Haggis, Highlanders and Hairy Coos

Day 2 of Highlands tour - Inverness to Isle of Skye - 4th August 2009

Day 2 begun much the same way as the first day did. Showers, breakfast and on the bus by 9. Today's journey was seeing us make our way from Inverness to the Isle of Skye with plenty of stops along the way.

The first stop was one of my favourites for the trip. It was a place called the "Clootie Well". It was just in some bushland, not that far from Inverness and the folklaw goes that you must dunk some fabric or clothing into the well and make a wish whilst doing so, then tie the clothing to a nearby tree. As the fabric rots over time then your wish will come true. Colin had a few cool little stories about the well, like the woman who for years couldn't get pregnant, then after visiting the well was knocked up. And since he's seen the rival soccer scarf hanging from a tree, Colin's team has never been higher than the rivals on the ladder. It was a pretty cool place with lots of s*** hanging around on trees. Quite a novel way to start the day.

It was then off to some more forest land, where we did a small hike through the bush until we came to some waterfalls. The place was called the Rogie Falls, and it had a small suspension bridge that went across the top. It was pretty scary as it wobbled up and down and side to side when you were standing on it. The water falls were pretty cool and a couple of people saw some salmon leaping up out of the water.

We then has a bit of a drive until we arrived to the northern seaside fishing village of Ullapool. This place was only small but it had a really good vibe to it. Being on the western coast, Ithought it would be a great place to try some fresh local seafood. I was not disappointed, it was fantastic. We sat by the beach and enjoyed lunch undisturbed by the seagulls (They're not as annoying as the ones back in Aus but twice the size) until some dickwad of an old man started throwing bread to them right at our feet. We wandered around the town a little longer before jumping back on the bus.

Just outside Ullapool we stopped at a place called the Corrieshalloch Gorge. We trekked down the side of a really big hill and found this cool old suspension bridge that crosses the gorge. It was a mere 60m drop from the bridge into the gorge below, so some scardy cats (including the guide) decided not to cross it. It also wobbled around when you walked across it, so it was rather terrifying. Only 6 people were allowed on the bridge at any one time, which meant that you couldn't really dilly dally when out there otherwise we'd have been there all day. Some spectacular waterfalls fell pretty much under the bridge, and the photos really don't do it any justice as to how deep it really is.

From here we had a decent drive towards Skye. We drove along the side of train tracks, which is in the top 10 of the most scenic train journeys in the world. It was spectacular. I have no idea what the name of the mountain range was, but beautiful bodies of water, and mist also surrounded them; it was pretty amazing. The Asians decided that they didn't want to see the beauty and they shut all their curtains on the bus, hence partly ruining our view also. We had a quick toilet stop at a place that consisted of a train station and souvenir shop (?!?!) and were told not to walk on the train tracks as it is a hefty £1000 fine if caught, not to mention the danger of being hit by a train. Of course our friends headed straight over to them, but must have found some common sense and at the last minute decided that they didn't really need a photo of themselves playing on the train tracks.

Our last stop of the day was also another favourite, and it was the first sprinkling of rain we'd seen. It was at the Eileen Donan Castle, just near Skye. The castle is one of the most photographed monuments in Scotland and has been in a heap of well-known movies such as: Highlander, James Bond: The world is not enough, Elizabeth and Made of Honor. We had a quick tour through from a rather bizarre old Scottish lady who made no sense whatsoever. It was a pretty cool 13th century castle, which had been pretty much completely destroyed, but rebuilt in the early 1900's. A local family, who occasionally live in the private residences of the castle, privately own it. You can even hire it for weddings, parties, anything, at a cool cost of a couple of thousand pounds for an hour.

From the castle it was only a short trip over a big bridge and we'd finally reached our home for the next two nights, The Isle of Skye, off the western coast of Scotland.

We checked into our hostel and had a choice of two pubs (One of which was downstairs to our hostel - the other directly across the road) in the small town of Kyleakin where we were staying. Both pubs were having live music, but we had a good tip that the band across the road was better. The 6 of us (The other aussies and the dutchies) strolled over to find no spare seats for dinner, so we were left to go back to the first pub to eat. A disappointing menu, but we were hungry so it did the job. After tea we headed back to the busier pub and joined the rest of the group. We watched the beautiful sunset, whilst getting attacked by Midgees (Scottish version of mozzies), and downing a few cold ones. The band started up and they were pretty cool. Celtic style music with some new stuff thrown in for good measure. They even had the whole group try out a bit of a barn dance, but it was a complete mess. Dan and I decided to call it a night, and head back to the hostel. Considering we had to walk through the other bar to reach our room, we thought a nightcap was in order. The band playing at the other pub were also kinda cool. Just a bagpiper and a guy on a small drum and a guitarist; More authentic local music I suppose. We were warned about a local guy also named Colin, who we were told to steer clear of. I have a weirdo magnet and of course we quickly found ourselves engaged in conversation with the 60 year old with the Mohawk. He just wanted to spread love around the world or some crap. After he'd left us he walked back past us and even kissed the back of my neck. Creepy much. After this is was definitely time for bed.