glens, and straits. I'll just have to go back and get that part. :)
1 comment:
Beautiful....
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