Scotland

We just returned from Scotland where we suffered from 50-60 mph gales for three days.  Little did we know that North Carolina was being ravaged by hurricane Ivan while we were away.  This 300-mile-wide storm caused severe erosion, avalanches, road closures while 10 people died in the mountains in western NC.  As we rode the bus to our parking area  we saw twisted metal signs and uprooted trees at RDU airport indicating that the triangle area was not spared by Ivan.

Our adventure began on September 7th, 2004 with a late afternoon drive to Raleigh-Durham Airport to catch US Airways to Philly.  Where we had a mad dash followed by a wait for takeoff at 19:45.  Our meal was chicken bits steeped in broth, carrots in butter, mash.  The movie was Stepford Wives and I was glad that I hadn't brought my earphones.  The evening was made interesting when a woman yanked my arm during her collapse to the floor.  Asking if she was alright she shook her head and asked for a pillow.  A call for medical professionals brought a nurse and doctor to her side.  By morning I saw her, quite sanguine, talking with a friend in the aisle.  Couldn't sleep at all on the plane and by 2:37 Linda wants her coffee and sets up shop for MAKEUP.  I could see the islands of Scotland and at 3:28 we were banking for a landing at Glasgow airport.  I set my watch ahead 5 hours to 8:32.  We hurried to the bus stand #1 to catch the 905 bus to the Queen Station in Glasgow and enjoyed a very civil ride to Inverness on ScotRail.  I even was able to order a glass of wine.  Love the trains that still work over there.

I was to love Inverness even more.  The accommodations were lovely and just two or three blocks from the center of town.  Felstead Guest House is run by Anne and Diarmid Troup and they have won the Inverness Tourism Award in 2002 justifiably so.  The Waterside Restaurant just down the street provided us with many superb meals and with the Magner's Irish and Strongbow ciders that I would later get a craving for.  It is attached to the Waterside Hotel.  Another favorite of ours was the Mustard Seed restaurant which has a deck upstairs with a crystalline view of the river and all the casual passers-by.  All of these places have a view of the marvelous River Ness a broad, fast flowing body of water which appeared black because of the dark stones that lined the bottom.  Too bad that there is no town like that in the Research Triangle area.

My affection for Inverness was reinforced recently by my reading of Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island" in the concluding pages 318-321.

RDU	Tuesday Sept. 7th, 2004 departs at 17:25 hours	Arrive Philly and make mad dash to gate A22	18:12	6 hours 7 minutes to Glasgow	ScotRail to Inverness	Arriving to check at Felstead House on Wednesday afternoon	Lovely begonias
Inverness	Sept. 9th			Views from the Mustard Seed at lunch			Is this the Paris of the UK or what?
Battlefield of Culloden	Just jump on the red City Sightseeing Bus		Hear Linda's audio clip of the blind piper		Linda peeping out of thatched hut		A moment of silence at the monument
Cruise on Loch Ness	Sept. 10th	approaching the lock on the Caledonian Canal		Urquhart Castle		Angling the River Ness

Iain Thow was our guide for our journeys into the exciting landscape of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, including Ulapool, the Isle of Lewis, and the Isle of Skye.  Iain is an experienced guide for North-west Frontiers, a company specializing in walking and hiking holidays in Scotland.  He is knowledgeable in the complicated geology, archaeology and languages of the region and can sing a touching song out on the moors.  He was to prove a doughty hiker who came out in all weather to provide us with what we came for - a memorable experience.  He was able to convince even the weakest of heart that tomorrow's hike would be easier.  They went along and enjoyed it.

We met Mary and Bill in Inverness and Iain picked up the four of us at the railroad station in Inverness for our tour.  There we met the two other couples, Doug and Joan from San Luis Obispo, California and Russ and Mary from Toronto, Canada.

Ulapool	Saturday, Sept. 11th, 2004 14:00 hours	Iain picked us up at the Inverness RR station	15:13 hours	15:38 hours	Iain shows heather to Doug and Joan		at 400 ft.
Rhue, a test hike we surmised		Twilight on our way to the Point Restaurant,		Waterfront at Ulapool			Steak & Onion Rings
Gearing up for a coastal hike	Sunday, Sept. 12th, 10:07 hours			Linda leaping into this hike		Seascapes
Iain relaxing?	12:41 hours		Sure footed creatures - the sheep		and Iain leaping a chasm.		1000 ft. 14:51

At the Point Restaurant last night I had a cold langostine (these were 5 little lobster-like creatures about the size of a crayfish) salad followed by breast of duck with currant sauce.  Mmmm, that was good eating.  I promised myself that I would try as much of the wild game that we came across there.

Today's coastal hike from Reiff to Rubha Coigeach was brilliant and we only had to resort to our raingear three times.  Iain, if you read this please correct my gailic spelling.  In the evening we had supper at the FBI (Ferry Boat Inn) where I had the cod and Linda had the wild duck.

Morning in Ulapool	Sept. 13th	Departing on the Caledonian ferry McBrae at	10:09		13:19	Stornaway with Castle Lews in the background	Isle of Harris
Callanish!			Local renowned expert on standing stones at Calanais 3		Margaret R. Curtis
The weather closes in.		We're off to Dun Carloway					Mary exiting the fortress

This day I happily have seen standing stones to beat all other sites, Calanais.  I did not expect to see these things in the midst of my hikes but what a treat they were.  This was a photo op never to be equaled, with a marvelous azure sky and equally marvelous location.  I dream of having another moment there to find that perfect picture.  And the visit to the iron age broch site, Dun Carloway, was an equally amazing experience.  Wow!

Harris Hotel, Tarbert	Sept. 14th	Jonathan the seagull		Linda shared her weaving thoughts with	Katie Campbell	and what a grand view she has!	A world famous product
Hike to Macleod's stone	10:30				Iain knee deep in the sea foam
Hike to stacked stone church	13:58			Linda felt a mysterious bonding with the earth here.			No, someone did not vandalize our van.  Just junk.
Hike to Saint Clement's church	16:30	Ian tells of the origins of the short kilt.		Given a new roof by Capt. Alexander MacLeod in 1784		Tomb of Alexander MacLeod

But the excitement was not over.  Linda got to explore the weaving world of Harris tweed with Katie Campbell while some of us bought knitted hats, scarves, etc.  Then it was off to more standing stones and historic churches.

North Harris Estate	Wednesday Sept. 15th		Huisinis		Stag on the ridge	Isle of Scarp	See the movie Rocket Post
11:26	Group picture	Deer in the valley of wild garlic	Russ poking the jellyfish with his hiking stick.		Iain singing Wild Mountain Thyme		Touching moment
13:27	Black-faced sheep close-up		North Carolinians would envy such a private beach		On the way out to...		the pub!

The film "Rocket Post" had it's premiere here in the United States at the Stony Brook (NY) film festival on July 31st, winning their grand prize.  This was our long hike from Huisinis to Huiseabhal Beag (304 m) to the beach on Loch Crabhadail around Meilein to the large beach at Traigh Mheilein and back along the Caolias an Scarp from which we could see the Isle of Scarp.  Have to catch my breath after a sentence as long as that.  Hope I got it all right in my notes.  I don't know about the spellings.  Another absolutely lovely day but was Scotland misleading us?  The weather reports on the telly told of gales of 50-60 mph from the northeast.  Ominous.

Hike the beach near Shelibost (shell farm) school	Sept. 16th 9:40	lovely beach	Linda's video of the Crossing on the ferry from Tarbert to Uig	In Hebrid Seas We turned her prow into the sea, her stern into the shore, And first we raised the tall tough masts, and then the canvas hoar:			11:54
Isle of Skye waterfall walk	Winds blew the waterfalls back up the mountain.	Fast filled our towering cloud-like sails, For the wind came from the land, And such a wind as we might choose, Were the winds at our command:			A breeze that rushing down the hill Would strip the blooming heather, Or, rustling through the green-clad grove, Would whirl its leaves together.   from the Gaelic Bards
The winds ripped across this saddle...		and almost blew me off my feet.	Linda's video of the Waterfalls hike	Cooling off in the pub	16:11	the group finally manages smiles.	16:35

This was another eventful day.  Our passage across "The Little Minch" on the M.V. Hebrides III was the roughest sea passage I ever experienced.  Every now and then the ferry would lurch under an oncoming wave and the sea dashed our windows on the fifth deck.  That was an exciting ride except for those who were reaching for the nearest paper bag.

The walk along the beach was a nice start.  I wondered where the children were that attended the Shelibost School.  I wonder if they ever are allowed down to the beach for recess.  Do they swim there?  But the waterfall walk bore out the weather reports.  We were up there with gales passing over the ridge.  As we reached the saddle I was bent over on my hands and knees hoping the winds would magically calm.  They didn't.  Iain did get us out of there, however.  As we started down we went around a cliff on the left only to be buffeted by the gales again.  But to the right we went down a gully where we were protected from the wind.  What a relief to get down from there.  I was to learn that gales such as these will blow the slates off a roof.  The hard cider at the pub was refreshing.  The weather report that night was not too encouraging.  The gales would shift from the other direction (southwest) but would still be 50-60 mph.  Ech!

The Cuillin Hills	Sept. 17th			The hills look ominous - not able to see the tops of the hills.		The last battle of the Mac Leods and the McDonalds was fought here.
Linda's footage of The Cuillins	Lunch time			Where we fought a battle of our own with the elements...		To retire to the Sligachan Inn for a Magner's Irish Cider.
Relaxing and shopping at Aros	Sept. 17th	16:36		A civilized place to be after our bout with the winds of the North Atlantic		The Lodge had the date listed above the window as 1543!	Shorefield House
Bid farewell to Scotland	Sept. 18th	Loading the van for the last ride		To Inverness by the bridge at the Kyle of Lochalsh		On Scotrail again

Yes, indeed, we had gales again!  You can see that we prepared ourselves for rainy weather.  The brook that we hiked alongside of was roaring with blue, pure water and we had to scramble up some scree to get to a spot where we were able have lunch.  Iain could see that his greenhorns were tiring and headed us back down the slopes.  I only dreaded going back down that treacherous pile of loose scree.  We had a little fun when Iain taught Linda and Mary that they could slide down the wet grass with ease on their bums.  Mary came to rest by digging in her heels at the edge of a cliff.  Iain kept the ladies in tow close behind and helped them across the many brook crossings to get back to our van.  We relaxed at Seamus Bar in the Sligachan Inn which was named for Norman Collier's (chemist of note) collie dog and then went shopping at Aros.  The Aros was a theatre/shopping mall.  We had our supper at the Old School Restaurant where the red wine, probably a cab, was quite good.

On the 18th we sadly and quietly loaded up the van for our ride back to Inverness by way of the Kyle of Lochalsh.  Took us three and a half hours to get there.  At one intersection we saw two lovers kissing in the teeming rain...a rainbow to our right.  Beat that moment.  Iain tallied up our hikes to 31 miles and 5000 feet of elevation.  Linda summed it up, "A restful, strenuous holiday!"  Isn't that a contradiction?