SCOTLAND - September 2023

September 14-15, 2023

Since we were travelling all this way, I decided to book a few additional excursions – hiking trips in the Scottish Highlands and Cornwall England.  I love working travel logistics, but this was indeed a challenge!!

It shouldn’t be that difficult to travel from the west coast of Ireland to Northern Scotland, but it is. There is a Ferry from Belfast, but it only runs late at night and gets to a southwestern port of Scotland, so we’d still burn a day traveling to Inverness! We opted to fly, but flights out of Shannon had only two options: 7 am (would have been 4am departure from the Falls Hotel) or 5 pm. That option meant a lot of waiting on our hands. We arrived at Shannon at 10am with most of our group. We said goodbye and they checked in, cleared security and prepared to fly home. We couldn’t even check in for our flight until until 3pm. We found a nice table and passed the time playing cribbage - I got skunked by JT in back-to-back games, catching up my blog and reading. At 3pm, we checked in, cleared security, I figured out the VAT tax refund kiosk and got €18 back from my scarf purchase. We went to the bar and ordered pints of Guinness for a last, sad round while we tried to watch the cricket game on TV, then it was time to board our AerLingus flight to Heathrow. I’d booked these via British Air, and there was not even a business class - just one large packed plane full of people. We took our places in the 10th row and realized how spoiled we’ve been flying Delta Plus or First Class most of the last couple of years! It was a short one hour flight to London - no service other than the stewards with a cart of “Duty Free Cigarettes” that they were selling!

We arrived at Heathrow and figured out to clear customs and made our way via train from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5. That took about an hour, and we had two hours between fights. We found that our next leg to Edinburgh was a bit delayed, so we grabbed a burger and walked the designer shops in the terminal until they around a departure time and gate for our flight. This time we were sandwiched into the 17th row! We arrived in Edinburgh about 11pm, so late that they had us unload the plane via the stairs and load a bus to drive to the terminal. We claimed our bags and grabbed a cab for the very short ride to Moxy - a new funky Marriott brand that had a hotel a half mile from the airport. It was about midnight when we climbed into bed for a short nights sleep. We were glad we weren’t staying there long - it was a very comfortable bed with awesome pillows, but a tiny room with no closet and a tiny bathroom. Yoga wouldn’t have been possible in that room!

I’m not sure what I was thinking booking a hotel at the airport when we had 8:30am train reservation at the city center train station, but we had a lovely 30 minute cab ride into the city Friday morning and saw some of the sites of Edinburgh. I’m sure our cabbie would have pointed out more sites, but we really struggled to understand him!

We arrived at the train station in plenty of time to figure out how to print out our pre-purchased tickets from the kiosk and get the lay of the land. They didn’t announce our departure platform until 10 minutes before departure so we had a fast hustle to platform 16 but knew how to work the turnstiles and stash our suitcases so we were better off than many! On the first class train car, we shared a table with a nice couple (Jerry and Sherry) now living in Delaware, originally from California. We passed the three hours on the way to Inverness, swapping stories and hearing about what they had planned for their two weeks in Scotland. I remarked to Jeff that it was refreshing to connect so well with a couple after so many frustrating attempts at conversation with some of the others on our M&M trip - that was a tour of odd ducks (probably what they thought about us too no doubt). When we arrived in Inverness, Jerry offered to grab a cab that could take us to our rented cottage, but it was just a half mile and it was a nice sunny day (again!) so we opted to walk. We may see them tonight at one of the pubs they’d researched for music tonight.

We had an easy walk across the River Ness to our VRBO cottage and found the key in the lock box - always a relief. It’s a really cute little place with bed and bath upstairs and a tiny little kitchen and living space downstairs. A welcome change after two weeks of hotels. This is now our SEVENTH accommodation and we’re getting good at packing up and transferring - packing cube system is working well.

We were starving - only had an energy bite and a pack of shortbread cookies so far today and it was after 1pm. We walked around the corner and had a great lunch and then walked across the street to the grocery store to buy some provisions to make our own breakfasts for the next two mornings (no more big Irish Breakfasts for us!). Back to the cottage, Jeff plopped down on the leather sofa and declared it perfect for napping. These two days of travel, even with lots of downtime have worn us out so it’s good to have this time before jumping into phase three of this journey!

I did a yoga session while JT rested and worked on a Spanish lesson. At 7p we headed out again. The couple we’d met on the train said there would be live music tonight at Hootenanny’s or McGregor’s. We had dinner at McGregor’s which was a more modern place. We chatted with a nice couple from the Chicago area - again, I was relieved to be able to connect with another couple after last weeks’ tour - feeling hopeful about next week’s tour! The music there, however, was disappointing. A talented guy on piano, but doing covers of older American songs (particularly bad rendition of Folsom Prison Blues). After dinner and some yummy Scottish stouts, we headed to Hootenanny’s. A Scottish trio was just setting up to play, so we had single malt whisky (no “e” here in Scotland), and snagged to seats in front. The music was all instrumental - a talented guy on an accordion and he tried to chat up the audience but it fell a bit flat. I liked his kilt though - looked like it could have been a Carhart!

The town was hopping as we walked back to our cottage just before 10pm. Glad we’re in a quieter neighborhood!

Saturday September 16, 2023

Another sunny day - we’re sure blessed with good weather so far on this trip. I’d booked an all day “Outlander” tour through Viator, and our driver, Jim picked us up at our cottage at 9am for our private tour.

He was quite chatty, and had a large new van. We sat up front with him so we could get better views. It took us awhile to understand that this wasn’t strictly an “Outlander” tour … in fact, Jim knew little about the Outlander series only having watched one episode in his life. That was probably even better though and we just relaxed into historical and beautiful sites surrounding Inverness, which was wonderful on such a beautiful day.

We started with a beautiful drive to the little spa village of Strathpeffer - kind of dated now, but you can see that it was once a fantastic destination. From there, we drove down a little lane where we got a glimpse of the beautiful Castle Leod, which had been owned by Clan McKenzie. We got to talking about whisky, and Jim decided we should do a tasting, but first we detoured to Robertson's Farm, where they have animals on display that they’ve adopted - two Hairy Cows, three alpacas and three very fat goats! We bought a few things from their shop and had a good chat with owner, Karen.

Then we were on to Singleton distillery. We skipped the distillery tour and went right on to the tasting. At this location, Muir Of Ord, they distill and bottle only for consumption here in Scotland and for export to Japan. They have another location, “Singleton of Glendullan” that exports to the US so we’ll have to look for that. We each had a flight of the 12 year old whisky, and it was fantastic. Their tasting technique was a bit different than what we’d learned from Eugene a few nights ago - they encouraged smelling it, and adding two drops of water.

Our next stop was in Beauly, the home of the real Jamie Fraser (many by that name actually, from the Fraser’s of Lovat). We toured the ruins of a Priory from the 1500’s. It was in amazingly fantastic shape, missing the roof which was taken off to put on another church in the 1800’s! Amazing tomb markers there, all very old and you could just make out the writing. My favorite had Gaelic writing and symbols, with moss growing in the etched out areas.

Next we drove along Loch Ness - with two stops to get out and take in the view. Then back through the city of Inverness and to the Culloden battlefield. Quite honestly, my first knowledge of this battle came from the Outlander series, but I have read more about it and the Jacobite Rising since then. On April 16, 1746, nearly 2000 Jacobites were killed here in a battle that lasted only an hour. I found it odd that the other side was labeled as “government,” but I guess they were the British soldiers! The lost only 300 in the lopsided battle. In the aftermath, much of what made the Highlands unique was outlawed: Clans and their tartans, bagpipes, many supporters lost their land.

From there, we drove to Balnuaran of Clava - a Stone Age memorial site not unlike the tombs we’ve seen in Ireland. This was also the site of the “standing stones” that play a big part in the Outlander series, but the setting is very different than that shown in the series. I didn’t feel any major powers at the stones, and I’m ok with that!

It was late in the day, but we stopped by Fort George on our way back to the city. It would have been interesting to go in if we’d had more time, and also there was a Highlander Games taking part inside which would have been fun to see.

Jim dropped us off and we chilled at the cottage before walking to the main drag for an early meal of tapas at a cocktail bar. A very young and rowdy crowd out on this Saturday night! Back to the cottage for some cribbage and to watch Ireland win another rugby match in the World Cup contest (it’s starting to make more sense to us now)!

Sunday September 17, 2023

After another comfortable night in our little Inverness cottage, we packed up, converted our roller bags to their backpack configuration, and strapped our day packs on the front. Jeff rolled our smaller bag along with him. Weather-dot-com said it was is the thirties, so we set our with gloves and hats and our Gore-Tex jackets! We walked the 1.2 miles up to the Kingsmill Hotel, the site where we were to meet our Backroads group at 10am.

We arrived first, and it was fun to meet the first two couples that arrived - all from Wisconsin! They are veterans of many Backroads trips - this is our first experience with the company. Then a couple from Chicago arrived, then a newlywed couple (married Thursday in Inverness) arrived, then a mother/daughter/friend of mom … then two more couples that we’ve not yet interacted with much. Then we met our guides, Jenn and Keith, and our support person, Jules. More on all that later!

They piled all of our luggage into a large van, and we climbed into the three vans for a 90 minute drive to Torridon on the west coast of Scotland. The first 30 minutes of the drive I saw sights from yesterday, then we were climbing into the hills. We went past many lakes (lochs) and small villages. The terrain switched back and forth from forested areas to Heather-covered hills. After about an hour, we entered a National park area and a small one lane road with occasional turn outs for oncoming traffic. A slow way to travel - patience required. There were parking lots at trailheads full of cars and lots of RVs from all over Europe.

Eventually we got to the tiny town of Torridon where they’d arranged to have Liz from the Wee Whistle Stop Cafe shut down her cafe for the day and prepared lunch for us! It was a fantastic array of smoked salmon, salads and homemade bread. She’s also going to make our lunches the next two days - lucky us!

Keith gave a talk on how things will work overall and how we can us the Backroads app to be more self sufficient! He also was clear that their job is to make magic happen for us … and that we shouldn’t stew about something all week then hit them on the survey at the end of the trip! Jenn talked about safety, and our route for today’s hike.

Back in the vans for about a 10 minute drive to Loch Damh to start the hike - 4 miles along Loch Damh, the River Bagly, and along Loch Torridon until we get to our hotel. Not sure how they get the other vans back to the hotel, but I guess that’s how Jules works his magic!

It had rained a bit on the drive over, but the rain held off for the two hours that we hiked. It stayed cool, and I hiked with two layers and my rain jacket and was surprised I didn’t overheat! We walked through mud, puddles and rocks initially, but that last three miles was on nice wide trail - easy to walk and talk at the same time!

We enjoyed the hike, and what fun to arrive at the hotel and find Jules had coolers of drinks and snacks set out for us. I had a canned Gin and Tonic and some snacks; Jeff had a beer that was not the best, he said. Then we checked into The Torridon - a former hunting lodge turned luxury hotel. It’s quaint and rustic in the common rooms on the ground floor (with a whisky room and a library), but our suite is luxurious! Comfortable chairs overlooking the cow and the loch, a fantastic modern bathroom and massive comfortable bed. Two nights here - lucky us!

We showered and relaxed, then headed down to meet the group for a glass of wine in the library, along with another ice breaker. We headed to a group dinner after that, four amazing courses that were artistic in presentation. The wait staff gave us great detail on each portion, and between the six at our table we were somewhat successful at discerning what we were eating. Perfect portion sizes too!

After dinner, most of us retreated to the bar for some whisky. I sampled a more smoky variety this time - ok, but think I’ll stick to straight single malt going forward!

Monday September 18, 2023

Nice morning - yoga and breakfast and we were in the library at 8:30am to pick up our lunch boxes, whatever snacks we wanted for the day, and to have our daily briefing.

Jenn described that there are 282 Munro’s (mountains over 3000 feet) in Scotland and it’s sport to “bag” them all! We’ll walk on the foothills of a few of them, but not to the top. Some people vie for bagging them in record time in a self propelled manner - cycling or paddling to reach them!

The leaders decided not to offer the 11 mile hike today due to the rain last night. They’re concerned about slippery conditions. All 17 of us opted for the eight-mile, 1000 ft gain (most of it in the beginning) option. They enlisted the Local Taxi Driver, Donald McDonald (supposedly they’re two of them in town) to help with the shuttle today.

It was a quick 15 minute drive to the trailhead. Keith had said we might meet a Stag named “Collin” at the car park, and he was there to greet us and ask for a handout. I was kind of shocked when Keith fed him a banana. Seems wrong to encourage what should be a wild animal in that manner! Jenn said the locals look after him year around and a vet even comes by to check on him. Still seemed wrong.

We climbed a bit, then as we overlooked and old homestead, Keith gave us a chat on “Highland Clearances.” Ruins like the one we were viewing, are known in Scotland as “scars on the land”. After Industrial Revolution, the land was “cleared” of original landowners - many were offered one-way tickets to US / Australia / Patagonia. If they didn’t leave, the “sheriff” tore off the roof and burned the house. The land was developed into large hunting lodges and sheep grazing. Scotland’s system of land ownership is said to be one of the world’s most inequitable: 83 percent of the land is privately owned, and about half of it is owned by just 500 families - many not from Scotland originally, or living outside of Scotland.

People in this area had a great cultural hub - exported whisky. Many sheep herders from this area did go to Patagonia, and came back. The old traditions are being reestablished, which is refreshing.

Right to Roam - runs deep with Scottish people! Before “The Clearances,” many Scottish families earned their livelihood as “sustenance farmers” on public lands. Now land ownership is concentrated in a few hands, but all are free to enter and landowners must maintain the trails.

Keith grabbed a handful of Spagham Moss. He squeezed it to show us how it retains water. Dried out, it can be used as a wound dressing. Compacted, it becomes a peat bog. Keith’s grandma told him be careful of the Bog man (precursor of the boogie man). Bogs can be used to pickle and preserve things (bog butter).

This area would have had trees in the medieval days - lumber used for building and fires. Landowners now keep it open as a heather meadow for hunting purposes.

Jenn talked a lot, or rather, wondered out loud, about the creation of this landscape - water and glaciers, sedimentary rock and sandstone. It’s clear to see the glacier involvement, but were there also volcanoes and/or earthquakes? Such lovely, yet different rock and scenery. And the power of water - so much water coming out of the mountains and making its way to the sea!

A first for us while hiking, we took a break about an hour into the hike and Keith pulled out a bottle of Whisky and small paper cups. I skipped the cup and had him add a dram to my tea flask - hit the spot. As our break time was ended, it started to rain so I put my rain pants on. Since it had also gotten a little chilly, I added my puffy jacket under my rain jacket thinking I’d take it off in a bit … I didn’t!

The group started splintering, Kelli had a busted boot and Keith tried to tape it up for her, but it slowed them down. We got behind 4 others and the ladies seemed to be having a tough time with the terrain and were taking it slow. We all stepped aside to let some crazy mountain bikers through, and Jeff and I took the opportunity to pass them and work on catching up with the others (the 4 from WI and the 3 ladies). We caught them, but then had a stop in the rain so Jeff and I decided to sit and eat some lunch. Jules was there too, having hiked up from the end.

We continued our hike, odd being all alone now, but we enjoyed the solitude and the trail was obvious so we didn’t have concerns of being lost. The rain came and went, but we were warm inside our rain suits. The river grew larger and the number of waterfalls dumping into it increased in numbers and volume - very spectacular.

We reached the parking lot and found two Backroads vans (a third had driven away just as we reached the end of the trail). John and Rhydian (the newlyweds) were there, along with the coolers full of drinks. I grabbed a Gin and Tonic and climbed in the van as the rain increased and I wanted to finish my lunch! About 15 minutes later, Jules came back and picked up the 4 of us and delivered us back to the hotel.

We went up to our room. Jeff showered, then I took a long, not bath. I could barely stand afterwards - maybe it was too hot. I laid on the bed trying to cool off enough to get dressed with JT napped. We dressed, grabbed some umbrellas and walked to another bar/restaurant on property for a wine tasting session, followed by dinner.

The wine tasting was led by Shane, originally from France. He came to The Torridon six years ago for a six month gig, but fell in love with it here. He said what he likes best is the people are so nice! He added “you know how we are in France!” We tried three difference single malts - I liked all, but preferred the non-peaty varieties. Here are some other facts we learned:

Five Types of Scotch

Single Malt

Blended Malt Scotch Wiskey

Single Grain (corn etc added to Barley)

Blended grain

Blended scotch (Johnny Walker Red)

France is the top consumer of Scotch Whiskys

The Angels Share - check out the movie

We had a nice dinner sitting with John and Rhydian, learning more about them. Afterwards, we headed back to the main building and had a nightcap (Scottish version of Bailey’s on the rocks) and chatted more with Shane.

Tuesday 8/19

I should know better than looking at weather.com each morning, but it’s what I do. Temp was in the low 40s and rain until 10am, psyched myself out, but still I prepared for another wet day.

It’s “moving day” today so we were up at 6am packing again. Had some time for stretching and Jeff had a hot chocolate and sat and read in our sitting area. Down for breakfast which started at 7:30am, but they’re a bit unorganized and we barely got and finished our food before the 8:30am round up in the library.

We picked up our sandwiches and reloaded our snack bags and headed out. All but 2 people opted for the long option, but another 2 only hiked up a ways and then turned back.

That left 13 hikers plus Jenn and Keith today doing the 9 mile route up and over the pass. The magic somehow happens to get the vans to the end of our route.

Up the hill, we warmed up fast and sun came out! I was undecided about starting with my puffy coat and rain pants layer, but was pretty warm once we got to the top. Some even went down to T-shirts! We stopped at the top to view the deer on the hillside watching us, and Keith gave us a little chat about the Highland Games:

Must wear a kilt with a pair of shorts, t-shirt, hose and boots

Evolved differently in US (steroids), drug tested here in Scotland.

Shot put (cannon ball)

Hammer Toss

Caber (with waterlogged telegraph pole) stand it up and run with it to try to stand it up

The sun stayed out for sometime, but the breeze was cool and I kept my shell on and eventually even added my wool cap and light gloves.

We had a more serious river crossing jumping stones. I went first and was glad for long legs and good balance! I got to the other side and did a “time lapse” video of everyone crossing. Keith helped Cathy across, but then she lost her balance and fell into the side stream! Everyone offered dry clothes and she was fine the rest of the day, just embarrassed I imagine.

It was a beautiful hike with mountains, lochs and rushing streams. There are pretty flowers and some remnants of heather. I remarked to Jeff that I’m hiking faster than I’d normally be since the flowers are past their peak!

We got to a turn on the trail, a part where we’d be lost without the guides. A cloud descended on us and rain drops started. Seemed like real rain, so I put on my rain pants and was glad I did as it rained quite heavily for a bit!

We got down to a loch and the stones turned to pink and white - it was gorgeous! There were places where we could see the trail under a foot of water. Jenn said last week she sat on the “beach” here; amazing how these bogs collect and discharge water!

It had stopped raining and my rain pants were fairly clean so I took them off, and added my puffy jacket under my rain jacket. My feet were completely wet - mainly from stepping off the trail into a bog while avoiding a puddle. Since we were stopped, I ate half of my sandwich. Some others went on ahead and Jeff & I hung back with Jenn and Karri & Nelson.

At about 7 miles, we came to a “Bothy,” an old homestead renovated into a place where hikers can rest or sleep. I expected it to be much more primative! There we found the rest of our group finishing their lunches, plus Jules and Trish & Richard who had hiked up the two miles from the car park.

We finished our sandwiches. It felt great to sit inside in chairs - a real luxury! It was an easy 2 miles down to the van. We chatted with Jenn about her work with Backroads and her family. She definitely has the right stuff to do this line of work. It’s neat to hear that Backroads values her background as an educator, and she served as a trainer and mentor to new guides.

The rain was just starting as we got back to the van. We had a quiet 90 minute drive to Portree on the Isle of Skye. When I was here 32 years ago, the island seemed more remote and you had to catch a ferry to get here. Now there is a bridge, and the windows in the fan were so fogged with humidity that I only saw glimpses as we traveled to Portree!

I had changed from my wet boots into my Chacos while we were in the van - my wet and dirty gaiters, rain pants and socks were in a plastic bag. I carried my wet boots into the lobby and the lady at reception took them from me to put them in the boiler room where they would dry - fantastic service. We checked into The Cullin Hills Hotel - more modern than the last place, with very nice rooms again. We had less than an hour, but we quickly did some hand wash and showered. Fantastic heated towel rack and radiators to help dry our stuff!

We gathered in the salon to hear Angus and Ailie - a Scottish musical duo. Angus was most outgoing and demonstrated Highland Bagpipes (1785 originally), Scottish Small Pipes, Border Pipes and various “Whistles,” while Airlie played the Scottish Small Harp. They played just “tunes,” no songs … even though each number had a story behind the tune. They did a great job relating the instruments and music to Scottish history. For the final number, they taught us a little dance - those of us brave enough to perform!

We had another group dinner following the performance. We sat with our Wisconsin neighbors and had a nice time. I got a dram of Skye whisky to take back to the room - just a subtle hint of peat - just right!

Wednesday September 20, 2023

Early start to the day - breakfast at 7, in the vans by 8am. We took too vans and a taxi for the twenty minute ride. Since I’m the one that usually manages logistics, my brain can’t help but want to know how Jules gets the vans to our pick up point - I figure the taxi driver must shuttle him back for the second load.

It was a beautiful drive up a hairpin turn road. Lots of sheep grazing and some cattle, and we saw the peat fields that Skye is famous for. “The Quiraing” is a popular hike on Skye, so we got an early start as they say the car park will fill up. It’s on the tip of the island in an area known as “Trotternish.” The ridge was formed by a massive landslide, which created high cliffs, hidden plateaus and pinnacles of rock.

It was breezy, and the clouds moved around - revealing glimpses of blue sky and rays of sun that would highlight the spectacular landscape. I hiked the first part towards the back of the pack as I was so busy snapping photos. We got to a waterfall/stream crossing that even had our guides a little anxious I could tell. The water was really raging, and you had to step into the waterfall to get the best footing - wet feet happened earlier today!

Keith stopped periodically to tell us about how earlier settlers lived on the mountains in the summer, with the women making cheese and butter from sheep’s milk and burying it in the bogs to preserve it (bog butter apparently is still a thing). He said they had no musical instruments but they were known for making musical tones with their mouths and creating tunes that way, but he declined to give us an example.

We had an early whisky break, and watched a photographer and a guy in a sheep costume but couldn’t quite figure out what that was about! Keith said this area is frequently used in adverts in Scotland. He’s known car companies to helicopter a car up here for a photo shoot!

We came to a point where we could head down, or do an out and back to the top. Nearly all of us went to the top. It was muddy - probably more so because it’s so much more heavily traveled than the other trails we’ve been on. There was also some technical scramble towards the top - nothing we haven’t done before, but the mud made it slippery and yucky. Very good hand washing will be necessary before eating anything!

From the top, we looked down on the village of Staffin, all neat looking small white houses with neat yards. Across the water, we could see the hills of Torridon where we’d been yesterday!

Normally, it’s an out and back trail, but we connected to the Loch Langaig trail which brought us down to the Atlantic coast. They’d made arrangements for us to have lunch at Flodgarry, Hotel in the Skye - a wonderfully comfortable place to get out of the weather, enjoy a Belhaven stout beer (not quite as yummy as Guinness) and have salad, soup and a brownie with ice cream for lunch.

We had a quiet van ride back, most napped but I enjoyed the scenery. Lots of tourists out driving the island and stopping at view points. Most view points had a coffee truck or shack, and others had crafts like knit goods and pottery for sale - my kind of stop, but we cruised on by.

We arrived back at the hotel at 2 pm. We were scheduled to do a boat ride, followed by walk with local tour guide Sarah. But remnants of a hurricane are about to hit western Scotland, and the boat ride was cancelled due to expected high winds. We lounged in our room, then went out to meet Sarah at 4pm - very small group: Helen, Kelli & Nelson and us.

Sarah was very interesting! We could have talked with her all night. She came to Skye 17 years ago as a Conservation Ranger - working with birds, especially reestablishing Sea Eagles. Over the years she married, had kids and now does a variety of things, including “crofting.” She was also an amazing historian and seemed to be able to recall all dates, and names of all things in Scottish history since the beginning of time!

We walked down to the harbor, where of course, it started to rain again. Sarah told us the orange boats we see moored are “life boats,” which I think are similar to our “Coast Guard.” They mostly do runs out to neighboring islands to transport people needing medical care to Skye where there is a small hospital. We asked about fishing, and learned that there is some mussel and prawn fishing, but what is caught is transported to the eastern side of Scotland. Historically industries included kelp farming and herring, but those were “boom and bust.”

Sarah and her family are now “crofters” - small scale tenant farming, some crops for their own consumption and sheep and cows. During the Clearance, landlords forcibly evicted many on the tenants to create larger estates. Improvements came after the Small Landowners Acts (1886-1911). In the area, the Crofts were primarily re-established after WWI, with the government owning the land and leasing it to crofters. Typically, it’s a small strip of land, with a gathering of houses called a township and a larger common grazing area. Sarah told us they pay the government about £250 per year, and do many other jobs to supplement their income. The system works because industry and tourism need workers, and it forces “farmers” to work other jobs besides crofting. Like we learned in Ireland, there is no value in the sheep’s wool, yet they have to be shorn. They pay £1.25 for each sheep to be shorn, but only receive about 10 pence for the wool! The value is in the lambs, for which they receive about £200 per lamb. They sell them when they’re small, and another provider handles keeping them until they’re just right for butchering. Eating lamb always makes me feel bad, but I do like it so!

Other things we learned:

There are 10,000 people on Skye

The island is mostly seasonal (most tourist attractions close down in October)

There are two primary clans / landowners: MacLeod and MacDonald. The MacDonalds weren’t the best business people and the government ended up owning most of their land, which has been converted to crofts.

Skye and the western part of Scotland was ruled by Norway until 1200’s and was completely separate from the rest of Scotland. People Traveled between islands in boats known as Birlinns. It was a peaceful time where arts and culture developed as they weren’t having to defend their land or fight with each other. Then the “Lord of the Isles” that conspired with King of England to bring the rest of Scotland into the UK. In 1540 - James V - sailed here to Portree - which means Harbor of The King. Skye = cloud island in Norse

Became popular with tourists during the Victorian era - taken with the rustic landscape, featured in paintings, poems, and books.

We walked through town to the Gathering Hall - built in 1800s for Landowner Classes to gather. Only used twice a year as they travelled and visited all around the Highlands. Sarah told us of all night parties by the upper class even in her time here. She recalls going to work in the morning and watching the still drunk party goers jump into the sea in their kilts and ball gowns! Now the hall is used for lots of different activities.

We walked up to a park where their Highland Games are staged. She had lots more to say, but the wind was now brutal (glad we skipped the boat!) and the rain was pelting us! We did learn that the Highland Games were traditionally to show who was strongest, and the winners typically became the leaders of the region. Eventually, it changed to have rulers pass on their kingdoms to their offspring - I like the having to win it option better! At that point, Kelli got bopped on the head by a flying chestnut, so we declared the walk to be over and scurried back towards the hotel.

Jeff and I followed Kelli and Nelson into a crowded pub, but we were soaked for the second time that day and getting cold. It didn’t feel great to get dry and cozy only to have to go back out in it to get to the hotel! We were blown back to the hotel with gusts that nearly knocked us off our feet! We arranged room service with the front desk, and went up to our room for hot showers and dry clothes. We had a bottle of wine, soup and bread and cheesecake. Perfect. We watching a program with a tour of Cornwall (not expecting sunny skies like we saw on the TV but here’s hoping). We played a couple of games of cribbage and enjoyed being snuggly in our room with the storm lashing at our windows!

Thursday September 21, 2023

Yesterday after lunch, our leaders told us about the forecast for last night and today - rain and heavy wind. They gave us two options: skip the wet/windy hike and do a castle tour on the drive back to Inverness, or do a hike anyway. Jeff and I initially were the only ones to opt for the hike, but eventually all of the Wisconsin gang were in for the hike. After being out in the storm last night, our position weakened. I hate to change my plans because of the weather, but after 4 days of hiking in the rain already, we caved in (I was secretly hoping the leaders would have cancelled the hike for us so it wasn’t me wimping out).

We went down to breakfast and found the “Wisconsin Four” there, they’d already communicated to Jenn that they wanted to join “Team Castle” and I had the feeling that Jenn and Keith were glad when we opted out of the hike too.

Into the vans, we drove south - about an hour to castle Eilean Donan. I sat in the middle of the first seat and enjoyed the view of the drive, through little charming villages on Skye and then over the bridge (scary high on my scale, I hadn’t noticed on our drive over as the windows were so fogged)!

Back on the mainland, we soon arrived at the castle - and the scene was a little maddening to me with coaches and large crowds of tourists, I’d much rather be hiking through the highlands away from the crowds!

History on Eilean Donan Castle:

It’s an iconic image, situated on an island at a point where three sea lochs (Long, Duich and Alsh) meet. It was first inhabited in the 6th century, and the first fortified castle was built in the mid 13th century. Since then, at least 4 reiterations have been built and rebuilt as the feudal history of Scotland unfolded over the centuries. It was mostly destroyed in a Jacobite uprising in 1719, when the British gained access and used the stored gunpowder to blow it up. The castle laid in ruins until Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap bought it in 1911 and restored it. The castle reopened in 1932, and is still in the MacRae family.

In the early 13th century, the castle was a defensive position during the time of feuding clan chiefs and Viking invasions. In this “Sea Kingdom,” the sea was the main highway and the power of the chief was determined by the number of men and ships (birlinns) at their disposal.

Over the centuries, the castle expanded and contracted in size. The medieval castle was probably the largest, encompassing most of the island. At the end of the 14th century, the castle was reduced to about a fifth of the size, probably to make it easier to defend. By the 16th century, hornwork was added to the east wall to offer a firing platform for newly introduced cannons.

We did the audio tour of the castle. While it was interesting, it was hampered by the crowds! Inside the castle, there were fantastic paintings and memorabilia - guns, swords, kilts, old correspondence, dishes and other household items. There was also a lock of hair from Bonnie Prince Charlie!

We had some time in the gift shop (of course) and we bought a small silver flask with a Hairy Cow etched on it … just in case we want to keep up the tradition of having whisky while we’re hiking!

Back in the vans, we traveled to the “Dundreggan Rewilding Center,” which was a new term to me. Rewilding is a progressive approach to conservation. It’s about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes. Through Rewilding, wildlife’s natural rhythms create wilder, more bio diverse habitats. We had a fantastic lunch there, then Jenn led us on a walk on one of their trails. Once again, she impressed us with her knowledge of plants and tress, and how we interface (and interfere) with nature!

The center is built in a beautiful 10,000 acre Highland glen, started with a project called “Trees For Life.” While the project is not without controversy, climate changes are helping the initiative gain momentum. The thought is that once the forests are restored, birds and animals will also return.

From the center, it was about an hour back to Inverness and our 10th hotel of this trip - The Ness Walk hotel. We had a couple hours of down time and met at 6:30pm for a final wine reception. We did a round robin of trip highlights - most said yesterday’s magical hike on the Quiraing, our awesome leaders, the Torridon hotel, and the people on this group! It is a rarity to not have ONE person that was even slightly annoying, and some deep connections have been forged - very different for a group, and certainly different than the lack of connective felt with most of our M&M tour! I think it’s mainly that like minded people sign up for a trip like this where you expect to be hiking in the rain?!

Our reception was followed by another great, but slow, meal. Jeff and I had one more Talisker 10 year Scotch, already missing Skye. Nearly 11pm when we crawled into bed.

"My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here; My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go" Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Friday September 22, 2023

Last day of this portion of the trip. Went too fast and I’m sad to be leaving Scotland. We had an 8:15am departure planned, but I’d organized my bags yesterday and was able to squeak in morning meditation and some yoga before breakfast. The three ladies had an early flight and it was odd to not have them with us. The rest of us piled into two vans and headed to Cawdor Castle, about 20 minutes outside Inverness.

Cawdor castle was built by the Cawdor family over 600 years ago. Amazingly, it’s still in the same family and “Lady Cawdor” still lives there, moving out for the summer when it’s open to tourists. We were met by a groundskeeper named Graeme who walked us around the Big Woods and pointed out an amazing collection of trees. There are over ten miles of trails over 750 acres of old oak forests. He said it might be the oldest oak forest in Europe. There are many species of lichen, and he said there are seven specific to this forest alone! Lichen are a sign of good air quality and I tried to inhale as deeply as I could, especially given that we’ll be in London this afternoon.

Graeme told us that all the wood in the castle came from this forest, but it’s not sold or harvested for other purposes, although they did offer trees to be used in the rebuilding of Notre Dame in Paris. There was a standing dead oak, and he said next year they’ll use that to replace the wood on the draw bridge! What is extra amazing is they have archives and records of when trees were planted and where seeds came from, including redwoods from California.

After a nice walk through the forest, he turned us over for a self-guided (audio) tour of the inside of the castle. It was really beautiful and an amazing array of furniture, tapestries, paintings and sculptures from modern to very very old. It would be an amazing place to be able to stay and peruse everything in great detail.

I couldn’t help but think about the Culloden battlefield just 5 miles away. When so much of the Highland culture was devastated after that, how did this stay so untouched? Must have been loyalists, I’d guess.

After our tour we gathered in the garden for tea and scones. There are three distinct gardens and you could see the splendor of the blooms that had been on display this summer. Jenn had arranged for a taxi to transport JT and me to the nearby airport, so we said our goodbyes to everyone there. Feels odd to be back on our own again!

We had a couple of hours to kill at the tiny little Inverness airport. I worked on the blog until the check-in counter opened, through security and then to the tiniest little airport lounge that we’ve ever encountered. It was run by the jolliest man who checked us in, arranged seating accommodate everyone, restocked the supplies and vacuumed the carpet - all with the best attitude you’ve ever seen. What a great way to kick off a flight!