Now where was I...oh yes..back in Scotland

I wrote about Day 7 & 8 in Glasgow - the next two days were spent on a little tour I signed up for just the day before. The guide, Donald McDonald, picked me up in Glasgow, along with 6 other people, and drove us up the west coast. We were in a regular van and I got to ride shot-gun, which was really odd because that meant I was riding in the front left seat (the driver's seat in the US) but there was no wheel or pedals there of course.

We drove up the western side of Scotland and along the way learned about Scottish history from Don - along with more modern trivia. We say the castle that stood in for both the French castle and the castle with all the maids from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We stopped by Stirling Castle only shortly (didn't go in) and viewed the William Wallace Monument. Donald was not impressed with the accuracy of Brave Heart - for one thing Mel Gibson isn't very tall and the real William Wallace was a giant of a man. On the other hand, Liam Neeson is pretty tall and he played Rob Roy who was rather on the short side.

Along the way we stopped to take a break at a little roadside place, partly so we could meet Hamish. Hamish is a Highland Bull who apparently loves to have his picture taken. He has a large field next to the parking lot but chooses to spend all day standing there waiting for the next person to come by with a camera.

We drove on up into the highlands - it was so beautiful. It rained on and off and there were little waterfalls running down the mountains here and there. We stopped at a well known spot called Glen Coe to view the Three Sisters. Donald took this very personally as the famous massacre at Glen Coe had the Clan Campbell massacring the Clan Donald after having accepted their hospitality for 12 days. This is a big Highland no-no and, according to Donald, the Campbells are the most hated clan in Scotland (hmm...wonder if he's a little prejudice?)

We stopped to see the monument to Robert the Bruce and also got to see both the train and the infamous bridge from Harry Potter fame (although, unfortunately, not at the same time).

We continued up to the Loch area and stayed the night in Fort William on one of the Lochs. The picture with the boats is was the view from my bedroom.

The next day....to be continued