The Adventures of Josip & Melanie

Today we woke up early to depart for our three day tour of the Scottish highlands with a tour company called Haggis. Well the day did not start off as expected. As I was waiting to board the bus I received a lot of luck from some birds up above. But this is no ordinary bird crap story I think that the damage the birds caused could only be compared to the damage caused by a B52 Bomber on a mission. Luckily Josip had ran back to the hostel to grab something he forgot and when he got back the look of shock on his face said it all. There was bird shit all over our back packs which luckily have protective covers, all over my t-shirt, pants, some in my hair, all over the road and they even managed to get a few girls next to me.

Unfortunately we did not have the camera out but let your imagination do the work. Josip was lucky that he left something at the hostel because if he was standing next to his bag he would have felt the full force of the bird bombers. Everyone on the tour now knew who we were for all the wrong reasons but our journey had begun along with about 15 other tourists and our awesome tour leader whose name is Neil.

Our first stop was at the William Wallace memorial. Now for those of you who have never watched brave heart, he is Scotland’s National hero. The memorial overlooks the scene of his famous victory at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 which would definitely have some fantastic views from the top if the weather was clear. The statue of Mel Gibson who played William Wallace in the movie Brave heart is apparently sometimes mistaken as being the monument much to our tour leader’s disgust.

Our next stop was on route north to Glencoe. We stopped for lunch at a lovely roadside restaurant selling hearty food but no Haggis in sight. Perhaps a little later we will try the traditional meal of Scotland but for now we were enjoying looking at the cute hairy coo’s (Cows). They are much nicer than the ordinary cows back at home and you just want to squeeze them. Our tour leader was fantastic at explaining all the history of Scotland and had something to say about everything. I honestly think he did not stop talking the whole day but it was cool as Josip and I just love his Scottish accent.

When we arrived at Glencoe the scenery was just breathtaking. Glencoe is a historic sight where a bloody massacre took place in 1692. It is ironic to think that something so terrible could happen in such a beautiful place. The shortened version of the story basically involves the MacDonald’s being slaughtered by government troops led by Captain Robert Campbell. This was after Campbell and his men had enjoyed the traditional highland hospitality before turning on their hosts (that included his own niece and her husband) in an attempt at what today would be called ethnic cleansing. Even today generations of Scottish children have been taught not to trust a Campbell.

To make the scenery even more spectacular there was a Scottish man dressed in kilt playing the bagpipes. I tried to get a cheesy tourist shot with the guy but as usual some other tourists were just getting in my way. Our group then drove on to Fort William and stopped to go for a wee walk with the stunning backdrop of Ben Nevis. Britain’s highest mountain standing a mighty 1344m is a beautiful sight and even though the sun was not quite shining or the sky blue, the scenery still made for an amazing experience.

Our accommodation for the night and last stop for the day was at Morag’s Lodge which is just a few minutes walk to the bustling village of Fort Augustus nestled on the banks of Loch Ness. Before we chilled out for the night we were entertained by a man who taught us a little more about Scottish history and why Scottish men wear skirts. Josip got to be the centre of attention as he was dressed in traditional kilt worn by the highlanders for the practical reasons of warmth and comfort. It was only until a revival in the 19th Centaury that the kilt became irreversibly associated with highlanders. It was subsequently adopted by the lowlanders and as you can see the original is quite different to the tartan version worn today.

Unfortunately we did not spot nessie or any other creatures on the Loch. We then proceeded to our hostel for the night after a very eventful day. The hostel we stayed at was pretty awesome and we shared a room with a Canadian couple on our tour. Most of our night was spent in the bar first playing monopoly and then moved on to drinking games. Tomorrow we were moving on to the Isle of Skye and visiting some beautiful castles and maybe we might even be eating some haggis for dinner.