Travel Stop: Scotland Day 3

Kerri and I with our guide Brian.

After leaving out hotel, penniliess, and heading off the Isle of Skye back to the mainland, we made a quick stop to take a look at where the Black Cuillin meet the Red Cuillin. I mentioned these ranges before but here are a few photos to better see.

The Red Cuillin

Again the thing that makes them really interesting is that they are formed from completely different rocks.

The Red Cuillin on the left. The Black Cuillin on the right.

Bonnie Prince Charlie passed these mountains on his way to the island of Raasay to await a ferry to take him to France and then on to Italy. It's here that the MacLeods (clan involved with Dunvegan castle) took him in and sheltered him before he moved on to another family. The British found out about this and burned every house on the entire island and ran off the livestock. Basically, the British made the island uninhabitable.

You can see the island in the background where there are a few houses

MacLeod made attempts to reestablish the island but in 1843 he emigrated to Tasmania. About 100 years after it was destroyed. In the 1940s the British established a radio station on the island during the war, but after the war it was abandoned again. It wasn't until recently that some houses were built there and now it has a population of about 200 people.

Bonnie Prince Charlie made his way to Broadford and hid with the family MacKinnon until he was finally able to catch the ferry to France. Now, apparently, in order to thank the MacKinnon family, Bonnie Prince Charlie gave them his family secret recipe for Drambuie, a Scottish liqueur, which the MacKinnon family still owns today. 

At this point I got really excited because one of my assignments was to try a drink called a rusty nail; Scottish whisky and Drambuie. My dad mentioned how he used to drink them, and so I was going to try and find some in honor of him. I was so excited that there was actually a story behind the liqueur. This picture I have of Drambuie I took on a boat while touring Loch Ness. I asked the bartender if I could take a picture of the bottle for my dad. His response, "Tell your dad he'll get a drunker if he drinks it instead of looks at it."

Me: Do you have a rusty nail?
Bartender: Ohhhh rusty nails. Those taste like ecstasy.
The bartender didn't have ice, so he made me a  shooter instead.

Eventually we made our way off the Isle of Skye and back onto the mainland, heading toward Ft Augustus and Loch Ness.

Isle of Skye bridge

To finish the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie, he eventually made it to Rome and died in 1688. The British say it was due to alcoholism, but as our ever Scottish guide Brian put it, "you can never trust the British." So, who knows for sure. His brother had decided to become a Catholic priest and never had any children, and neither did Charlie. Therefore the family line died off.

Finally, a bagpiper at Ft Augustus

Waiting for the canal to fill up to pass through. 

Ft Augustus sits on Loch Ness. And it's from here we embarked on our monster hunt on the waters of Loch Ness. Loch Ness reaches 800ft deep at some points and it is about 24 miles long. So in other words, it's as deep as 5 Statue of Liberites stacked on top of each other and big enough that you could fit the entire world population inside of it, ten times over. 

Loch Ness: The water gets it's black color from all the peat.

The legend goes that around 565AD St Columba came to the people on Loch Ness in order to teach them religion. He was having an open air meeting at the top of the loch and basically the people said, if your religion is really as good as you say it is, then get rid of the monster. Originally, Nessie resided on land. One day it's said that St Columba saw a man being attacked by the monster and St Columba shouted to the monster, 'Be gone beast! Go into the water and never return!'  And the beast obeyed. This even was recorded and therefore became the first recorded sighting of Nessie. 

Nessie just sayin hey!

We're sayin hey!

There is also a legend that after being banished to the water, the monster tried to climb back out of the loch, but slid back down. The photo to the right shows where this supposedly happened. They would try and catch the monster with salmon, 6 salmon rivers feed into Loch Ness, and a bottle of vodka. When they would check, the salmon was always gone, but not the vodka. "They should have used a fine bottle of Scotch whisky."

After Loch Ness, we made our way back to Edinburgh and stopped at the Commando Memorial, where we also had a view of Ben Nevis. The highest 'mountian' in the UK at 4,400ft. It's only visible 1 day in 6, so...we were not really able to see it. 

Commando Memorial: Within three years of training there the Scottish troops had received 38 battle medals and 4 Victoria Crosses, the highest honor. Brian was very proud to point out that the Scottish are great warriors.

What should be Ben Nevis

After a short stop we set off to Glencoe. By the way, if your last name is Campbell, I'm probably prejudiced against you now because of the following story. The MacDonalds and the Campbells hated each other. The clans were supposed to swear their allegiance to the King and basically, the MacDonalds didn't do it as quickly as the head of the Campbell clan would like, so when Old MacDonald (there really was an old MacDonald!) went to Inveraray to swear the oath, it was recommended that the MacDonalds be punished for taking the oath late. It was an insult to the King! 

So in February of 1692, a group of British soldiers under the command of Robert Campbell came from Ft William and made themselves known to the MacDonalds. Apparently, if an enemy came to your doorstep and didn't look dangerous, you were to give them hospitality, which is what the MacDonalds did and their hospitality was accepted by Campbell and his men. 

On the morning of February 13th, 1692, 120 British soldiers, under Campbell's command attacked and murdered 38 innocent men, women and children. Some were able to escape in the cold night into the hills, but eventually died from the cold. The massacre came in that Campbell and his men had accepted the MacDonalds hospitality but severely abused it. That was a huge no-no, however, there was no 'official' proof that the King had signed the order to kill the MacDonalds and therefore no one was ever brought to justice.

Oh cruel is the snow that sweeps Glencoe and covers the grave O 'Donald. And cruel was the foe that raped Glencoe and murdered the house of MacDonald. 

They came in a blizzard, we offered them heat. A roof o'er their heads, dry shoes for their feet. We wined them and dined them. They ate our meat. And they slept in the house of MacDonald. 

They came from Ft William wi' murder in mind. The Campbells had orders King William had signed. Put all to the sword, these words were underlined. And leave none alive called MacDonald. 

They came in the night when the men were asleep. This band O' Argyles through snow soft and deep. Like murdering foxes among helpless sheep, they slaughtered the house of MacDonald. 

Some died in their beds at the hand of the foe. Some fled in the night and were lost in the snow. Some lived to accuse him that struck the first blow, but gone was the house of MacDonald.

 --Alister MacDonald

 Needless to say, in the following uprisings again the King, the MacDonalds were the first to join.

Callander, Scotland. Tourist town made famous from the 1960s TV series Dr Finlay's Casebook

Doune Castle. Any Monty Python fans might recognize this from Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Holy Grail. 

As we got closer to Edinburgh we began to hear the story about Stirling Castle and William Wallace. Because I'm tired and because most people know the story of William Wallace, I'm not going to go into too much detail. Basically Stirling Castle was built on the tall granite rock and there was only one way to get in, by way of a bridge. Wallace had been pretty successful at taking down the British Castles. Stirling was said to be difficult, but Wallace said, the bridge is the only way in, so lets surround the bridge. In 1297 Wallace's men and the British fought and Wallace won. Edward I was none too pleased. In 1298 they fought again and the British won and Wallace went into hiding. In 1305 he was captured and executed.  

In 1306 it was Robert the Bruce's turn to fight the British. When they defeated the British, they would burn the castles they didn't need. In 1314, Robert the Bruce finds himself at Stirling castle. And Like Wallace he basically surrounds the castle and then came the Battle of Bannockburn and the British were decidedly defeated.

This pretty much ends our 3 day tour to the Isle of Skye. The next day we were heading off to the border of England and Scotland. When we arrived in Edinburgh, Kerri and I decided to go eat at TGI Fridays. We had eaten there with our friend Pam two years before and had had an excellent time. Also, at TGI Friday's they accept credit cards. So, tired after the long journey, but happy to go eat a little American food, we went to off in search of TGI Friday's and found this:

Of course. Why wouldn't it have burned down? Nope. Not today, Kathleen. Not today.