♪♫♪♫ "You take the high road and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye'.. ♫♪♫♪
Oh what a glorious day we had as we left early in the morning on our Rabbies Day Tour of the Highlands of Scotland.
After a quick breakfast at the Starbucks in Waverley Station we made our way to the Rendezvous spot.
We had a small tour group of 16, two from China, six Korean, six Brits and 2 Americans. Our Scottish driver and tour guide Jim, kept us entertained the entire day with historical information on Scotland, her heroes and enemies, the countryside and sights we were seeing, fun facts about the Scottish people, great Scottish music and very safe driving.
Below are the famous Kelpies of Falkirk. These are steel sculptures of horses heads that stand almost 100 ft. tall. A Kelpie is a mythical Scottish shape shifting water creature or spirit inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland and they usually appear as a horse.
Below is Stirling Castle where, as a 9 month old infant, Mary Queen of Scots was crowned Queen of Scotland on 9, September 1543.
If you enlarge this photo you can see The National Wallace Monument on the small hill to the left. The monument was erected in 1869 to commemorate Sir William Wallace (1270 - 1305), patriot, martyr and Guardian of Scotland.
It was a bright sunny day, great for seeing the beautiful countryside we were driving through.
We had 4 scheduled stops on this tour, not at castles or other historical sights, but at a couple of cute small towns and 2 lochs. Our driver also stopped so we could take some pictures of mountains and the not so wild life. The first stop was at the beautiful Loch Lubnaig. It was so peaceful here and the view was stunning!
What a gorgeous place.
These Scots are a hearty people. When we arrived there was a woman who was just leaving after going for a swim in the loch. The temperature was 0° C or 32° F. Yes, you read that right, it was freezing!
As we drove further into the highlands we saw more and more snow. Darryl and I have noticed as we've driven though the countryside that they have a healthy Forestry industry. I don't think they have very much Natural Native Forest, most of the trees they plant are Sitka Spruce, native to the American Northwest, but they have planted and harvested their forests for many, many years.
As we entered Glencoe, Jim pointed out his favorite mountain in all of Scotland, Mount Buchaille Etive Mor.
The snow started falling and Jim told us the story about the massacre of members of the MacDonald Clan by the Campbell Clan as the Campbells were staying with them in their homes in February 1692 here in Glencoe. The Campbells were acting on orders of William III of England & II of Scotland.
The highlands are quite rugged in places..
The Three Sisters Mountains in the background. Still in Glencoe, just a little further down the road.
The snow stopped falling and we had to stop to get a picture of these Hielan Coos.
There were two of them and when Jim called them they came right over to the fence to say helloo! BTW - "Hielan Coo" is Scottish or maybe Gaelic for "Highland Cow."
The highlight of the day was arriving at Loch Ness!
It was snowing a little when we got there, but the Loch was so peaceful and beautiful.
When we took this pictures Darryl and I were alone out at the point of the Loch. Well, just us and Nessie.
Looking toward the town of Ft. Augustus.
Now the snow is really starting to fall.
I just had to put my hand in Loch Ness. I've always been a touchy, feely kind of person I guess.
I think Darryl is trying to catch Nessie. What's that behind him?
These ducks were the closest thing we saw to a living sea creature.
We ate at the Bothy, a quiet little restaurant right on the canal. The food was delectable. I highly recommend it if you're ever at Loch Ness.
It started snowing even harder as we sat in the restaurant eating our lunch.
One last photo, - me and Nessie.
Our return trip took us back to Edinburgh through a National Park which has some spectactular views. Unfortunately, those are hard to see when you are driving in a snow storm. I guess we'll just have to come back and visit again.
If you're ever in Scotland, I can highly recommend this Rabbie's Day Tour. It was a driving tour with beautiful scenery and vistas to admire, but you can't make too many long stops due to the distance you must cover in one day. It took us 13 hours and we definitely got our money's worth. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
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