MacBackpackers Trip

Oh man, I'm already worried about how long this is going to be and how I am going to limit the amount of pictures I add. Apologies in advance for the length, but if you have time, it should be worth the read.

So I booked a 3 day tour with MacBackpackers. Here's the tour details and a map of where we drove: http://macbackpackers.com/tour/3_day_loch_ness_and_skye

Day 1: We (29 tourists, most in their 20s) took off from a hostel in Edinburgh at 9am. Our first stop was The Hermitage, a national forest. The waterfall and river running through it was beautiful! After lunch in a wee town, we stopped at Ruthven Barracks. Then the group decided we would go on a whisky tour, so we headed for Tomatin distillery. I found that Scotch whisky was better than Irish whisky, but I still don't really care for the stuff. Next stop: the site of the Battle of Culloden. At this point I was completely wipped out and it was raining anyway, so I spent the majority of that stop at the cafe. Near that was the Clava Cairns (on right), piles of rocks formed into "igloos" used for burying people and a "calendar". Our last stop of the day was Inverness, the capitol of the Highlands. There, I stayed in my first hostel, which actually wasn't too bad. I also went on a pub crawl with some other people from the bus.

Day 2: We started the day of with Loch Ness. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I did not spot Nessie. Some of the people on my trip were brave (or crazy) and went swimming in the loch, I only put my hand in. Then we stopped to take pictures at 2 different castles. One of them was where Made of Honor was filmed. So I got a little excited that I was basically in the presence of Patrick Dempsey and Kevin McKidd (a Scotsman!). Okay, now to the hardest part of the day: hiking to the Old Man of Storr. I tried to Google how steep up and how far the walk was and as far as I can tell, it's 2,359 ft high and about a 2 mile walk one way (but of course I walked back as well). Pictures from the hike:

Okay, so most difficult hike/walk I have ever been on. Ridiculously hard. But hey, I can say I've done it! After the exhausting hike, we stopped at Kilt Rock (named for the kilt-like "pleats" formed by the rock). Dinosaur footprints were found there! How cool is that? Alright, so second (third?) big adventure for the day: I tried haggis. Haggis is made from the innards of the sheep. If you think of it like a hot dog or sausage, it makes it more bearable. So my haggis was covered in oats so I got more oats than haggis. Not sure if that's cheating but I can cross it off my list. It wasn't too bad, but not too good either. I did feel more Scottish after eating it though! Now my flatmate says I must try black pudding (don't even look that up - you will regret it). Spent the night in hostel #2 on Skye, and I got the best bed in the room - no bunk!


Day 3: We had a large distance to cover to get back to Edinburgh, so there weren't too many stops. We went through the beautiful Glencoe. A glen is a valley, so Glencoe was formed through a bunch of mountains. During the lunch break, I took a walk down the valley to the river. Clearest water I've ever seen, so I had to have a drink! Then we got back on the bus and we stopped to see the world's cutest animals - hairy coos! (cows) I seriously love them, I mean, c'mon how adorable is this baby hairy coo? Okay okay, next stop: the Wallace Monument in Stirling. William Wallace was this badass dude who fought for Scottish Independence. He was also quartered, which means they cut up his body into four pieces and sent them off to cities across Scotland and England to prove a point. Gross. Anyway... they built this big monument to him so I paid the bit of money and climbed to the top. You think after walking up all these spiral staircases and mountains and such that I would be less scared of heights, but no. Still a little terrified, especially when the wind is blowing through the windows. So here is a picture of me after climbing all 246 steps (go me!). Then we arrived back in Edinburgh. Absolutely wonderful trip, but equally as exhausting. Took me 2 days to recover, which is why I am so late getting this out.

Also, if you're wondering why I wasn't at school on Monday, it's because it was May Day! I think I should look that up because I have no idea why it's celebrated.