Woah, Nessie!!

Last night, the windows shook and the house felt like it was going to cave in...death had come for all of us. The high winds knocked over parts of the fencing and garden decorations at Rohan. Breakfast was fantastic, home-made bread, porridge (aka oatmeal) and jelly! Definitely, coming back here!!

We stopped at Fort Augustus, a little town on Loch Ness. There are ferries to the castle and the Caledonian Canal! Some cool ruins in the loch, pretty nifty.
While Diana and I were off to naive, pretty pictures of the locks on the loch, the others found nefarious goods...Whisky flavored condoms, McCondoms. You know, they make good whisky when things like this exist.

On her last trek, Cristina found a lovely beach on Loch Ness. Unfortunately, it was high tide so not much beach. The water is extremely black as you would expect to hide a giant creature and I stole a rock!! Now, I will always have a piece of the Loch Ness...muhahahaha.

On to the castle ruins on the loch!! To the left of Uruquat Castle, lies a large fault line. One can see the line running through the trees and the deep gouge in the ground.

Here's a little blurb:
"Once one of Scotland’s largest castles, Urquhart’s remains include a tower house that commands splendid views of the famous loch and Great Glen.

Urquhart witnessed considerable conflict throughout its 500 years as a medieval fortress and its history from the 13th to 17th centuries was particularly bloody. Following Edward I’s invasion, it fell into English hands and was then reclaimed and lost again. In the 14th century, it figured prominently in the Scots’ struggle for independence and came under the control of Robert the Bruce after he became King of Scots.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle and glen were frequently raided from the west by the ambitious MacDonald Lords of the Isles."

There is a lovely sign stating "Please Stay on the Path", but do we listen...NO! I successfully ventured off the path a full 2 feet. However, Cristina just got too excited about the trebuchet. She made it down one slope then WHOOSH!!! flat on her ass! Sprawled on the ground, it was hilarious.

The castle was all-in-all quite nice, including the attractive Australian. I failed so miserably...Rebecca spent ten minutes talking to the guy in an attempt to get me to talk to him. Of course, I preceeded to take pictures like nobody with an awesome accent was in the vicinity. Finally, Cristina took it upon herself to metaphorically smack me upside the head. Pathetic, I am! Anywho, we did make fake Nessies. I mean I could really imagine a large beastie hiding the depths!

SNOW!!! Our trek took us through the Cairngorm Mountains. It's the first time I've seen snow here! It was so cool, nice dusting on the mountain tops. Cristina and Kira had never seen snow before including driving in it! Her SUV is a manual so it drives better in the snow. The pit stop we made had SHEEP. Everyone scared them into the hills. It seemed to get extremely dark extremely quickly...more one lane roads with blind curves and "passing zones" galore!!

Another tiny town in the middle of nowhere...Fort Something. Luckily, we made it there just in time, as we were checking in, the owner said they had closed the roads! Cheers to not getting stranded!! We needed food...however, the hotel was the only place open to eat. The food was expensive and not very tasty. Quite unfortunate. Wait! I take that back! They had cheesecake and it WAS delicious.

We did enjoy drinks in the lounge with Kira. White Russian!! Very few places have Kahlua.

Into the Middle of Nowhere...

Last night, we had a few incidences with the towel heater and this morning, the evil thing had claimed one more victim this morning. I grabbed onto the rail while tripping over my own pants. My hand wasn't cold though!

With breakfast, the Onich provided handmade sugar cubes and columns of butter. Everything was tasty! Outside, the hotel had phenomenal views of the loch and pretty trees. There was frost on the ground too!!!




A little information about Eilean Donan Castle:

"The name Eilean Donan, or island of Donan, is most probably called after the 6th century Irish Saint, Bishop Donan who came to Scotland around 580 AD. There are several churches dedicated to Donan in the area, and it is likely that he formed a small cell, or community on the island during the late 7th century.

The first fortified structure was not built on the island until the early 13th century as a defensive measure, protecting the lands of Kintail against the Vikings who raided, settled and controlled much of the North of Scotland and the Western Isles between 800 and 1266. From the mid 13th century, this area was the quite seperate "Sea Kingdom" of the Lord of the Isles where the sea was the main highway and the power of feuding clan chiefs was counted by the number of men and galleys or "birlinns" at their disposal. Eilean Donan offered the perfect defensive position."

The castle sits where three lochs (Alsh, Duich and Long) meet and their waters intermingle.

Because the castle is privately owned, it is open on the owner's discretion. Apparently, we missed the memo saying guided tours only. You're not allowed to wander aimlessly; however, the rooms on the tour are furnished. Well, we're too cool to wait around for guided tours and made our way to the castle grounds.


Why our self-guided tour is better:

-pits in the ground by which to reenact "300"
-dead baby sharks
-ability to run around like small children
-pretty birdies



A pretty little pit stop!



A desolate and scary jaunt to our night stay. The UK has more single lane roads than necessary. It's terrifying to be driving then suddenly, another car tries to zip by full speed! Cristina did an amazing job keeping her wits about her. We stopped at a look at point and boy was it windy! At one point, I nearly pushed over!!

When we arrived at our destination, it turned out to be a true bed and breakfast! A fairly new house in the middle of nowhere, the closest pub was 6 miles away and that too was all by itself. Great family and hilarious dog...big Rottie cross, Jorgo, that adored Kira. Because we had an easy day, it was nice to sit around and chill until food time!!


Cristina, using her amazing powers of navigation, got us safely to said pub. By far, the best pizza in Scotland!! Nice bartender but the locals kept giving us some very strange looks. The girls and I played a rousing game of pool. Rebecca soundly beat us all...I blame my lack of hand-eye coordination--I did spill my entire pint of Strongbow on the floor. I got to watch some proper UK tele and I found the most ridiculous game show!