Highlands, Lochs, and Castles

Greame, our tour guide on Tour 4: West Highland Lochs, Mountains and Castles Tour, was unbelievable. At first sight he seems like a laid back kind Scottish man, but after only moments driving the bus he had us all cracking up. He knew a ton of information and was hilarious! For example, the last English Queen was Queen Elizabeth the First who died in 1603. When she died so did her family tree. After that the Scottish King became the Brittish King and his family has been in power ever since. So actually the Queen can be called Brittish but not English. He was very passionate about the fact that the the Queen is the Queen of Brittain and NOT England.

We started by driving by Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument (that is William Wallace from Braveheart). The monument is one of the highest of its kind. We then stopped at Doune Castle, where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot. It is in ruins but even more beautiful than castles still intact. We stopped at the beautiful Loch Lubnaig and saw the Glen Ogle Falls. As we sped over winding Scottish roads, teetering from one side to the other, Greame went on explaining the clans, who liked who and where the Scottish came from and where they went to. He also taught us some Gaelic, for example Kennedy means crooked nose. McKean is part of the Macdonald Clan which was in a constant battle with the Campbells, who NOBODY likes, according to our Scottish guide. However, the Macdonalds were also brutal, killing women and children of the Campbell clan by pushing them off a cliff into the sea (eek)! As we drove he told us which clans lands we were in and about the many famous people who were Scottish. Did you know that the population of Scotland has actually decreased in the past few hundred years? Greame also told us our name was spelled wrong (and the spelling didn't exist) but it was because one illiterate person telling another illiterate person their name (which is why we aren't Mackean).

We stooped for a refreshment break in Tyndrum where Greame warned us that there was a Hairy Horny Highander waiting. His name was Hamish and he was a hairy blond bull! Haha

We stopped on the side of the road and in the middle of Loch Awe is Kilchurn Castle, the former Campbell castle. When they outgrew it (as they were constantly becoming a bigger clan) they built Inveraray Castle....our next stop. Dad and I decided to have a quick lunch and then head up to the castle. We went in and though it is grand and beautiful there are only a few rooms open as it is a working castle. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll still live there with their 3 chikdren. And just as we entered the castle we passed the Duchess and 2 of her children in a scavenger hunt for a Halloween party. Loch Fyne, just beside the castle, was on low tide but was surrounded by trees changing colours.

We were soon on our way to Loch Lamomd, the longest Loch in Scotland at 5 miles and which is connected to the sea. In fact it is known for Oysters and is a world class place to taste them. We stopped in the small town of Luss where Dad and I each had an empire biscuit (with chewy jam, not nearly as good as my other one) and headed to the shores of the Loch for a picture.

We headed through Glasgow on our way back to Edinburgh and Greame filled us in on some facts. Glasgow used to have a population of 1 million but it is now at 700 000. It is the gang capital of Europe. Men who live in East Glasgow have a life expectancy of 53, while men in other parts of Glasgow have a life expectancy of 83. Glasgow also has one of the tallest residential buildings in Europe, and they are being torn down due to their disrepair (they didn't look nearly as tall as some of our buildings).

Winding through Edinburgh we saw the New town, which is 300 years old but was the first new town planned and built on a grid system. We saw the home of Alexander Graham Bell and where the Prime Minister of Scotland would live or maybe it was aptheir government official (?), not really clear on this part.

As Greame talked we laughed and thoroughly enjoyed our tour. Which would not have been quite as enjoyable without him. We are so grateful for our amazing tour guide!