Both: Hey everyone!
Jen: It's Jen and Greg with an update on our travels.
Greg: This update is going to be the first part of our tour around the Scottish Highlands, specifically The Isle of Skye.
Jen: Yeah, I think this was probably the best scenery.
Greg: I agree! We were in London when we got the chance to finally do the Highlands and Isle of Skye tour. So that meant taking what we think is the longest train ride in the UK - eight hours from London to Inverness.
Jen: Yeah, and it's probably one of the prettiest train rides we've taken.
Greg: A portion of it was, yes, because that train goes right through Cairngorms National Park.
Jen: Cairngorms is the largest national park in the UK.
Greg: Yeah, it's like a peaceful retreat for outdoor enthusiasts.
Jen: Yeah, a lot of people go there to hike and camp. It's a mixture of rolling hills, heather covered moorlands, and very peaceful lochs. One of the things we actually learned in Scotland was you can camp anywhere, whether it's private property or not. You find a place that you think is pretty and you'd like to spend a couple of days, you can pitch a tent and you won't get in trouble.
Greg: Yeah, it's called the “right to roam” law. Cairngorms is home to wildlife, like red deer and golden eagles.
Jen: And I read where it's actually home to a small herd of domesticated reindeer, the only ones in the UK.
Greg: Nice!
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: So, we got to Inverness late and just went straight to the hotel, went to sleep, because the next day, we had to meet at, like, 7 or 7:30.
Jen: The hotel was very close to where we had to go meet the bus, so we ran and got breakfast really quick and went over to the bus and met our tour guide. His name was Chris.
Greg: Yes, and it's worth mentioning, it's about a dozen people on this tour. And we all got along so well. The tour takes two days to go around a lot of Isle of Skye and the Highlands up around Loch Ness, as well as Glen Shiel. And it gives you a variety of historical and natural landmarks that the Highlands have to offer.
Jen: Yeah, I think we would definitely recommend this tour company if anybody's in Scotland - Timberbush Tours. We had a good time with them and they were very, very thorough in the tour stops.
Greg: Yeah. So the first place we stopped was Rogie Falls.
Jen: Rogie Falls is a really charming waterfall surrounded by a very peaceful forest. And just being able to walk through and hear the sound of the rushing water kind of creates this calm effect. And I thought it was a great way to start off the morning!
Greg: The interesting thing about Rogie Falls is it's part of the salmon run where North Sea salmon swim back inland. And in order to facilitate that journey, they built what's called a salmon ladder. It's like a series of steps in a way where the waterfalls and the pools collect so that it makes it easier for them to keep going upstream.
Jen: We were a little early in the season, so we didn't get to see what the area is known for — the salmon swimming upstream, seeing them jumping — but we did get to see a pretty idyllic little scene of a fly fisherman in the water, just enjoying nature.
Greg: From Rogie Falls, the next noteworthy place we arrived was Dunvegan Castle. It's the ancestral home of Clan MacLeod.
Jen: We were really excited to see Dunvegan Castle because of our friends who have MacLeod lineage. So hey Dale, Dusty and Gage!
Greg: Shout out, Clan MacLeod!
Jen: (laughs)
So Dunvegan Castle was built in the 13th century and it's kind of known for its many gardens surrounding it.
Greg: Yeah. And we went through the gardens a little bit. There's a circular garden, which was a couple of acres on its own. There was the “water garden”, which was also like an acre or two on its own. It's pretty nice.
Jen: Yeah, and one of the things we found fun inside of the castle, there's a lot of portraits on the walls of the different leaders of the clan and some of the family members, and it was kind of fun to go through and say, “Hey, do any of these people look like Dale and Dusty and Gage?”
Greg: Yes, and very, very funny is there is a portrait of two of the children in one of the bedrooms in a pose. And those two children and their pose look so much like a photo that Dusty and Dale had in their living room from when they were kids. Same haircut and hair color and the same pose. Like, it was so funny.
Jen: Yeah, I think people were kind of looking at us because we laughed in the middle of the room and everybody's like, “what's so funny?”
Greg: Yeah, people thought we were strange. But I think probably the most famous thing that Clan McLeod is known for is the fairy flag.
Jen: Yeah, that's actually a legendary banner that is believed to possess magical powers, and it was gifted to the Clan McLeod by a bunch of fairies and was supposed to protect them in times of need.
Greg: Yes, and there were legends, like, it can only be used three times and it's been used twice already. It was neat.
So it's on display. It's the main thing people go by and take pictures of. It's framed with protective glass and everything.
Jen: Yeah, it's definitely seen better days, but it's still hanging in there.
Greg: It was cool.
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: So after Dunvegan Castle, we drove by a place called Fairy Glen, which really does look like a real-life fairy tale setting.
Jen: Yeah, the area is very distinct. There's a lot of different landscape with, like, gently rolling hills and then interesting rock formations. There's little ponds everywhere and bright colored wildflowers, ferns on the ground. It's just a really ideal setting and like he said, almost like a fairy tale.
Greg: Yeah. The one downside is that we were not prepared for Fairy Glen. It wasn't described as a hike and it kind of is.
Jen: But we walked a little bit. People walked a little bit further ‘cause there was a uphill climb that we just, at that point, weren't ready for.
Greg: Well, it's because a portion of the rock formation, you can climb up and get this vantage point to see pretty much the whole little glen from above. And it reminded me of the pictures you see online of the peak of Mount Everest, where it's just a line of people going forever just to take their turn at that peak. And Jennifer and I looked at each other and said, “First of all, it's precarious up there. Second of all, we're not going to stand behind literally 20 people just to stand up on this flat piece and get a picture.”
Jen: Yeah, I looked at Greg and I was, like, “I'm not interested in that.” (laughs)
Greg: Yeah, so we continued the hike past that.
Jen: And it was still beautiful.
Greg: Yes.
Jen: Um, one thing that we noticed here, and all over Scotland, there are a ton of sheep.
Greg: Yeah, because in Scotland, especially in the rural areas, it's a lot of agricultural efforts, especially herding sheep.
Jen: So there are around six million sheep in Scotland, which outnumber the human population, which is only about five million.
Greg: And you kind of notice that in some of those places. (laughs)
Jen: (laughs) Sheep everywhere.
Greg: Yeah, there were points where you're dodging them with the car or where traffic has to stop because several are just kind of in the road and you slow down and honk your horn until they get out of the way.
Jen: Yeah, and they all have colored dots on their sides. These colored dots help them to realize after the sheep escape — because they're very famous for doing that — of calling the farmer and saying, “Hey, your sheep's in my field again”, so he can come get it out.
Greg: After Fairy Glen, we drove to a place called the Quiraing Mountains, which is a very dramatic mountain range on the Isle of Skye. It was just really striking.
Jen: So the rugged terrain really offers a lot of stunning views, and it just makes it a really captivating spot for photographers and hikers to come and enjoy nature.
Greg: Yeah, there were also countless midges, is what they call them?
Jen: Oh, the midges. So these little biting gnat, mosquito-y things, and they just swarm you. Everywhere.
Greg: No. They swarm ME everywhere.
Jen: (laughs) It was miserable — Greg more so than me — but I know when we got home, we were…midges on our clothes. I rinsed a couple midges out of my ear. I mean, all over the place.
Greg: Yeah. So, the last few places that we visited were when we were getting closer to Portree, which is the city where we were going to stay overnight. The first of those few places that we stopped at the end was called Kilt Rock.
Jen: Kilt Rock is a really dramatic sea cliff, and it got its name from the vertical basalt columns that, if you look at it in a certain way, it looks like a kilt's pleat.
Greg: Yeah and there is that picturesque waterfall and numerous tourists, including one with a drone while we were there.
You notice, in a lot of the places we travel, the people who have drones seem oblivious to other people being there.
Jen: I didn't think that was allowed, but…he was doing it anyway.
Greg: From Kilt Rock, we continue to Lealt Falls.
Jen: So this stop was a series of cascading waterfalls. And that was one thing I noticed as we were driving along, whether it was on the train or in the bus, there are waterfalls and streams everywhere. It's amazing!
Greg: Yeah, and this one, I think, has kind of become known because it's right there at some cliffs and there's a lot of really green all around those waterfalls. So it makes for great kind of “Instagram” for lack of a better word.
Jen: You know, you love those Instagram stops.
Greg: Oh, right…
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: Unfortunately, the last stop was not viewable and it was one of the more widely known stops in the Scottish Highlands called the Old Man of Storr.
Jen: Apparently this is a popular stop because this rock formation looks like an old man that's laying down and he is…pointing a certain finger at you. However, we weren't able to see him because towards the end of the day and right before we were supposed to get to him, a mist rolled in.
Greg: Yeah, I mean, that's a very Scottish thing too. Like, it seems like a nice day, then you might have a drizzle. Or it seems like a bad day and then it all blows away and it's nice. In this case, mists more than once while we've been traveling, just roll in out of nowhere. And for us on this tour, it just blocked that rock formation called Old Man of Storr.
Jen: Yeah. Our tour guide was really disappointed in that. I think he was really looking forward to showing that to us.
Greg: Yeah. Well, I think we're going to stop it here. The next update, we'll talk about the rest of what we saw on the Isle of Skye and the Highlands on our way back towards Inverness, as well as the time we spent around Loch Ness.
Jen: Yeah, and we also got to see Highland Games while we were there.
Greg: Yeah! So tune in for Part Two and thanks for checking in!
Jen: And we'll see you at the next stop!
