I have been out and about for the last few days travelling
further up into the highlands, meeting friendly travellers and locals alike. I
am now making my way up to the Isle of Lewis. The crossing is to take around
three hours and the scenery outside is simply beautiful. It is rugged and
untamed in the extreme with natural waterfalls and rocky outcroppings dotting
the hillsides. I am a little bit in love with the place and wouldn’t at all
mind finding a nice wee cottage (as the locals say) and setting myself up in
the highlands. Perhaps when I am rich and shameless and I can.
The youth hostel that I stayed at was very relaxed, clean
and quiet and I met a few of the people that work there. All of them are
travelling and just stop to work at the hostels for a few weeks doing the
cleaning and such and get free board. Not a bad deal. Will have to look into
this.
Inverness was picturesque and bigger than I thought it would
be. Apparently it was recently qualified to be a called a city which the locals
are very proud of. I travelled up from Edinburgh by train. It took three and
half hours but it was a pretty relaxed trip. We travelled up through the
Cairngorns (?), a huge mountain range. As we headed further up the country the
more snow lay on the ground, so I naturally assumed that it would be freezing
in Inverness, but it is actually in a glen, very sheltered from the weather. It
was warmer in Inverness than it was in Edinburgh.
The hostel (it's the tiny house nestled behind/to the side of the cathedral) was a short walk from the train station so once I
had dumped my gear, I headed out for an afternoon stroll along the river Ness
before heading back and booking a tour and cruise for the next day. By that
point I was absolutely shattered thanks to an almost sleepless night. Four
Italians had moved into the room in Edinburgh, gone drinking and were doing two
things: 1) the most indescribably hideous farts that ever graced the nation and
2) snoring so loudly that the people next door were shouting and banging on the
walls and I, having tried unsuccessfully to stick it out, gave up and moved
first into the corridor to watch a movie (this was at midnight), then later,
grabbing a pillow and a thick cardi, taking myself off to the lounge to sleep
on the couch. I got around three hours sleep before the morning staff came in,
switching on all the lights.
It was fair to say that I was entitled to an early night
when I got to Inverness and boy did I sleep. Like a log – a dead log.
In the morning, refreshed and ready to face the world, I
headed out to catch the tour bus. It cost 29 pounds but was well worth it for
the cost of transporting us down to the cruise at the beginning of Loch Ness,
the tour guide giving us some great information, the 30 min cruise down the
Loch, then an hour at Urquhart Castle and another hour at the Loch Ness information
centre where you watch mini videos on the myth and science of hunting for
Nessie.
Just so you know, I saw her – the picture is proof. Haha.
The people around here are very lucky to live in such a
place and for the most part, every single one I have talked to is keenly aware
of this fact.
Urquhart castle was by the far the best ruined castle I have
seen and again, when rich and shameless, I will live in one – not a ruined one,
but a restored one.
The ruins give a fantastic glimpse of what life was like and
the stories of how it had been built, seiged, sacked, rebuilt then destroyed by
the owners to make sure that the English king wouldn’t be able to use it to
gain a foothold in the highlands.
We went to the info centre about Nessie and despite all of
the science and what-not, I am inclined to go with the locals on the belief
that Nessie is in there somewhere. I did here one crack up story though about a
couple that were driving along the side of the Loch when apparently Nessie ran
across the road from the hills in front of them, then slid down the rest of the
hill into the Loch below. Uh huh. Me thinks a wee bit too much hash and whiskey
was imbibed that day.
Originally the plan was to go to the Orkney Islands today
but trying to get the bus and train to match up with the ferry was ridiculous.
The bus from Inverness arrived at Scrabster (the port outside Thurso) at 1245,
but the ferry left at 12 noon. The next ferry didn’t leave till 7pm and I
wasn’t prepared to lug my backpack around for 7 hours. No thanks. So plan B.
Off to the Hebrides. I have been told that there is not much there except for
bogs and stunning scenery so I think my next three days will include a bit of
tramping across the wild. There are also supposed to be standing stones which
are older than the pyramids of Egypt. I have also been told that it is strongly
religious so everything will be shut tomorrow. Must remember to go shopping
tonight...
