Braveheart!

So I have officially met Eddie Izzard’s sister or cousin and I Harry Potter in disguise. They go by Ruth and Craig, and if you heard Ruth talk you would be with me, she has the exactly mannerism of Eddie which is part of the reason that I was engaged this weekend.

Unless you want this to take you three days to read this, I am going to try to stick to the highlights and focus more in depth in other parts.

The first day of our trip was spent on and off the bus. Our first big stop was at this little fishing type town and visited this really cool old chapel and pretty little river. What was really interesting about the parish is half of it was in ruins and half was a working parish….kinda funny to look at but cool none the less.

I have to say this now and I will probably say it one thousand more times, the highlands where fecking beautiful. We ended up staying on the Isle of Skye for two nights and it took my breath away. To watch the scenery change before your eyes is a wonderful sight to see and I would love to go back someday.

We also stopped at an old barracks ruin and saw our first Hairy Coo up close and personal. ^.^ They were not the bestest Hairy Coo’s we where to see this trip however. This barracks where erected after the Jacobite uprising in the 1700’s and they stand almost complete to this day, it’s really cool to think about it, that you are standing in a place that people stood in the 1700’s, mesmerizing.

Next stop on the list was a battle ground. This site was where the Battle of Culloden happened. For those of you who may not know and those of you who want to know, on 16 of April of 1746 around 700 Jacobite (rebel) soldiers (also Highlanders) lost their lives to British Red Coats. I will say the battle field in itself was maybe not that interesting to most but to me it was fascinating. They had red flags lined up where the Red Coats where stations and blue flags where the Jacobites where. They found an old cannon ball in a house that still remains on the field as well as swords and general Amory. You will have to track me down in person if you want the rest of the story because I could go on and on with the history, because it is just so wow.

This is just one half of the monument wall at the battle field, the projecting stones represent the number of fallen men on the side of the Jacobite, there is another picture I will put up on my gallery of the side that represents fallen Red Coats, it is significantly less.

Now onto the possible best part of day one! I SWAM WITH NESSIE!

Yes I dived into Loch Ness and saw with the infamous Nessie. Half of the people on the bus (including some from WI :p) thought it was cold. Let me tell you, I’ve been in our Great Michigan and she is was colder than Ness can boast. It was really nice and you could just feel the magic lol.

See me and Theresa walking out to swim with THE big fish :)

I was actually excited to learn about a lot of Scottish history and myths and legends and what not, our tour guides had a great deal of knowledge.

We had two more stops before reaching our destination for the night the first was an old castle ruin which was cool to see and great for pictures, and then we did pass by and get a few pictures of a castle that most of you may be familiar with. Ever seen Maid of Honor? Maybe James Bond film? Yeah we where there but it is still not best castle we visited, some of you will get it later, and you will have to check facebook for it. :p

Okay bad joke time! So this English General is marching his army across Stirling and he sees this highlander on the top if hill. The highlander yells “Hey you! Come here and take me! I could take all of you! Come and get me!” So the general send two men to follow the highlander over the hill and 15 minutes of swords clanging the highlander reappears at the top of the hill again. “Is that all you got you fecking Red Coats! Come and get me!” So this time the general send twenty men, 30 minutes later the Highlander appears again! “Come on! Come and get me!” This time the general send 50 men, after an hour of swords clanging the general decided to lead the rest of his army up the hill, about the time they are getting to the top one of the 50 men comes running back over yelling “RUN IT’S AN AMBUSH! THERE’S TWO OF THEM!!!!!”

Sorry had to put that in. On with the trip. We got to try a Strawberry Cider and it was pretty good. Beautiful sunset on the Isle of Skye. Sun doesn’t set here until about 10:30 but they are still gorgeous none the less.

So we got up nice and early Saturday and visited a river said to be blessed by my relatives ^.^ Fairy Blessings! So we kissed the water and received our blessings, nice way to start the morning.

After that we toured the Isle of Skye and I climbed a Mountain! Yup a big one. He is known as the Old Man of Storr.

All the way to the top! GO ME! Lol. Here is proof and a really pretty view (thank you Theresa for being my personal photographer while we are here lol!

In all honestly I did not want to go back down the mountain it was so beautiful up there. We had two more stops for the day one was the kilt rock which was cool and if you looked at it the right way you could see a kilt, it was also a place where they found dinosaur remains.

Last stop for the day before returning to the hostel, was the Fairy Glen. Unfortunately I do not have pictures until Theresa uploads hers because my camera decided it could live no longer *sad face* but we did get some fun pictures. And I will have them up later/linked to.

Today was another on and off the bus day. On our first stop we stormed the Maid of Honor castle it was fun and illegal-ish. They left the gate open so technically we did not break the law but we did not pay either.

One of the most exciting things today! I MET A HAIRY COO! Actually I met two, Heather and Hammish. I got to feed Heather a potato. I know I shouldn’t be so excited but, Hairy Coo! We are going to kidnap a Coo and a Sheep (I am voting for Baa Baa Black Sheep)!

We stopped for pictures at another decently famous castle that I know most of you will recognize and you are going to have to watch out for your tag on facebook. I just have to ask you: What is your favorite color?

Lastly we stopped at Stirling and visited Wallace monument. Can you say Braveheart people? We have come to the decision that when you are walking in the US and they do that gradule hill thing. You know the one where you zigzag back in forth 50 times before getting to the top? Yeah be glad. They don’t believe in that here, it is just straight up the damn hill. I will have to tell you the funny “FREEDOM” story later, so remember to ask me!

Well by for now, Ashley