It was rather sad to be leaving the highlands and heading for Oban, flat land in Scotland doesnt have the same beauty as the mist covered mountains! Oban was quite a nice little seaside town, again with some amazing seafood and harbour views. We checked in, it was sunny, we left to go on an adventure to yet another castle, it was raining! We made it it a little castle that was almost completely overgrown with all manner of vines, even climbed up to the second level and admired the amazing views over the harbour.
Our kilt wearing tour guide-driver suggested we all head along to get our first taste of a traditional ceilidh. We didnt quite know what to expect and we arrived at a pub and night club to the sound of bagpipes and fiddles. We listened in amazement to the live band and even saw some highland dancing. It wasnt long until the band requested some volunteers to join in for the dance. Naturally Ray dragged me up on stage....
The ceilidh dance resulted in a lot of clap, clap, clap, stomp, stomp, stomp and even some twirls (which Ray made the most of) which had us tired and thirsty. We got dragged up for the second one which was far more confusing, grabbing hands running around in circles, hoping you made it back to your spot to grab your partners hands and skip through the middle while outrunning the people behind you! All very amusing! And to top it all off was the finale, boys on one side, girls on the other and a constant progress of linking arms and spinning on to the next person (reminded me somewhat of a country hoedown). Exhausted, and because the pub closed it was off to bed, walking home through the rain yet again!
The final leg of our tour took us past many many more castles, castles on lakes, in the mountains and ones in ruins. We learnt many, many more stories about the rebellions, mythical people and the highland clearances. Another gorgeous stop was at Glen Coe where we stood and marvelled at the 3 sisters, so tall and beautiful. We ate lunch at the Loch Lomond National Park stop where Ray proceeded to get us very lost and stumbling through the scrub hoping to get back to the bus in time! We stopped off to finally see a highland coo - Hamish (Scottish for James) and his girlfriend. Spent a while feeding Hamish and even ate some of the most delicious strawberries from a local farmer.
We passed St Conan Kirk and amazing little church built by one man for his mother and the final resting place for a teeny tiny bit of bone from Sir Robert the Bruce. The grand finale was definately Doune Castle where we could actually wander up and down the crazy spiral staircases, into the old bedchambers and even see the holes they used as toilets. The kitchen and great hall were big highlights even though we couldnt seem to find the elusive dungeons.
As you can probably tell this tour has been so jam packed Im glad I wrote most of it down! We also had the chance to see the Wallace Monument, Ben Nevis (although covered in clouds) and much, much more...
We can only hope to visit the Highlands once again, but for now its back off to Edinburgh.
L&R
