Well thanks to Mum and Dad for buying us a tour for Damien’s birthday. We had been planning to take a 5-day highland tour of Scotland with MacBackpacker Tours, so when they suggested they pay for it we were stoked! 
Neil our tour guide and bus driver was great, very entertaining with his stories of Scotland’s history and tales some of which might even be true! We were picked up from a hostel in Edinburgh, a short walk from where we were staying. The bus only held about 29 people, unfortunately the bus was full, meaning no spare seats, and a bit squished in. The good news is you were never on the bus for too long, as there were many stops along the way.
Neil our tour guide and bus driver was great, very entertaining with his stories of Scotland’s history and tales some of which might even be true! We were picked up from a hostel in Edinburgh, a short walk from where we were staying. The bus only held about 29 people, unfortunately the bus was full, meaning no spare seats, and a bit squished in. The good news is you were never on the bus for too long, as there were many stops along the way.
Leaving Edinburgh we headed for Inverness. Stops along the way were the Hermitage Trail a nice forest which was once privately owned by Clan leader who used it to woe women. There was also stories about fairies who like to abduct people from the forest to take them back to their fairylands for entertainment. We stopped at the ruins of an old English barracks, the site of the brutal Culloden battle where the English slayed the Scottish Clans and some old cairns, which are like tombs but made of piles of rocks and are centuries old. We also did a whisky tasting and stopped at Loch Ness in search of Nessie. 
Inverness was a nice little town by a river. Once we had checked in we went for a walk along the river and found some nice islands with wood carved into odd shaped seats. We then ha
d to visit the supermarket to get lunch for the following day as we were heading into the remote Highlands. We joined the rest of the tour in a local pub for dinner and a traditional ‘Keally’, traditional Scottish dancing to the bagpipes and accordion.
Back on the bus on Day 2, we headed off into the hills headed for the remote area’s of the Highlands. Our
first stop was for a walk through some forest to a river and waterfall. This was a really nice waterfall, the only problem is a few of us followed the wrong person and ended up getting split from the rest of the group. Not knowing where they went, we returned to the bus but there was no one in sight. So we took ourselves on a bit more of a walk to a suspension bridge over the falls. Eventually we all met back up at the bus, turns out they had headed down stream, but I don’t think we missed out on too much. I think it was totally Sandra’s fault that we got lost (nah… not really), a friend from Austria. 
Everything was sweet, everyone was back on the bus ready to go, only one problem, the bus wouldn’t start! After about 10 minutes of Scottish cursing the bus finally started, but it meant we had to drive back to Inverness to the garage to get it looked over.
About 2-3 hours later, after we had eaten our lunch near Inverness Castle, we got a call saying the bus was fine and we were off again, just a bit behind schedule. What Neil did next was awesome, he gave us the choice of what to do, either skip a few things and end up in Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye around the normal time or continue as planned but arrive pretty late. Unanimous decision was to continue as planned even if it got us in a bit late.
We had a brief stop at Clootie Well, which is supposed to have magical powers to heal people, so if you have an ailment you dunk a piece of clothing in the well 3 times and then tie it to one of the trees. Was kind of weird being in the middle of the forest with all these random clothes tied to trees.
We then visited the magnificent Corrieshalloch Gorge. This was a short walk down to a suspension bridge, which supposedly can only hold 6 people at a time. Of course this was soon to be tested by a few people on our tour. We managed to get across safely and walk down to the viewing platform, which most people didn’t bother to go to, so we had it to ourselve
s, yay!
The afternoon we had to rush a but, obviously having the delays in the morning, but we still had a few quick photo opportunities including what Neil thought is one of the most beautiful Loch’s in Scotland, Loch Maree.
We finally got to the Isle of Skye at about 8.30pm, and rushed to the pub to order meals before the kitchen closed. We ate with the Spanish girls, Emma and Tanya who are lovely, at Saucy Mary’s, which is named after a Viking princes who would do strip shows on the roof for sailors who paid extra tolls.
We stayed two nights at Kyleakin, which meant that we spent Day 3 touring the Isle of Skye. We made a number of short stops throughout the day, the first to see a waterfall. We headed to Cullin River, which is at the base of the two Cullin Mountains (red and black). The water in this river runs off the two mountains and the water contains the goodness from the m
ountains. One mountain is said to be the old wise mountain whilst the other is the eternally young and attractive mountain. By dipping your face in the water for 8 seconds the water will make you look younger and also make you wiser.
After we had dunked our heads in the water it was off to Portree to grab some lunch and have a look around the old town. We stopped at M
cDonald Castle, another castle of ruins with a lot of history. This was not safe to enter, according to the guide and the fence, however of course, you know who decided to climb all over it! The rest of us just walked down to the water and had a look at the amazing cliffs. 
In the afternoon we stopped at a cool, but random little museum, ‘Macurdies Exhibition’ which is the result of a guy living by himself and going a bit nuts, over the long cold winter. It was basically stories and ideas written on the walls of a house, as well as random objects being hung around the place.
The next stop was our favourite place in Scotland, the Fairy Glen (Glen Shie or Balnachock). This was what looked like a series of mini hills and cliffs. In the middle was a rock formation, which is known as the fairy castle. There were also the ruins of a cottage, the owner disappeared years ago, and it is thought the fairies took him and buried him under the castle. We got to spend a bit of time off the bus exploring and climbing which was really fun after being on and off the bus all day.
Inverness was a nice little town by a river. Once we had checked in we went for a walk along the river and found some nice islands with wood carved into odd shaped seats. We then ha
d to visit the supermarket to get lunch for the following day as we were heading into the remote Highlands. We joined the rest of the tour in a local pub for dinner and a traditional ‘Keally’, traditional Scottish dancing to the bagpipes and accordion.Back on the bus on Day 2, we headed off into the hills headed for the remote area’s of the Highlands. Our
first stop was for a walk through some forest to a river and waterfall. This was a really nice waterfall, the only problem is a few of us followed the wrong person and ended up getting split from the rest of the group. Not knowing where they went, we returned to the bus but there was no one in sight. So we took ourselves on a bit more of a walk to a suspension bridge over the falls. Eventually we all met back up at the bus, turns out they had headed down stream, but I don’t think we missed out on too much. I think it was totally Sandra’s fault that we got lost (nah… not really), a friend from Austria. 
Everything was sweet, everyone was back on the bus ready to go, only one problem, the bus wouldn’t start! After about 10 minutes of Scottish cursing the bus finally started, but it meant we had to drive back to Inverness to the garage to get it looked over.
About 2-3 hours later, after we had eaten our lunch near Inverness Castle, we got a call saying the bus was fine and we were off again, just a bit behind schedule. What Neil did next was awesome, he gave us the choice of what to do, either skip a few things and end up in Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye around the normal time or continue as planned but arrive pretty late. Unanimous decision was to continue as planned even if it got us in a bit late.We had a brief stop at Clootie Well, which is supposed to have magical powers to heal people, so if you have an ailment you dunk a piece of clothing in the well 3 times and then tie it to one of the trees. Was kind of weird being in the middle of the forest with all these random clothes tied to trees.
We then visited the magnificent Corrieshalloch Gorge. This was a short walk down to a suspension bridge, which supposedly can only hold 6 people at a time. Of course this was soon to be tested by a few people on our tour. We managed to get across safely and walk down to the viewing platform, which most people didn’t bother to go to, so we had it to ourselve
s, yay!The afternoon we had to rush a but, obviously having the delays in the morning, but we still had a few quick photo opportunities including what Neil thought is one of the most beautiful Loch’s in Scotland, Loch Maree.
We finally got to the Isle of Skye at about 8.30pm, and rushed to the pub to order meals before the kitchen closed. We ate with the Spanish girls, Emma and Tanya who are lovely, at Saucy Mary’s, which is named after a Viking princes who would do strip shows on the roof for sailors who paid extra tolls.
We stayed two nights at Kyleakin, which meant that we spent Day 3 touring the Isle of Skye. We made a number of short stops throughout the day, the first to see a waterfall. We headed to Cullin River, which is at the base of the two Cullin Mountains (red and black). The water in this river runs off the two mountains and the water contains the goodness from the m
ountains. One mountain is said to be the old wise mountain whilst the other is the eternally young and attractive mountain. By dipping your face in the water for 8 seconds the water will make you look younger and also make you wiser.After we had dunked our heads in the water it was off to Portree to grab some lunch and have a look around the old town. We stopped at M
cDonald Castle, another castle of ruins with a lot of history. This was not safe to enter, according to the guide and the fence, however of course, you know who decided to climb all over it! The rest of us just walked down to the water and had a look at the amazing cliffs. 
In the afternoon we stopped at a cool, but random little museum, ‘Macurdies Exhibition’ which is the result of a guy living by himself and going a bit nuts, over the long cold winter. It was basically stories and ideas written on the walls of a house, as well as random objects being hung around the place.
The next stop was our favourite place in Scotland, the Fairy Glen (Glen Shie or Balnachock). This was what looked like a series of mini hills and cliffs. In the middle was a rock formation, which is known as the fairy castle. There were also the ruins of a cottage, the owner disappeared years ago, and it is thought the fairies took him and buried him under the castle. We got to spend a bit of time off the bus exploring and climbing which was really fun after being on and off the bus all day.
Dinner tonight was a group effort to celebrate Roberto’s birthday, an Italian guy from the bus. The girls cooked pasta and salads. While this was being prepared Damien went for a jog, along the waterfront and then over the Skye Bridge. It was the first time I had ran in months, but felt great, especially after being crammed in a bus for 3 days!
Day 4 started with a tour of Eilean Donan Castle, which would normally be done on the way to Skye except for the bus breaking down. The castle was on an island on a Loch, very
beautiful. This was really nice on the inside and had some cool features like paintings, which the eyes follow you around
the room and secret hearing holes into different rooms for spying on guests.We saw a lot of amazing scenery on the bus, cliffs coastline and l
och’s. We saw the Harry Potter bridge, which the Hogwart’s Express crosses in the movies. We also saw the platform 9 and ¾ a week ago in London.We stayed in a nice little town called Oban. It has a castle, which we walked up to in the evening before dinner at a pub with some friends from the bus. It is a little fishing town that is now big on bed and breakfast’s. We splurged tonight and found a bed and breakfast instead of the hostel option.
Day 5 started with a massive breakfast, real coffee, coco pops, to
ast, bacon and eggs. Defini
tely the best breakfast since America, possibly the best since Australia! Back on the bus and it was off to Kilchurn Castle. This was another of our favourite places, this was a semi-ruined castle, but had platforms and wooden stairs built so that you could go inside. Again we were the only ones there, and were free to explore at our own pace. Was great fun looking out over the loch and mountains, imagining you lived there and owned the land as far as you could see…
Christine met Hamish, a hairy highland cow with massive horns. We had lunch in a nice little town on the rocks of a river. Visited the grave of Rob Roy and saw a little old church. Our last stop on the tour was at the William Wallace monument, which is a small castle, built on top of a big hill.We then returned to Edinburgh, checked into our new hostel and had dinner at a little Italian restaurant with a group of people who we liked from the tour!
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