FLASHBACK #56: Bonny Scotland (Part 1)

Introduction

Since meeting Bree in 2002, all of my holidays have been kind of extreme; they have all involved covering vast distances which brings something that other holidays don't bring – memorable experiences and a sense of having 'seen' the place.

The idea of visiting Scotland came about from the fact that my father is Scottish. In recent years, many movies have been made in Scotland including 'Braveheart' starring Mel Gibson, 'Highlander' starring Sean Connery and the 'Harry Potter' films to name a few. The scenery in the movies had been spectacular and since I would be in the UK for my Summer Holiday, I thought why not venture North and see it for myself.

I ran the idea past Bree. he was up for it and planning began. My parents visited us in Helsinki in July (you can read about that here) and I returned with them for one week before meeting up with Bree in Manchester on July 25. That is when the trip really began!

Day 1 – Sunday 25th July
Manchester – Fort Augustus (17ºC)

After spending a week with my parents, I had ventured North for the weekend to spend time with my friends, Sweetpea and Fred, in Liverpool. Fred gave me a lift to the airport and, while I waited for Bree's flight to land, I picked up the hire car from the National Rental desk. At 16:55, Bree's flight landed and I collected him from outside Terminal 3.

We took the M62 exit from the airport, later joining the M6. The weather was grey and rainy and Bree and I caught up on the news as we sped towards the beuatifully sunny region of Cumbria.

Later on, the M6 gave way to the A74 at Carlisle. We saw the signs for the famous Gretna Green where countless young couples have eloped without their parents blessing. We also saw the signs for Hadrian's Wall which successfully prevented the Romans from occupying Scotland all those years ago.

We stopped at the Hamilton service area where we bought coffee and ate the sandwiches I had prepared earlier in the day. On the back seat of the rented Vauxhall Astra, there was a box laden with sandwiches, crisps, fruit, drink and sweets for our long journey: the aim was to get as far north as possible for as long as daylight would allow.

Soon, we were speeding along the the M8, locally known as the Glasgow Highway. We turned off at Junction 17 and onto the A82 which would take us all the way to the Highlands. Before long, we had reached Loch Lomond – by this time, the sun was starting to recede. We stopped briefly to take some photos. The weather was pleasant, albeit chilly as we walked along the shore of the loch, getting a taster of the beautiful scenery to come.

By 10pm, we had reached Crianlarich in 'Rob Roy country', a very Scottish name for a place if there ever was one! There was still a touch of daylight and, in the twilight, we saw shallow streams meandering alongside the road, well-set mansions in landscaped estates and countless farms with herds of cows and sheep shuddering away as we sped past.

We came to a very bendy upward climb – to the left, Bree noticed a stag and I admit that I also saw it out of the corner of my eye. Just before we were encased in total darkness, we passed Glencoe Ski Centre and the town of Glencoe itself.

At Onich, we came into contact with the Great Glens for the first time with the sighting of Loch Linnie. Bree slept and I sped along, in uneventful darkness, until we reached Fort Augustus just after midnight, taking in the towns of Fort William and Invergarry on the way.

Fort Augustus was named after the old military barracks that were blown up by Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Highlanders in 1746. Running through the village is the River Oich and the impressive Caledonian Canal and loch system, built by Thomas Telford in the early 1800’s.

We enquired at the Caledonia Manor and paid £33 per person to stay for the night. It was beddy bye byes for us!

Day 2 – Monday 26th July
Fort Augustus – John O'Groats (20ºC)

After a filling cooked breakfast, during which one of the waitresses had kindly demonstrated her bewildering Scottish Gaelic, we left the hotel about 10.30am. Our first intended destination was Urquhart Castle overlooking Loch Ness.

As we drove through Fort Augustus, we stopped briefly to watch some boats make their way through a stair of lochs, certainly a time consuming way of getting from loch to loch!

We continued our drive and, within minutes, reached Invermoristen. The thing that struck me most about Invermoristen – I think it's the only thing that attracts anyone – is the Old Bridge. It was one of nearly 1,000 bridges that were built between 1800 and 1819 as a general plan to improve Highland communications.

Within an hour, we had arrived at Urquhart Castle, half a mile south of Drumnadrocht.

Urquhart Castle is one of the largest in Scotland, which fell into decay after 1689. Most of the existing buildings date from the 14th century.

Prior to our arrival, the weather was overcast and bright, but not very warm. After a walk around the ruins of the castle, the blue sky returned seemingly kissing the glistening the Loch.

We went to the shop and watched an 8 minute feature film about the castle. Urquhart Castle was originally the site of a Pictish fort, visited by St Columba in 597. In 1297, the castle was in English hands loyal to Edward I, surviving a night assault by the Scots. By 1303, it was in Scots hands and fell to the the English. It would later feature among a handful of castles keeping alive Robert the Bruce's claim to the Scottish Crown. …

After the screening, we went to the Cafe and downed clotted cream scones, topped with strawberries and a strong cup of tea. Yummy!

When we headed back to the car park, Bree realised he had left his sunglasses at the hotel in Fort Augustus. We drove back 22 miles to collect them (because they were specially designed sunglasses to fit on top of his normal glasses) then all the way back to the Castle before continuing along the A82.

We stopped at the official Loch Ness Monster Exhibition Centre in Dramnadrocht and checked it out. It looked naff from the outside and the entrance area looked worse so we decided not to part with our money. However, we visited the shop nearby and Bree checked out the many types of whiskies on offer. Then, outside, we saw her. Nessie!

About 3pm, we left Drumndrocht and headed towards Inverness on the A82. We crossed the magnificent bridge, zooming over the Moray Firth, and onto the A9.

We crossed bridges over the Cromarty and Doroch Firths, and continued along the rugged Eastern Coast of Scotland, passing Dunrobin Castle on the way.

The further north we went, the more tundra-like the environment became. We stopped briefly to admire a view and when I got out of the car in a particularly hilly area, Bree panicked and claimed the car was rolling away. I panicked and turned, but it had been a cruel joke. An effective one though. We laughed!

As we continued along what seemed an isolated area dotted here and there with the odd home, we wondered how people could live here. When we reached Wick, I knew we weren't far from John O'Groats; we arrived at the seemingly abandoned town at 8pm.

The town's emptiness was a charade for we were unable to find a hotel room; everywhere was booked up! We had no choice, but to drive to Thurso, 20 miles away. There, we found a room at the very nice Hotel Royal for £50, which included breakfast! For dinner, we downed the national dish of Fish & Chips in a local park!

The day had filled my head up with place names I had heard from a very young age. John O'Groats always appeared in the BBC Weather forecasts on TV as the northern-most location in the UK to guage and predict the weather. Wick and Thurso were places where my Dad used to send his pigeons away for racing. I actually recall seeing certficiates where one of my Dad's pigeons had been First or Second to return from Thurso and Wick...

Day 3 – Tuesday 27th July
Thurso – John O'Groats – Lochinver (16ºC)

After breakfast at 9.30am, we headed back to John O'Groats where we paid £12 for a photo to be taken of us and be returned to us in Helsinki. Included in the price, the photographer kindly took photos of us with our own personal cameras too, just in case the photo didn't arrive. There were no other customers to inconvenience whilst the photographer did this anyway – the place was devoid of custom on this grey, chilly morning.

We left about 11am and visited the Castle of Mey, the only residence belonging solely to the Queen Mother at the time of her death in 2003. She first saw what was then Barrogill Castle in 1952, while mourning the death of her husband, King George VI. Falling for its ruined isolated charm, and hearing it was to be abandoned, she declared: “Never! It’s part of Scotland’s heritage. I’ll save it”

The castle itself was very modest and the way of living, judging from the furniture and facilities inside, was equally modest. In fact, the Castle was an ideal place for Royal seclusion.

As we were guided around inside the castle, Bree was impressed that the late Queen Mother had a Finlux TV, a Finnish export. It emerged, during the tour, that Prince Charles was due to stay at the Castle a week later to open the local Highland games.

About 1.30pm, we headed back to Thurso, but took a detour to visit Dunnet Head. A guy at the information centre told us that Dunnet Head was, in fact, the Northernmost point of the British Mainland.

After a twenty minute meandering drive, we pulled into the tiny car park and had a photo taken by the Dunnet Head monument. In the distance, you could hear waves crashing onto the shore below and you could make out the shape of a lighthouse in the fog.

We continued our drive back to Thurso and stopped for petrol and supplies. By supplies, I'm referring to a lunch of sandwiches and Tunnock's Tea Cakes! From there, we started our long drive towards Stoer, taking in the North of Scotland.

We passed a place called Tongue on the A836, then took the A838 to Kylesku. The roads offered amazing views and, every so often, you felt you had been here already 10 minutes early, kind of what I call the 'Groundhog Day' effect from the movie of the same name staring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell.

We picked up the treacherous B869 route and drove to Drumbeg and it's towering views. The route was hard going and falling into ruins, but eventually we saw the turn off for Stoer Head lighthouse. The drive again seemed to take forever and it was at this time that I noticed myself starting to get cranky with tiredness.

We got to the lighthouse at 7pm only to realise that there were no hotels nor restaurants in the area. The Lonely Planet Guide said that that the Old Man of Stoer itself, a stone stack reaching a height of 300ft slightly out to sea, takes an hour to reach on foot. At this hour, our priority was to eat, find ourselves somewhere to stay overnight and find a petrol station because we were running low on petrol.

Feeling a bit pissed off at how isolated the place was and how everything seemed so far from everything else, we headed to the nearby town of Stoer. There were rooms at a particular bed and breakfast, but nowhere to dine. We left the B869 and onto the A837, towards a small town named Lochinver.

Lochinver was beautiful and far less complicated – it had a petrol station, a restaurant and a bed and breakfast in one compact street which seemed to make up the whole town. The bed and breakfast itself cost £17 a person, a real bargain. We went for dinner at the nearby pub and I enjoyed garlic mushrooms and lasagne with a well-earned drink. In bed before 11pm, after enjoying the views in the receding twilight.