Bon Voyage & Bon Appétit

 This post is mash-up of two days, Friday (the last official day of our trip) and Saturday (a half-day we had in Edinburgh). —————————— On Friday we got to check out Saint Conan’s Kirk (meaning church). This architecturally pleasing little building was built in the late 1800s  and is a mismatch of many different common church styles. The architect built it for his elderly mother , who could no longer make the trip to their local kirk, so that she could still attend mass… what a good son! Saint Conan’s Kirk Kirk Cat Exploring the Kirk We got to see another castle as well, Kilchurn Castle. This was an old fortress and is right at the end of Loch Awe, located on cattle grazing grounds. Honestly, the sheep and coos of Scotland live wonderful lives, they have so much space to roam and they really seem like creatures at ease.  Kilchurn Castle on coo grazing grounds Speaking of coos, we got to see some up close today! Coo! Coo! Coo! Coo! We also stopped to see the Kelpies, a tou...

 Today was the penultimate day with our Scottish Highlands trip! What an amazing time it’s been.  This morning we left the Isle of Skye and took a ferry back to mainland Scotland. But before we left, I decided to try a wee potato scone from a cafe at the ferry terminal. Potato mixed with flour and fried… it was so yummy! I’ll defiantly have to try making this at home. Potato Scone Our first big stop back on the mainland was at the Glenfinnan Viaduct… aka ‘The Harry Potter Bridge’. We didn’t get to see the Hogwarts Express, but it’s easy to imagine the magical train travelling from London to Hogwarts… such a fun surreal moment!  Off to catch the train to Hogwarts Next we drove to Glencoe, which is famous as one of the most beautiful natural wonders in Scotland. The greenery was quite similar to Victoria, I can see where Glencoe Cove in Victoria got its name from. This area is rich with hiking trails, but we stoped at a scenic viewpoint to do a short hike up the side of one...

 Today we spent the whole day exploring the Isle of Skye! Skye is a very touristy island, with 2 in 5 housed being either vacation homes or rentals… but luckily we have a great guide who is able to still get us to cool places, no matter how busy it is! We started the morning by driving to hike An  Stòr which is famous because of the  Old Man of Storr rock spire. This imposing rock formation is made of volcanic rock and was formed by detaching from the nearby cliff side around 6100 years ago.  Our guide told us the legend that this mountain is actually a fallen giant, slain by the Christian God on behest of the recently Christianized locals from whom the giant was stealing. And the spire is well… a part of the giants anatomy that would protrude upwards if he was lying on his back. An Stòr mountain from below Old Man of Storr (furthest spire to the left) This hike gave us absolutely gorgeous views and took about 2hrs for a round trip. We had another warm sunny day… who...

 Another busy day with the trip today! We spent most of the day driving from Loch Ness to the Isle of Sky, but with several picture-esque stops along the way. It’s a short one today because man am I tired! Hostel living is fun experience but not a sustainable lifestyle for me. No matter how sleepy I am, the landscape of rural Scotland continues to grab my attention at every turn… especially since it is full of pastures with many cute sheep! Sheep on a green pasture Our first stop was Rogie Falls, which felt very similar to Goldstream in Victoria! The fauna and waterfall looked just like BC, and, like Goldstream, it is also the location of a salmon run. Rogie Falls Our next stop was Corrieshalloch Gorge, a 50m deep gorge nestled between highland roads. The gorge is so deep that the climate at the bottom of the gorge is actually 2 degrees warmer than at the top! This allows many unique species to flourish.  Corrieshalloch Gorge Despite the carsickness from driving on small rural...

 Day one of out 5-day Highland Tour has been a wonderful success! We’ve got 13 lovely folks from all over as our new friends.  Our tour bus We spent most of the day driving up to …Loch Ness! On the way we stopped for several nice walks. Our first stop was at Killiecrankie where we walked along the river as a group and only got a bit lost. View from our walk in Killiecrankie Next we stopped at the Balnuaran of Clara, a prehistoric burial site in northern Scotland which was constructed around 2000 BC. A burial cairn A standing stone We also stopped at Culloden, where the battle of Culloden between the Highlander Jacobites and the government Red Coats was fought on April 16th, 1746. The battlefield of Culloden And finally I got to see some real life Hairy Coos! Hairy Coos! But for me, the coolest part of the day was arriving at Loch Ness! This felt like such a surreal moment. It’s a beautiful loch with such great lore. Apparently, the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, g...