Author: oasis214

This was my view, absolutely alone, no other tourists, just a few sheep and some cows. So peaceful. I had heard there was a stone circle off the beaten path that reminiscent of Stonehenge.the directions were spot on:

Ignore the enter at your own risk sign, no worries.

Go through the pillars with the scary lion.

Open the gate, and close it. The farmer is nice enough to let you on the land, don’t let the cows out, or the sheep!

Don’t touch the electric fence!

Up close, amazing….these have stood the test of time, and cows using them for scratching posts! Oh, and watch where you step! 

This one certainly appears to have a face at this angle.

Onto the falls that drew me here in the first place.

Beautiful! Everywhere in this small town you can hear the rushing water. This house really caught my eye.

Next stop Crieff. A quaint old town, with wonderful public pottys!

I drove through the Glencoe Mountains where on misty days the clouds appear to swallow the mountains, it was quite misty, bordering on rain! Breathtaking!

Wooly cap kinda day!

I met a couple from Australia last night at the pub. We sat and chatted for 2 hours! They were tired of talking to each other, and well, I was totally bored with me!!

On the menu was a ‘Tour of Scotland’ in whisky! So, 6 shots (small ones) let the comparisons begin. They were not for the faint of heart! 

Christopher and his wife were very entertaining with their stories from home, their 4 girls and their dairy farm. I’ve gotten to meet some very generous and genuinely lovely people. Christopher and Bronwyn gave me their address, and phone number, and an invite to visit with them when I make it to Australia! They, in turn, have an invite to Lancaster County, they seemed intrigued by the Amish!

George’s Pub, Invernay.

Random shots from the stops today:

Not a puffin! 

This was the view from my B & B this morning! Not the Wee Bunk House! As you can see the Isle of Skye today is more like it’s other name, the Misty Isle. Still so lovely.

Bonnie, the owner of the B & B greeted me with a nice hearty breakfast and a ‘where ya off to taday?’. To the Fairy Pools and then, wherever the roads lead me! Any tips for me Bonnie? ‘Good luck with the parking at the pools!’ Hmmmm.

I felt lucky to have found a spot, that’s my car, the wee black one. Now, keep in mind there is a car parked in front of mine, and on the other side. I HATE driving in reverse, especially when it’s a tight space! For a moment I questioned my decision, just for a moment. 

It doesn’t look like much here, it’s a walk. The pools are beyond the clouds.
Now, back to the car and the ‘getting out of the feckin parking lot’. Check it! I did it!!

Now, off to Fort William, a drive and a ferry ride! Never drove a car onto a ferry before. Note the sign on the dock:

Eeks! They ACTUALLY have to have signs for that, not, no worries!

All is good! Made it on the ferry and off we go, only a 30 minute ride. Here is what greeted us:

Sometimes your the bird, sometimes the bird is on your head!

Onto my next stop, Fort William, hoping to find a Wee bunk for the night!

YES! Score! A lovely B & B within walking/stumbling distance of a pub! Dreams really do come true!

Guinness for, well, I’m sooo close to Ireland and a shot in memory of dad. Here’s to you dad.

So, interesting story for the day. Sorry, no hitch hikers! 

I’m heading to the Loch Lomand area tomorrow and I’m reminded of the song; The Bonny Banks o’ Loch Loman. You know it….hum or sing along….’you take the high road and I’ll take the low road and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye’. 

Well, would you be surprised that this is a tragic song? It’s awful! I loved this song, but it’s so sad!

So the English (sadly my ancestors, thanks again ancestry.com) were brutal. There was an uprising in Scotland (there were many).The Jacobites decided to fight the English. If you were captured, you had a chance to walk away. Here’s the catch…..you had to fight someone to the death. It could be a friend, or worse….a brother. 

So brothers James and William were captured. The only way one of them could live was if one killed the other. Neither could imagine doing this. As tragic stories go, William was 20 years older than James. William also was married with two children. So James offered to let William kill him so he could go home to his wife and children. William was having nothing of this, he figured James would be of more help, being younger, to his growing family. 

James agreed, promising William it would be quick. He lifted the rock and dropped it on William’s head. When William fell, his hand opened with a note in it to his wife, and James. James grabbed it before anyone saw.

William pleaded with his wife to forgive James, he had no choice. To James, he told him to forgive himself and raise his sons to be proud Scottish men.

So James took the high road (it took him longer) and William took the low road (he was dead) and William was back in Scotland afore ye.  UGH

Stupid bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lyman.

On the road again! Had a lovely chat with Joyce at the B & B and I am taking her suggestion of Portree on the Isle of Skye. It’s a wee bit of a drive, but the sights are amazing, she said.

Stopping along the way for photo ops, they are everywhere.

Interesting story for the day:

On one of my photo stops I noticed a woman standing at a bus stop, but she had her thumb up. It was a ‘single track’ road, which means barely two cars can pass at the same time. Watching her, being literally sprayed with dust and dirt by the lorries (trucks here).  It was a very dangerous place to be standing. As my parents’ voices were swirling around in my head, and even my inner voice, I pulled up to her when the traffic lightened. 

I asked what her name was, ‘Elizabeth’. I asked where she was headed ‘just two miles down the road, to the Castle Urquhart, have you heard of it?’ I told her ‘no’. I asked if she was a nice person (me being ever so careful), she said ‘yes’. So I told her I would take her.

Adding to the danger for her was the fact she is vision impaired. She was waiting for a bus, but it had been awhile so she thought she would put her thumb up.  She got in (after I quickly moved all the crap from the passenger seat, those of you that know me, know this is always!).

We chatted (of course). She is from Bavaria, Germany. She takes the bus places and always comes to this castle. She asked if I was going to go to it, so, next stop–the Castle Urquhart. She has a pass, so she didn’t need a ticket. I bought my ticket after she was greeted by the man behind the counter. ‘Hello, Elizabeth!’ They know her! We parted ways here, newbies like me watch a movie about the history of the castle. When the movie is over, the curtains open to this:

Sadly (as is the usual) the castle was overtaken, won back, overtaken, looted, then destroyed. It’s an amazing ruin.  As I was walking to tour the remains I saw Elizabeth and caught up to her.

That’s her talking to another worker. I thanked her for telling me about this place. She thanked me, and told the man about how she got there. I left them to tour the tower, she followed slowly. I turned around as she was entering the gate house, she curtsied. WHAT??? Who is she? That’s the only picture I have of her.

Amazing day.

The stairs up:And down:

It was lovely meeting you!

Next up, the Eileen Donan Castle. It’s claim to fame, James Bond movie and Highlander.Beautiful.

The place where memories are kept. My grandson, Ayden, taught me about this. We were passing in front of a cemetery and he says ‘Nan, that’s where the memories go’. Clearly he is a genius. What a wonderful way to relate the sadness of the cemetery to a positive thought. From a 5 year old. Now when I pass cemeteries I think of this, and wonder what memories are held there. I came across one of theses memory keepers today.

This was at the foot of the hills, a rugged area. Thinking about what it must have been like, living and surviving there in the 1800’s. Looking through the door, of the ruined church, over the tombstones to the hills. Lives that were lived and loved.

Now, I leave you with this:

Did I or didn’t I????

New friends.

What an awesome day. A twelve hour tour of Scotland, on a bus, with complete strangers, who have become friends. Tasneem and her husband helped with making my day so special. They sat with me on the Loch Ness cruise where we searched for the infamous monster:

We had Steven guiding us throughout the day.  Keeping the busload of us on schedule. He told us stories, usually ending in death for someone, seems like back in the day, they took great pleasure in torture.  He told us the rules: 5 minutes late, Steven’s angry face. Ten minutes late, no angry face……no bus!

His accent was funny at times, one in particular, the way he pronounced ‘fourth’ always sounded like ‘fart’. Also, took awhile to get use to ‘highland cows’ which was ‘highly coos’ that always made us chuckle.  He was a sheep farmer in one of his previous employs. So randomly while we were driving, he would yell ‘sheep!’ Perfect guide!

Steven surprised me by leading the bus of new friends (prompted by Tasneem and her husband) in a lovely rendition of ‘happy birthday’!

Highly coo–named Hamish!

We had amazing views of the highlands and lowlands.

Snow capped mountains, the highest peaks in Great Britain. Highlands!

This in the same stop as the snowy mountains in the distance.

And sheep, oh how I missed the sheep!

My FAVORITE story today……

Our first stop…in Pitlochry (pronounced Pit lock ree) I stopped to chat with a couple who were out walking their rather large dog (sorry no pic, but picture a very large white poodle with longish shaggy hair). I asked if I could say hello to the dog and asked the husband what his name is, he tells me ‘Seiko’. He continued, ‘you know, like the watch……he was supposed to be a ‘watch-dog’, but likely all he watches is time go by!

Conversations with locals in Scotland or Ireland, you just never know what your gonna hear, but you gotta do it!

Thank you all for thinking of me on my birthday, I feel I’ve shared a very special one with all of you!