Haggis, Highlanders and Hairy Coos

Day 4 of Highlands tour - Isle of Skye to Oban - 6th August 2009

Day 4 saw some beautiful weather again as we headed off Skye. We stopped for a few photos as we got off the island, and we stopped again for more photos back at Eileen Donan Castle as the weather was much better for photo taking than the first time we were there. We also did a couple of group photos which will get emailed back to us. We also did a Taiwan group photo where we all took the piss out of the girls and imitated their stupid poses that they've done all week.

We stopped at a war memorial on the side of the road, and it just happened to also be at the base of Ben Nevis - The largest peak in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately we weren't able to see quite right to the top of it, as there was a few clouds obscuring the view. Colin said he's only been able to see all of it 11 times this year, which isn't much considering he can be up there twice a week sometimes. It was pretty bloody big, and I'm glad they didn't make us climb that one.

We stopped next at Glenfinnan, where there is a memorial to the Bonnie Prince, who we learned lots about over the week, and it is also where the Glenfinnan Viaduct is. This is much more famously known as the "Harry Potter Bridge". We had to trek up a long, muddy path to get to a view point of the bridge, but I was left underwhelmed by it. Maybe it's because I'm not a Harry Potter fan!

We moved on to Fort William where we stopped for some lunch. It is another largish town, which plenty of shops to choose from, so we just wandered through and looked in all the windows.

Back on the bus after lunch and it really started to rain quite heavily. It's so strange how quickly the weather changes up here. It puts Melbourne to shame. By the time we'd reached Glencoe it had eased up a little bit, however I slept through most of the story about Glencoe and Dan had to fill me in once we got there. It was basically and big mountain range and the site of some big battle between the Campbell clan and the MacDonalds. (Dan: The Glencoe Massacre, where the Campbells killed 39 MacDonalds while they were sleeping for not signing a peace treaty in time, and after the MacDonalds gave the Campbell militia food and a bed for a few weeks. It only stopped when one of the Campbells attacked a pregnant woman. To this day there is a pub near Glencoe that states; "No Hawkers or Campbells", which was held up in court a few years ago!). It was good we'd finally be able to wear our new acquired rain coats. We walked up to the mountains and across a little bridge where some people when down and drank from the river. Apparently this water that flows off the mountains is of better quality that most bottled water. I couldn't be bothered trying to navigate my way down to the side of the river. We didn't spend long here because of the rain, but it was a pretty cool place.

On the way to our overnight stop in Oban, we stopped at a little place called Appen. Colin explained that this is where his family originated from and told a few little stories about the clan and the place. We stopped on the side of a Loch and took some photos before climbing back on to the bus for some quiz time. There was some more t-shirts up for grabs (We'd already been given white macbackpers ones, but this time there was some fancy green and blue ones!) Colin just yelled out questions about the places where we'd been. Of course Dan and I were the first winners, followed by the other two Aussies, and then the Dutchies. Probably because, we were the only fluent English speakers on the bus, and the only ones who stayed mostly awake to listen to them. So Dan and I ended up with an extra t-shirt each, and happy as pigs in s***.

We got to our hostel in Oban, and of course the Taiwanese girls became another major hassle. They didn't explain that they wanted girls dorms (Which the hostel doesn't do) so we had to shuffle people around between rooms so they could have their way. Everyone had no lost all patience for them. We chilled for a bit, then set off to grab some tea. We picked a nice pasta place down on the harbour. It was really yummy and just what I'd been wanting for the past week. We had to dash from dinner to meet everyone at the Skippinish Ceilidh House. (Pronounced "Kaylee") We didn't really know what to expect,, but it was an absolutely fantastic night. Ceilidh, means gathering in Gaelic, and that's exactly what it was. Lots of traditional Scottish music including a completely awesome bag piper, and some highland dancing. Throughought the night, they got everyone up and taught us some Ceilidh dances, which although there really hard work, were lots of fun. The place turned into a sauna form all the sweaty people, so we had to escape from time to time outside for some fresh air. We left the party just before it ended, around 11, as we were completely knackered and got a great nights sleep.