The Book of the World

St. Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only one page.” Clearly, it is our goal to read not one page, but several chapters!

Though we do admit that we were fairly sick of people’s whiny toddlers (it was an International Student’s Family Trip run by the University), when all was said and done, we truly enjoyed the Highlands last week. The hairy Highland “coos,” black-faced sheep and wildly athletic goats, the rugged hills splashed with bright purple heather, and the moody, dramatic skies definitely made it feel like we were a long way from our usual haunts. Though we were only in the middle Highlands — definitely not as far up north as Skye — there was that sense of old-fashioned… something that made us feel like we were in the Scotland that most Americans envision when thinking of this country.

We saw it first when we revisited Pitlochry, land of gable fretwork run amok and baskets of bright flowers. That touch of the traditional continued into the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, where we saw people wearing kilts — just because. One of the kilt-wearers was our tour guide, and he met us our first evening to give us a walking tour of the city. Our organizer, Avril, had no idea that he meant to walk us through every corner of the city — but he did. We walked from our hostel to the city center, to the castle, across bridges, along the River Ness, and to an old church, and back. It was somewhat comical — a strapping big Scotsman striding along in his kilt, followed by a line of largely Muslim Arabic and Asian students and their families, strollers and small bewildered children in tow. It was “the mad Scottish pied piper strikes again.” We got some looks from the citizenry, especially as we crossed one narrow street about six times to see various angles on buildings (our guide was nothing if not thorough!) but honestly, it’s a river-side town with a youth hostel. They’ve got to have seen everything, by now.

We made up for the march through Inverness (three hilly miles, when all was said and done) and the strangely creaky, spring-poking hostel beds, by touring part of the Highland Wildlife Park at Kingussie by bus. Actually, the reason we rode the bus is because there are portions of the park where you are absolutely not allowed out of your vehicle. Why? Because European bison, alleged European elk (They’re allegedly elk – but really they’re moose because the Europeans insist on calling a moose an elk) and other large, wild, and unpredictably batty animals are wandering about. The wolves got the most buzz, as they were momentarily invisible except for their yellowish eyes. The rest of the wildlife display was also memorable, including the Scottish wildcats, which look disconcertingly like housecats, and the pine martens, which wouldn’t stop running in maddened circles, poor things. (We hope that part of the conservation effort is to periodically let those things go.)

We finished out the afternoon in the town of Nairn, which is reputedly a gorgeous seaside village with snow-white beaches, excellent golfing and free venues for the Highland Games. We don’t golf, the Games aren’t on ’til August, and it was too blustery to want to go near the water, but Nairn has got a chip shop that serves vegeburgers (The Blue Dolphin, right on the High Street), and a modern library with computer access and some great books. It doesn’t take much to make us happy campers.

The following morning we wore every layer and windbreaker we could get on — and still froze on our hour-long cruise of the Loch Ness. Oh. My. GOODNESS, should you ever ponder whether or not you should bring your gloves and woolens on a Highland trip, do NOT do what we did, and think, “For goodness sakes, it’s August.” August-schmaugust. It was forty degrees (8°C) on that boat, and we were wearing windbreakers over long sleeved t-shirts, because we’d been too warm previously. We both had lined woolen hats, however, and protected our ears, while most people — Scottish people, incidentally — had their hair blowing in the wind and wouldn’t even put up their hoods. Tsk. As usual, they are heartier than we!

Loch Ness is beautiful, however, despite the nonsense about what is or is not lurking beneath the greenish waves. It is bordered by fields and castles and the occasional stretch of two-lane road, where drivers would look over at us and wave. Negotiating the locks was interesting, and we passed several dinghys and yachts at anchor. While we saw no seals or any other large water mammals, it was all very nautical, but it was JUST TOO COLD to be sailing along at speed without the sight of sun. Brrr!

We are hardy souls, however, and after only a brief foray into the café with bathrooms and heaters, we were out and climbing about the hills, cliffs and ruins of Urquhart Castle. (We were fortunate that there was no wind once we got ashore.) Once home of a Pictish King (Brude in the 6th century), the castle was destroyed in 1692 in order to keep it from being helpful to the Jacobites who might use it to return James VII of Scotland to the throne. For being that old of a ruin, the castle is in remarkably good shape.

We ended our trip with a side visit to Inverary. Now, there’s a town we’d enjoy visiting for much longer! There is, of course, the requisite Inverary Castle, but there’s also a jail, a folk art museum, a ten-ringer bell tower that is open to the public and …okay, a penny candy store right off the pier of Loch Fyne. Which is really the most important bit.

In Inverary, they also play “shinty,” which is a forbearer of Nova Scotian ice hockey, and twice as vicious, we’re told.

To read the chapter that is Scotland, and the paragraph that is the Highlands, three days was simply not enough. But the world is a book — an arresting, absorbing, humdinger of a page-turner. We’ll be back.

– D & T

For more pictures of this trip, click a link. There are over 400 pictures from this trip alone, and we can see how many times the pictures have been looked at. You’re not keeping up your end of the bargain, people! There will be slideshows when we come home. Be warned.

On the Road to Pitlochry 25 photos	Pitlochry 19 photos	On the Road to Inverness 21 photos	Around Inverness 98 photos	Highland Wildlife Park 87 photos	Nairn 18 photos	Inverness Flowers 28 photos
Back from Nairn 8 photos	Loch Ness Cruise 62 photos	Urquhart Castle 62 photos	On the Road to Inverary 18 photos	Inverary 14 photos	Back to Glasgow 2 photos

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