"Sing me a song of a lass that is gone. Say, could that lass be I?"
Just like the many who jumped on the Highland bandwagon to chase after Jaime Fraser, Scotland was at the top of my bucket list. The pictures of the craggy, breathtaking landscapes called to my very soul—and to my desire for my own kilt-wearing cowboy.
I traveled to Edinburgh by plane to meet my lovely former boss, Mama Kay, and her equally lovely boyfriend, Robert. Due to traveling difficulties and endless delays from a UK flight crisis, I didn't arrive until after midnight. While unfortunate that I wasn't able to walk through the city like we had planned, we packed up the car at noon the following day to drive into the Highlands.
Nothing could have prepared me for the reality of the Scottish landscape.
You can see all of the pictures and videos you want, but the reality is beyond anything fathomable.
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We travelled for roughly three hours north to Inverness. The cultural capital of the Highlands and home to almost 47,000 people, it is mostly known for the River Ness and the origin of the friendly neighborhood sea monster. It is also home to the Battle of Culloden, a tragic historic moment that led to the death of thousands of Highlanders.
The weather was delightfully chilly and the wind from the coast made it colder in the best way. Despite the expectations I had of overcast skies with intermittent showers, it was blessedly sunny and clear.
We arrived at Culloden and immediately walked across the cobblestones engraved with the names of different clans present in the battle.
The museum part of the historical site was built with a modern flair, and the exhibits were highly interactive. We walked through a timeline instillation with video and audio pieces. We were able to see both the Jacobite/Highlander and British perspectives in separate but connected installations.
One of the most impactful pieces of the exhibition was the 360-degree video room with a reenactment of the battle. Keep in mind that it was an absolute massacre, with almost 1,000 Highlander deaths in just 40 minutes. The reenactment showed the rapid devastation and mass casualties in a chillingly succinct manner.
The second part of the Battle of Culloden experience came from walking through the battlefield. It is a well-preserved historical site, and you can walk through grasslands on different paths towards important checkpoints in the battle. Flags denoting battle lines, headstones with clan names, and different structures from the battle litter the field, and we were able to leisurely wander through history.
After the battlefield, we drove twenty minutes down the road to the Clava Cairns. Now, this was when I thoroughly tested the power of the stones—Outlander fans, eat your hearts out.
These weren't the same structures from the show, but there were some Bronze Age burial sites at this location, which was very cool. It was a pretty popular spot, so we didn't stay very long. Just long enough to push on every single standing stone we saw.
Alas, it didn't work.
Leaving the cairns, we started our long journey towards the true star of the show—Loch Ness. One of the gems of Scotland, it is a must-see landmark of the Highlands. However, what I'm sure that most people don't know is that Loch Ness is enormous and has a road that wraps around the entire body of water.
Just a tip: make sure you put the right destination into your GPS.
Another tip: "Loch Ness" is not the right destination.
It turns out that driving around the entire loch takes about an hour and a half, and we went the wrong way around. Unless you want to park on the one-way road and hike down a mountain, the "Loch Ness" destination on Google Maps is not for you.
However, because of the small hiccup, we were able to experience some magical things around the loch.
First, we found a small, remote inn that sold lunch. It's called the Whitebridge Hotel and is owned by two lovely women. The ambience was wonderful with colorful trinkets hanging from the walls and ceilings and different posters and photos scattered about. The food was absolutely incredible—I got a steak and cheese sandwich, French fries, salad, and a curried carrot and sweet potato soup.
One of the highlights of the trip was the cook giving me his recipe for the soup. I'll be making it when I'm back in the states for Christmas.
After we had eaten, the bartender pointed us towards a mountain overlook that was over 1400 ft above sea level. Since we were taking the scenic route anyways, Mama Kay and Robert kindly parked on the side of the road so I could climb the mountain to the lookout point. The view was unlike any I had seen before, and it only got better the higher I climbed.
The brief side quest bled into another forty minutes in the car, and we finally arrived at Urquhart Castle, an old castle whose ruins sit on the shores of Loch Ness.
We had to walk down through a gift shop to reach the shore and the ruins. The ruins were pretty cool, but it was missing most of the original structure.
You could climb through drafty, narrow staircases to reach different levels, though I quickly realized my larger shoe size made the steps rather dangerous.
Our wandering through the ruins had us spilling out on the rocky shoreline of Loch Ness. I was able to crouch down and run my fingers through the frigid water, though Nessie—unfortunately—did not come up to greet us.
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When we left Loch Ness, we were entirely useless—ten hours of driving around or walking through fields will do that to you—but we went to a nice restaurant to finalize our plans for the following day. The next day would be just as busy (or busier) as we were driving over three hours to the Isle of Skye.
Jusqu'à la prochaine fois,
Finn