Today was the first day of my five day tour of Scotland. The getting picked up was a wee bit chaotic because there were people there from two tours:The 3 day Isle of Skye and the 5 day tour. Each tour had two buses, so as you can guess it got kinda crazy. I was originally supposed to be on Bus#2, but they asked me to switch since two people that were traveling together ended up in separate buses, so I switched. no big deal, it was the same tour. although, I was a bit annoyed because bus#1 had not arrived yet and I wanted to leave already! The bus arrived(driver's name is Colin) and we went to Castle Rock Hostel to pick up the other people(the pick up points were those two hostels) and we were off!
The first
thing we did was go on a walk through the woods. The grounds were called "Hermitage" as you can see from the picture to the left. It was really neat because these were actual woods. they had paths on them of course but it was not a park or something. you could seriously get lost in those woods! there different trails you could take, some longer than others. the longest one is about 1 1/2 hours, according to our tour guide so we did not do that. We took one of the trails to this place(it has some kind of history but I dont recall what our guide said)where there were these rapids
/small waterfall. It was really cool;there was this terrece right above it where you could see them. it was a little scary, because there was a rail but if you fell...you would certaintly smash your head on one of those rocks(you can see a picture of it on the right; the picture of the trees is to give you an idea of what the woods looked like. they kinda reminded me of the Forbidden Forest a little bit. apprently, the way it was planted was that they took all the seeds, all of them-didnt separate them- loaded them into a canyon...and BAM!! that is why in some parts, the
The first
thing we did was go on a walk through the woods. The grounds were called "Hermitage" as you can see from the picture to the left. It was really neat because these were actual woods. they had paths on them of course but it was not a park or something. you could seriously get lost in those woods! there different trails you could take, some longer than others. the longest one is about 1 1/2 hours, according to our tour guide so we did not do that. We took one of the trails to this place(it has some kind of history but I dont recall what our guide said)where there were these rapids
/small waterfall. It was really cool;there was this terrece right above it where you could see them. it was a little scary, because there was a rail but if you fell...you would certaintly smash your head on one of those rocks(you can see a picture of it on the right; the picture of the trees is to give you an idea of what the woods looked like. they kinda reminded me of the Forbidden Forest a little bit. apprently, the way it was planted was that they took all the seeds, all of them-didnt separate them- loaded them into a canyon...and BAM!! that is why in some parts, the 
trees are close together and other areas are open in a way). those rapids were loud and also...powerful. It's kinda amazing to think that nature is so powerful and strong; she doesnt need our help at all to survive while we need her to survive. yet, God put us in charge of her, to take care of her.yes, I did just have that thought right now, but I like to reflect on things later and take them in at the time.
Our next stop was a lunch break at the small town of Pilochry. It is really small according to our guide, it mainly has a senior citizen population. it is right before you get to the Highlands, so it is known as "the gateway to the highlands." It had one main street(picture above below is a small glimpse), which seemed to be where all the action was in the town(by this, I mean where
most of the shops, restaurants,etc where). We only had 50 minutes, so I bought a ham and cheese panini at a deli-type shop I found(pictured above ) called"splitz." dont know why and I did not ask). I ate about 3/4 of the panini, then bought a small soft ice cream and did not have time to finish it sadly,but it was so good!that was about it. while I ate my sandwich I walked on the main street and it seemed like a good town to spend a night, but not more than that.
Ou
r next stop after this was a destroyed barracks. The name of it was "Ruthven." The picture to the left explains the history of it. It was weird, walking around these ruins, knowing that once, soldiers lived there. the doors to and from the barracks were so so tiny! they were like...3ft tall. no kidding. We had to doub
le over to walk through them; I pictured my friend Tate(who's 6'9)walking through those and I smiled because it would have been...hilarious!!:) :) As you can from the picture to the right,it is built on a huge mound. That mound is not man made. it was formed by glaciers millions of millions of tears ago. pretty cool huh?Our n
ext stop was a distillery(might be misspelled), which is where they make whiskey. we got a brief tour of it(2 pounds) and then a small sample at the end. I did not try the sample because A)my decision where alcohol is concerned and the main reason because B)my stomach was kinda empty and even though the sample was 3/4 of a shot, I did not want to risk upsetting my stomach. The tour was...okay. I did not hear much of how the whiskey is made because it was so loud, but the storage place where the whiskey matures was pretty cool(pictured to the left). as big as this looks, it is a small one(or so the lady giving the tour said). it was okay, but I feel like we did not get to see a lot and the guide lady was reading from a sheet of paper. although, we got to see and smell moonshine. lol...anyway, the smell of the whole place was SO STRONG!!!!SIDE:
the guy I was sitting next to on the bus was Hunganrian(he was traveling with 2 other friends, both guys) and I think he found me...funny because the driver asked who had never drank whiskey and I raised my hand(and also when he asked if anyone had not tried the sample). He offered me Scottish whiskey from the bottle he had with him(twice). something else that was funny(and good for my confidence concerning my body) was that we get free t-shirts with this tour and when our guide was handing them out by size he started with small and when he came to me(I was sitting at the front of the bus)he started handing me one, assuming I wanted a small and I said no, that I wanted a medium and he(and the guy next to me)was surprised and said something about using it as a night gown. same thing happened when I bought a t-shirt a few weeks ago. anyway, just didnt want to forget that! lol)
Our next stop was the battlefied of a battle(duh!)called "Culloden." I did not catch a lot of the history of it but it apprently made a difference because after they lost, the highlan
ders were forbidden by the goverment(they fought the goverment in this battle)to speak Gael, wear kilts, play bagpipes...all the things we think of as "scottish today." also, a lot of the clan chiefs went elsewhere for safety and that is why so many people have scottish blood in them around the world.it was...interesting to be there because it is just a green field, yet I could not keep from thinking that men had died, that blood once stained the ground red.
ders were forbidden by the goverment(they fought the goverment in this battle)to speak Gael, wear kilts, play bagpipes...all the things we think of as "scottish today." also, a lot of the clan chiefs went elsewhere for safety and that is why so many people have scottish blood in them around the world.it was...interesting to be there because it is just a green field, yet I could not keep from thinking that men had died, that blood once stained the ground red. after this we went to Loch Ness. the place where we went, there is this guy named Stephen and he sold his house to become a "monster hunter." seriously. he lives there full time. he han
dmakes these nessie figures(I bought one for 5 pounds, so beautiful and I love it!!just worried it'll break before I go back home but I will do my extreme best to make sure it doesnt, and it is not made of glass). some people, 2 guys and a girl, went "swimming on the loch(the temperature is constant year round since there is so much water...between...5-6 degrees!). I so did not do that! :)
dmakes these nessie figures(I bought one for 5 pounds, so beautiful and I love it!!just worried it'll break before I go back home but I will do my extreme best to make sure it doesnt, and it is not made of glass). some people, 2 guys and a girl, went "swimming on the loch(the temperature is constant year round since there is so much water...between...5-6 degrees!). I so did not do that! :)we went to our hostel in Inverness("inver" means at the mouth of,so the name is: at the mouth of ness. neat huh?). we checked in and I went out to dinner at this spanish restaurant with another american girl(there are 3 americans whose name I just forgot. I had chicken in majo(something like that)sauce. it was SO GOOD;I was sad when I was done! It was nice, having dinner with her. I dont eat with others often and it was nice. daring even, since I asked her if she would mind if I went with her. lol...
Day#1 of this tour was good.I love not having everything crammed in one day but instead having it spread out. Day#2 begins tommorow morning at 9am....
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