21st-27th August - Edinburgh and Haggis tour of Scotland(In Progress)

21st We woke around 6am nice and rested and dry. David went downstairs and totally cleaned the bikes and Catriona updated the blog. We had breakfast then set off for Edinburgh Castle. We waited in line in the pouring rain to buy our entry tickets and while waiting it stopped raining. The place was very busy/crowded but apparently not as crowded as if it had been a sunny day. We had great views over Edinburgh as we walked around the castle. We visited the National war museum and read about the history of the castle on the story boards around he place. We also waited in line to view the Honours of Scotland which are their crown jewels. Angry grey clouds started to roll back in as we were leaving that part of the castle. We also visited the prison and the war memorial while we were there. We left the castle to have lunch at the Quakers restaurant again. After lunch we went to see the Georgian house, a Scottish National trust building at no 7 Charlotte square. It was very interesting reading all about the different uses the rooms had and we finished off our visit watching a video of what life was like back in Georgian times, very interesting. We had another stroll along Princes street and then off to see Jimeoin on ice It was a very funny performance and we were glad we went. When we exited the theatre it was bucketing down with rain again so we had to head back to the hostel. We pittied the poor people watching the tattoo tonight.

22nd After breakfast we booked our accommodation at Phi Phi island and checked our emails. We phoned Sara who we were staying with tonight to get her address and then we then set off on a walking tour of Edinburgh. We were shown many interesting things and told interesting and amusing stories along the Royal Mile and surrounding areas. Oldest building in Edinburgh Writers Museum

After the tour finished at around 2pm we went to check out another couple of kilt makers and find out where our tour leaves from tomorrow. We also managed to find the hostel we will stay in when we return from the tour. Around 6pm we set off for Sara’s house and managed to find it no troubles at all. We met Sara and she even made us a lovely dinner. We had a good time chatting about work, cycling and sustainability.

23rd Woke to the alarm at 6am, got up had showers and breakfast. Sara showed us the way to walk back to the royal mile where our tour was to leave from. We passed through the parkland, under the whale’s jawbones and through the medows to get to the Haggis office. We checked in and waited outside the office for our tour leader/driver to pick us up. There are 22 of us on the 5 day compass buster trip so there is plenty of room on the bus and for our luggage (which we don’t have much of anyway). The tour leader Allan introduced himself and we set off out of Edinburgh towards our first stop at Dunkeld where we walked around an old 13th century abbey. Alan gave us commentary along the way and had some funny things to say. We passed over the fourth bridge which is a very impressive structure for its age. We were stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour due to the local council doing road works on the busiest weekend of the year. We stopped for a walk around the hermitage with its waterfall. We stopped for lunch in Dalwhinnie. We shared soup and haggis, neeps and tatties. After lunch we visited the Spean Bridge.Mill Whisky centre and tasted some single malt whisky. After the whisky stop where David bought the worlds smallest bottle of whisky we went to the memorial to the WWII commandos overlooking Ben Nevis. It was getting late so we headed off to our night time spot of Fort Augustus on the shores of Loch Ness. We checked in, had dinner and set off on our cruise of Loch Ness where we managed to get a video of Nessie.>

After all the excitement we headed back to the hostel for an early night.

24th Set off this morning at 9am and our first stop of the day was Urquhart castle on the shores of Loch Ness. As with most of the castles we have seen it was in ruins. We drove on through Drumnadrochit otherwise known as Nessie central and stopped at a hotel with a gift shop attached where I managed to buy a Dunbar tartan scarf, just like Mum’s. From here we visited Culloden battlefield, where in 1746 the Jacobites had their last uprising and were slaughtered. There were flags showing the lines of the Hanovian troups and the Jacobite troups. There were also stones marking the graves of many of the clans who had members buried there. There was also a little stone hut called Leanach cottage that was right on the edge of the battlefield. After this very sombre trip we headed into Inverness for lunch. We had our usual Sunday roast. After lunch it was on to the Glen Ord distillery for a guided tour and tasting at the end. The Glen Ord distillery is owned by the same company that now owns Guiness. The single malt whisky they make here is called Singletons and is mainly shipped to Singapore. After our distillery trip we headed off to Dornoch beach for a walk on what they call the silver sands.
Dornoch is apparently where Madona married Guy Ritchie were married. All refreshed from the crisp sea air we headed off to our overnight accommodation Carbisdale castle. Yes you read right we are staying in not only a castle, but a haunted castle. It has been a youth hostel since 1945 and is home to a female ghost and an art and sculpture collection. It also has lovely views over the Kyle of Sutherland. We had a nice relaxing night in the Library
before retiring to our separate rooms as for some reason YHA’s don’t have mixed dorms.

25th We spent the morning driving over to the Isle of Skye, stopping off along the way at a small hotel for a coffee break. We had lunch in Port Righ, the main town on the Isle of Skye. A pretty little town on the water with a small harbour. After lunch we headed to the Farrie falls where we could make a wish to the farries if we took a mouth full of water at the top of the falls and did not swallow it until we walked back down to ground level and made the wish there. We had good views of The Storr from there as well and the ground was very boggy. We next stopped off at Kilt Rock where Alan told us the story of the Scottish Giant and Finn McCool the Irish Giant, the story was exactly the opposite of what we were told at the Giants Causeway in Ireland. We then had a very hairy ride to the top of the mountain to Quirang (cuith-Raing)Lookout. It was well worth the ride up for the spectacular views even though it was blowing a gale. We stopped off on our way to the hostel to get beautiful forever by sticking our face in the Sligachan river for 7 seconds. Can you see how beautiful we look now? We then headed back to Saucy Mary's Hostel at Kyleakan, checked in and went for a walk to the ruins of a Viking castle Caisteal Maol. After our walk it was back to the hostel bar for dinner and a few drinks. Stephen one of the guys on the tour decided to go for a swim so we all went out and cheered him on.


26th First stop of the day was Eilean Donan castle.
It had been blown up in the 16th century during a Jacobite uprising and was rebuilt in the early 20th century. We had a tour around the castle which is still used as a holiday house by members of the MacClean clan. We passed by a herd of hairy coos and stopped off along Loch Gary with it’s spectacular views.
We then headed into Fort William for lunch before heading off to Glenfinnan which is a tourist destination for 2 reasons. The first and most important is that the viaduct there is used in the Harry Potter movies.
The second is that it was the landing point for bonnie Prince Charlie.
It was raining hard so instead of heading off to see another sight before our night time stop we headed straight to Oban and checked into the hostel. Another SYHA so David and Catriona are in separate rooms again. We had a nice relaxed night in the dining room chatting with Jannet from Hornsby and Peter from Central Australia who is cycling around the UK as well.

27th 9am start this morning and our first stop was Glencoe the weeping glen which is the site where the Campbells betrayed and murdered the MacDonald clan.
Beautiful views with all the waterfalls and sheer rock cliffs, even though it was misty and raining. We next stopped at a viewpoint looking over the Black Mount where a buck was waiting in the car park.
We stopped for lunch at the Green Welly in Tyndrum where we chatted to 3 guys from near London who were cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats they were on their 9th day out of an estimated 12 day ride. From Tyndrum we headed for Killin to view the Falls of Dochart which were more like rapids than water falls.
Our next touristy stop off was at Kimahog where we met, fed and photographed Hamish the hairy coo.
Our last stop of the day was at the William Wallace monument at Sterling.
After our walk up the hill to the monument we headed back to Edinburgh and farewelled everyone from the tour. We then had a short stroll down to our hostel for the night.