Recap: Scotland, Day 2

My second day in Scotland was devoted to a tour of the Highlands, and as much as I LOVED Edinburgh, I'm so happy I got out of the city and saw more of the beautiful country. I got up bright and early and went to the meeting point - Rabbie's Cafe, associated with  Rabbie's Small Group Tours (available from London, Dublin, Glasgow, and Edinburgh). I got there thirty minutes early, just in time for the cafe to open, and had a really delightful cup of Scottish breakfast tea and a croissant stuffed with ham and cheese for breakfast. They also had snacks, sandwiches, and soups, so if you're in the mood for alliteration, you can find that there, too. I wanted to stay hydrated, so I nabbed a bottle of water for the road, too. Just around 0800, I hopped into a van with 16 other people and the second we hit the road, it started snowing. As the snow kept up in Edinburgh for most of the day, I was glad to NOT be walking around in it. And as luck would have it, we had miraculous weather for nearly our entire excursion! 

The Kelpies Photo from:www.visitscotland.com

Our guide was Dave, and he kept up a decent commentary on the sights and mixed in some topical Scottish music. One of the first things he pointed out was a canal in Falkirk, heralded by two enormous stainless steel horse statues. I was expecting some normal-sized statues, maybe 15 or 20-feet in height, but these horse heads were over 30 meters tall! They are called The Kelpies and were designed by Andy Scott. I guess Scotland has seen a resurgence of interest in their canal systems - which used to be more important in terms of North Sea transit shortcuts and industry movement, but are more and more frequently used by kayakers, canoers, and crew teams. Scotland also has a really long history of using horses to pull ploughs, wagons and even barges. 

Doune Castle Photo from: www.visitscotland.com

Next up, we had pretty good views of two very important castles: Linlithgow Palace and Doune Castle. There's been a building on the site of Linlithgow Palace since at least the 11th Century, and the current structure was once the "pleasure palace" for the Stewarts. My brain just boggles at this, and how people can trace lineage and history that far back in time. Doune Castle in its present form dates to the 14th century, though there was definitely a castle on that site much earlier than that. I've read the first four of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books, but I haven't finished the series, nor have I watched the tv show. However, Doune Castle is used for both interior and exterior scenes. And guess what else: it's the setting for Winterfell in Game of Thrones! It's also featured really heavily in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. So yeah, cool. I wouldn't mind going back and poking around at either place.

Linlithgow Palace Photo and quote above from: www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

Somewhere in between the two castles, I saw my first - but certainly not my last - deer of the day. I asked Dave about it, and he said Scotland has four types of deer and no remaining natural predators, so deer are quite overpopulated in many parts of the country. This close to Edinburgh, he said the deer I spotted was a roe deer. Sure, sounds good. All I know is it was a deer and it had a very white butt. Later on, we saw herds and herds of giant red deer, especially around the snow line as the weather drove them down from the hills. Also: sheep. Scotland has sheep EVERYWHERE. And let me tell you, they really blended into the snowy areas! I spotted my first one by the red paint tagged on its back before I realized I was looking at a critter. After about five minutes, the sheep became less interesting because there were simply so many of them. (Although for the first five minutes, I had fun saying "Bah Ram You" in my head. And then I started thinking about ticks and poop and quickly started looking for more castles.)

View of the River Teith from near St. Kessog's Hill

We took our first pit stop in the town of Callander mid-morning. I followed Dave to a local bakery called Mohr's and bought a sandwich for lunch, and a meat pie for a snack. I got to eat the meat pie while it was nice and toasty, and it was delicious! In Scotland, you can call a meat pie a pasty, which I think is more English, or a bridie, which is how they were labeled in Mohr's. I wandered down behind the bakery and found myself on the banks of the River Teith. I watched an older gentleman feed the swans and ducks for a few minutes, and then climbed to the top of St. Kessog's Hill. (St. Kessog originated in Ireland and used to be the patron saint of Scotland.) I learned that the town is known as the gateway to the Highlands, where the Lowlands meet the Highlands, and that the former church is now a visitor's center. You'd never know it from a sleepy winter Saturday morning, but I get the impression that town gets very popular in the summer months. It looked like there were lots of interesting trails around, but I didn't have any time to explore further. 

Dave also gave us some history of the Stirling area, much of it to do with William Wallace and Robert I, aka Robert the Bruce. We got a recap of the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the Battle of Bannockburn, as well as a few reasons the movie "Braveheart" is historically inaccurate. (In fact, nearly every Scot I met made it a point to tell me just how woefully inaccurate that movie really is.) Oh and did I mention we passed Stirling Castle? It is situated high on a hill and commands a truly magnificent view. Apparently it is also one of the best-preserved Renaissance castles in all of the UK, but sadly, we didn't stop. Due to its location, it is one of the most strategic castles in all of Scotland, and you could probably write a dissertation on its importance in Scottish (and English) history. 

First pit stop. Thumbs-up to Rabbie's for the awesome tour.

 We passed several lakes - I mean lochs - including Loch Lubnaig, Loch Liebhann, and Loch Linnhe. I really hope I got those spellings right, but I could be way off. I learned that many places in Scotland have two names - and English name and a Gaelic name (pronounced Gal-lick, not Gay-lick), but that most of the lochs retain the original Gaelic spelling and pronunciation. Some of the lochs are freshwater and others, like Linnhe, are salty and are thus referred to as "sea lochs." Many of the lochs run along Scotland's natural fault lines, and some of them are quite deep. We also drove through Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, though we didn't get to actually see the loch. Too bad, as every time I heard the name I got the song stuck in my head. Actually, Scotland only has two national parks, and we drove through both of them! Apparently Scotland has some of the world's most liberal land access policies, so the designation of official national parks is relatively recent. They pretty much adhere to the "Leave the Gate as Found" policy and apparently it's illegal to prohibit people from accessing property, even if it's private property. I'm sure there are more subtleties to it than that, but that's the general gist. Oh I also learned that Scotland has over 300 mountains that are taller than 3,000 feet. The tallest, Ben Nevis - incidentally the tallest mountain in all of the British Isles (sorry for the parentheses again, but the 56 tallest mountains in the UK are all in Scotland) - was confirmed by a man called Sir Hugh Munro, who also generated the first mostly-complete list of all of the tall peaks in Scotland. In his honor, the 3,000-footers are referred to as Munros, and Munro-bagging is the attempt to climb all of the 3,000+ mountains in Scotland. We were very lucky in that we got to view Ben Nevis from several angles and the peak was visible, not buried among the clouds as is normal, particularly in wintertime. 

We also drove across Rannoch Moor, which is one of the largest and last wilderness areas in Europe. It is very boggy, full of the infamous Scottish peat, and is where I saw my first red deer. the U.K. is something like the 12th largest country in Europe, but Scotland is home to 25% of the continent's energy potential. Dave said they are very blessed with renewable resources, and the government has made a commitment to the country to be fully reliant on renewable energy by 2020. (Dave says it's more likely to be 2022 or 2023, but still, they seem to be ahead of most of the rest of the world.) Already, they get nearly half their energy from wind and water action, despite having huge reserves of fossil fuels. We passed quite a few windmills and a few dams that were used to power now-defunct "aluminium" plants but still provide power to the grid. We saw solar panels as well, but they're not as efficient as in other parts of the world due to Scotland's Northern latitude and significant cloud cover and precipitation. 

Just the view from a pit stop on the road. NBD.

Okay back from the scientific tangent. One of my favorite pit stops was Glen Coe. A glen is another term for a valley, and we drove right through it and had amazing views of the Three Sisters Mounts, among others. It was so clear we could even look through the valley and see the River Coe at the other end, and Dave was able to point out where Highland clans known for cattle-stealing would stash the cows to keep them hidden from foes (I think he was referring to the MacDonalds but I don't want to get in trouble for libel if I'm mis-remembering!). Dave told us a lot about volcanoes, but I don't seem to have absorbed much of that information, other than to say that most of Scotland consists of defunct volcanoes. We stopped at the Glen Coe Visitor Centre, but I spent most of my time taking pictures instead of reading the display, and I also grabbed a mint tea and used the facilities. 

I might be getting my timeline mixed up (and heaven forbid I actually refer to a map as I type) but I think next we drove through the town of Fort William, the largest settlement in the Highlands. Scotland has a population of 5 million. About half a million live in Glascow and nearly another half a million live in Edinburgh, and about 70% live in the middle of the country or in the Lowlands. Most Highland towns have a few hundred people, maximum, and the population is very very scattered and hearty in the Northern part of the country due to the mountainous terrain and harsh weather. Anyway, Fort William is one of the biggest cities in the Highlands, and it has a population of about 10,000, or about the size of Astoria, Oregon. It is near both the Rivers Nevis and Lochy (Ha, there's a Loch Lochy, which does not mean Lake Lakey, but it still makes me giggle!) and Loch Linnhe, and it's known for its water sports, bicycling, and access to great walking and hiking paths. Oh and while I'm thinking of things that made me giggle, I remember two places that tickled my funny bone: Golden Larches and the Thistle Stop Cafe. 

The only monster I saw all day

Where the river meets Loch Ness

Did I mention it was cold?

Finally, we approached our real destination: the town of Fort Augustus on the Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness. Interestingly, Loch Ness is not the largest lake in Scotland by surface area, but when you take into account its depth, it is the largest lake by volume in the entirety of the UK! When we got to Fort Augustus, we drove and parked along the canal where it meets the loch. I walked up the canal past five or six locks. Fort Augustus is tiny, with a population of about 300, and in the winter not many things are open. I'm glad I grabbed my sandwich in Callander, because otherwise it would have been gas station food for lunch! After I walked up and down the canal, I got in line for my boat ride. While I didn't get seasick, I can say that by and large it was one of the more unpleasant boat rides I've ever had, because it was COLD and there was nowhere to hide from the wind. Well, I could have hidden inside, but then it would have been really crowded and I wouldn't have had a very good view, so really it's my own fault for electing to stay topside. And frankly, it was kind of boring. I did see a goat - a feral goat, not a true mountain goat, and the lake was kind of pretty, but meh. I didn't even see any sea monsters! Allora. If my choices were to wander around the closed up wintertime town or take that freezing cold boat ride again, I think I'd wander around until I found the single open pub and park there. There seemed to be a fair amount of shops, just the wrong time of year for enjoying them. 

Both goats and deer are becoming problems in Scotland. I mentioned earlier that there are no known remaining natural predators, so they are overpopulated and preventing growth of much of the natural fauna. Scotland used to be home to wolves and lynx, but the last known Scottish wolf was killed hundreds of years ago. There's talk of reintroducing wolves, but many people are concerned, especially cattle and sheep farmers. Dave says that although lynx were thought to be extinct in Scotland before the middle ages, there have been recent claims of lynx sightings. Regardless, I don't think an official reintroduction will be happening any time soon, despite success stories in some parts of the U.S. Successful wolf reintroduction in the States has only been accomplished in areas where the wolves can roam freely, and Scotland doesn't really have any equivalent ginormous free wildlife areas because hey, it's an inhabited island and space is at a premium. I don't think wild boar eat deer either, except maybe the occasional fawn, but they're pretty much extinct in Scotland as well with the probable exception of some farm escapees. 

Pattack Falls

Anywho, the stop at Loch Ness was one of our last stops before booking it back to Edinburgh. We were able to take advantage of sunlight and stop at the River Pattack, home of the Pattack Falls, just before sunset. This was probably my favorite stop of the entire trip, and I enjoyed tramping around in the woods and looking at the river. There's even a viewing platform where you can look almost directly down onto the waterfall. There were many walking paths originating (or perhaps culminating) here and it seems like it would be a great place for a hiker to explore, or for mountain biking if that's allowed. I saw lots of footprints, but no bike tracks, but I don't know if that's because it's not allowed or because it was the wrong time of year, or simply because no bikers have been there since the last precipitation.

We got back into our van and headed back to Edinburgh. We saw many many more deer and sheep, and some beautiful mountains and lochs in the glow of sunset. It started snowing again, and we even saw some cloud iridescence so I got a little rainbow action, too. All in all, a fantastic day.