McBackpackers and the Isle of Skye

Isn't that a GREAT title?!

So, last Friday I woke up at 5:30am, took a shower, and by 6:30 Erica, Sandy, Michelle and I were on the train to Edinburgh. We got on the McBackpackers bus at 8, and we were on our way to the Isle of Skye, which is part of the Western Isles of Scotland, with our AMAZINGLY cool guide, Neil. He was born a few miles away from Ewan McGreggor, and they have the exact same accent. He knew EVERYTHING about the old Scottish stories!

Anyway, here's our itinerary!

Stop 1 included The Hermitage, which is a national forest near Pitlochry. Next we stopped at Ruthven Barracks, which is an old English military fort. Stop 3 was the battlefield at Culloden, and I have to say that being in a historically important place really impresses you in a way facts and figures in books never could. Culloden was also the first place in the Highlands that we'd been where all signs were in English AND Gaelic, which was really exciting!! From here we went past Dalwhinnie and to Tomatin where we stopped at a whiskey brewery for a taste.

Next was the totally awesome Loch Ness. No sign of the beast, but hearing all the stories definitely made me a believer!



After Nessie we saw a set of castles in the Great Glen from Inverness down and West to Kyle of Lochalsh, the last stop on the Mainland before crossing the bridge over to Skye and the town of Kyleakin. We spent the first night in the McBackpackers hostel in Kyleakin, which was so nice! It was great to go to sleep after adventuring all day.

The next morning we got on the bus at 8 and headed out for a round about Skye. First stop was Sligachan, which is the river that flows between the Black Cuillin and the Red Cuillin hills. I think this might have been the highlight of the trip for me because we got to hear the story of Sgiath (pronounced "she-ath") who trained the great Irish warrior Cuchullin. As you can probably see, the Cuillin hills are named after Cuchullin himself, and the river is named for Sgiath because they all intersect at the place where Sgiath and Cuchullin fought each other for the first time before Cuchullin admitted defeat and asked to be trained. It's a great story with a great ending, because at the end Sgiath declares that whoever dips their face in the river for seven seconds will keep eternal youth and will always be able to remember the old stories. Needless to say, I totally did it, and the water was cold, sweet and salty all at the same time!

Stop 2 was the capitol of Skye, Portree. It's a tiny town, about the third of the size of Northfield, and I liked it a lot. Most people who live on Skye are either farmers or fishermen, so it's basically just a glorified fishing village. It was great. :-)

A hike up to the Old Man of Storr was next on the list, which was cool even though I only went halfway up because my cold was trying to kill me (and no, Dad, I didn't catch the cold from ducking my head in the river. I had it before I left :-]). Next, a stop at Kilt Rock, Cuith-Raing (where a bunch of Stardust was shot!!), Duntulm Castle, a village of THATCHED ROOF COTTAGES!!, a faery glen near Uig, and all the way back around to Kyleakin, where we spent the night again.

Day three was a nice, slow paced trip back to Edinburgh (or rather, Stirling, where we got dropped off). We saw the Five Sisters of Kintail, past Ben Nevis (which we couldn't see; it was too foggy), through Glencoe, and lastly, we met Hamish the Highland Cow just a few miles from home.

Photos, of course, are more interesting than my general summary of what we did, so check those out here! Go to page 3 of my photostream and you can go backwards, but in chronological order. I hate how Flickr always puts my stuff in backwards :-(. But we'll make the best of it!

In short, it was an amazing trip, and I'm so glad we did it! I learned so much, and it was great fun. I can't wait to go exploring again soon. :-)