Today, Jill and I took a bus tour. A 12 hour long bus tour. It was one of the most incredible days of my entire life. I don't really know what I expected the landscape to be like but it was just filled with mountains. Being from the great plains of Illinois, mountains aren't really a thing I'm used to seeing. We stopped at a few places through the Highlands and it was just breathtakingly beautiful. Below is the map on the website for the tour company. We didn't necessarily stop at all of the places marked but we did learn a bit about them. We started in Edinburgh and headed North West to Glen Coe first.
Our first stop was for coffee. It was a quick stop but it was the first place where we could really get out and see everything. This is the view from the parking lot of the coffee/gift shop. This was also supposed to be the first place where we saw the infamous Highland Coos. Hammish, the resident coo was not there unfortunately but according to his little sign he was only a few months older than Jill and I and that made us laugh.
View on our first stop.
These are Highland Coos. This is what they would have looked like if there were any there.
After that we got back on the bus and drove for a little bit longer. Because we got up so early a few people had fallen asleep. I just remember thinking "You paid 40 pounds for this tour. How could you be sleeping during it?!" I then accidentally fell asleep for 10 minutes and woke up when we were stopping again. We only stopped for a couple minute before getting on our way.
We stopped for lunch and had a little bit longer to relax and eat. Jill and I sat outside (even though it was kinda cold) and ate our junk food that we bough the day before. Then we browsed the gift shop and got back on the bus.
A rainbow over a Loch.
A railroad bridge on a mountain side.
Our next big stop was Glencoe. On our way there we learned all about the significance of the area. So a quick summary is this: Glencoe was the home of the Macdonald clan. In 1692, a bunch of soldiers led by Robert Campbell came and stayed with them. They were sent there by the king. They lived with them for about 2 weeks. In the night on February 12th, the troops destroyed the village and killed 38 people (with about 40 others dying of exposure). This was all ordered by the King. There is still feud between Cambells and Macdonalds today. Our guide/driver then played a song written about the massacre. I have put that below. It tells the story a little more eloquently than I can.
Mountains in Glencoe
We returned to the bus and headed off. We stopped very quickly at a Scottish War Memorial and then kept going.
View from the Memorial.
The next stop was Loch Ness! First we stopped at Urquhart Castle. A few people got off the bus to tour the castle and take a boat ride on the Loch. Jill and I decided that we didn't want to do this so we just took a couple pictures. While they were looking at the castle, the rest of us got back on the bus and drove up the side of the Loch. We stopped at a little gift shop and hotel and stayed there for a while. We were able to go by the water and walk a wooded trail while others toured the loch looking for Nessie. We stayed there for quite a while and eventually got back on the bus. We continued up the side of the Loch before hitting Inverness and heading south.
Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness.
A beautiful hillside on our way to our Loch Ness stop.
Nessie statue outside of the gift shop/cafe.
An adorable mural painted in the tunnel to the water.
Loch Ness!!
There weren't a lot of chances to take pictures on our way back because it got dark but we were able to see some cool stuff and learn a lot more. I had such an amazing time and I absolutely loved the Highlands.
After we got back to our hostel we met up with Mitch, who had gotten there the night before. He was only in Edinburgh for a short while but coincidentally booked the same hostel as us. We sat and talked for a while before going to bed and sleeping for a very long while.
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