Highlands Tour Day II and III

Okay.  Brace yourself for an overload of pictures.  

It seems that during this trip I found myself constantly saying, "Where's Daniel?"  He was totally in his element and would wander off periodically.  That left me constantly looking for him.  (I think the other travelers got a kick out of it because anytime I'd talk to them it usually started with, "Have you seen Daniel?".) Below are pictures that he took on his early morning walk on Day 2 of our little weekend adventure. I was still sleeping.

View from our a hill above Kyleakin



Old ruins--we never figured out what they were.



 Unfortunately neither Daniel or I can remember the importance of the places in the next couple of pictures.  But they are still pretty!

 While we were driving, our tour guide told us a Scottish tale about a female warrior who was said to be the best in the land.

(Now this is me telling the story. I have forgotten some of the details (such as names) and if I mess other stuff up I apologize)

Anyway, a male warrior named Cuillen from Ireland scoffed at the fact that a woman was the "best" warrior and decided that he was going to challenge her to a duel to prove that he was the best. Once he arrived, he shouted her name and demanded to talk to her.  She was busy teaching her students so she sent her best student to see what this man wanted.  Cuillen was livid that the female warrior didn't come herself, so he battered and bruised the student and told him to go back and tell his teacher to come herself. She went and a great fight between the two started. 

The clash of their weapons was heard throughout all the land.  The student, distraught for his master, ran through the forrest to escape the noise. Numbed by his fear, he didn't feel the lashes across his face as he was wipped by the branches of the trees he passed-permanently damaging his youthful face.  Eventually he tripped and fell into a stream--right at a point where the fairy world and human worlds connected.  Seeing his face smeared with blood, the fairys took pity on the boy and asked the matter.  He told them of his master and the other warrior.  The fairy's laughed because it was such a trivial problem--who was greater--  Man or Woman.  They told him to bring them knowledge and then disappeared. 

Finding himself back in the water he looked at his reflection and saw that they had given him back his unharmed/ youthful face.  The boy, confused but inspired, ran to find his master and give them the "knowledge" he was told to.  On his way, he found a hazelnut (which represents knowledge) and knew what he had to do. He gathered the nuts,returned to his home and began to cook a great feast.  The warriors, after hours of fighting, were famished.  The smell of the feast lurred them to put their dual on hold and they slowly found their way to the table.  With full belly's and their tempers calmed a new feeling swept through the hall--the warriors looked at each other with respect and the knowledge that men and woman are equals. (There is more to it... but this is the moral of the story!-- I'm so sorry I butchered it)

Why am I telling this story?? haha Daniel and I went to the stream where it is said the young student met with the fairys.  We were told that if you put your face in the water, the fairy's will give you "eternal beauty" as well! Couldn't pass that up so yes...

The mountains in the background are named affter the Celtic warrior Cuillen

 We stuck our faces in the freezing water.. I thought those two pictures deserved an explaination! haha

 

An old bridge over the stream.  On the right side are the Black Cuillens and the right side are the Red Cuillens

Our next little stop was small port town called Portree.  We didn't do much here, but I did help an old man set up an appointment with his plumber. haha  He didn't know how to work his cell phone so I did it for him.  The town was lovely and there was a little bakery that had incredibly cheap food.  We got a warm lunch from there.

Portree

 The next few pictures are of the Old Man of Storr (the little points sticking up from the mountain).  I'm not sure why they are so popular, but there are lot's of pictures of them.

The Old Man of Storr Mountians

 The next pictures were taken at kilt rock.  The ridges on the rocks look like the pleats of kilts--hence the name.

Kilt Rock

 Then we hit traffic.......

Rush hour on the Isle of Skye

We also went on a mountain walk--or in American English, a hike.  It was incredible.  The whole mountain looked like the grass had been mowed and the landscape sculpted.  Just look at some of these pictures.  They don't even do the landscape justice.

Gotta love the fresh water lochs that are everywhere!

 Daniel and I even filled our waterbottles straight from a little waterfall coming off the mountain and it was as pure and cold as can be.  Awesome.



Overlooking the ocean.



 The paths were sometimes literally right on the edge of a steep hill.  One slip of the foot and Daniel could have been playing steam roller with Scotland.  Scotland would have definitly won.

 Our tour guide accidently took us down the wrong path and we ended up having to slide down a 90 degree slope.  It was entertaining enough.  A few of the travelers had a really hard time getting down.

Me with a lochen, a mini loch

 The next group of pictures is from the Faerie Glen.  I loved it here.  Faerie's are said to live in the hills of this glen.  The hills were awesome.  I literally felt like I was in the Shire from the hobbit. 

Those are the fairy's houses!

and they are all over!

 Also, it is said that the fairy's make these shapes out of the rocks.  In the center of the circles and swirls there was actually money and other tokens (like shells, feathers, hair bows, etc).  Our tour guide told us that this glen is still considered to be sacred to the pagans and they do rituals here (kind of creepy.... I like just thinking about it as a magical place where people like Tinkerbell live).  But anyway, he asked us to treat it as we would our own church/temple/holy place. So no.. I didn't take any of the money. haha 

This is my friend Claire! 

 I love this picture! Look at that hill... and the pathway to get to it.  It's so beautiful and to think of all the little fairy's inside! haha

 Daniel and I bought a cheap book about the folk tales of Scotland.  I really loved hearing the stories that our guide told us. Another short one we were told was that often times, to explain infant death, people believed that the fairy's took the real child and replaced it with a "changeling" who could only survive human form for a few days.  So once the baby died, they reasoned that it was because the real child was taken earlier by the fairys for a more important purpose.

When we got back to the hostel, Daniel, Danny, Claire and I went to Saucy Mary's (Scotlands first stripper--the Scandinavian woman I mentioned earlier haha They named a pub after her) for fresh fish.  We ordered fish and chips and they were delicious--we got the last three plates! (Danny had to get fish cakes.. they were still good).  We also tried fried haggis.  It was alright.  I didn't love it, but Daniel said he thought it was quite good.

 On day three we went on a glass bottom boat tour.  We saw lots of seals, jelly fish, 1 crab, and a few otters.

Our next stop was Glen Coe.   An infamous massacre took place here. There is a thing called Highland hospitality and due to the dramatic climate of the north, if somebody comes to your door--be it friend or foe-- the highlanders always take them in, feed them, clothe them, and give them whatever else they need.  In this glen, the Campbell's took advantange of highland hospitality and after two weeks of living with the MacDonald's... they slaughtered them.  Daniel is decendent of a Campbell and apparently, there are still some pubs that will ask you to leave if they find out that you are related.  That clan is pretty much the scum of the earth because they turned on their own people.

Where the Campbell's massacred the MacDonald's

 The waterfalls coming off the mountains are said to be the tears of the children that were killed.

 AND FINALLY! a hilan-coo.  or in otherwords a highland cow.  haha what a way to end the trip.