Monday, we woke up to a completely overcast day in Ayr, Scotland.
We drove north, through Glasgow and Paisley (as you can clearly see in this picture).
My lap.West Coast Highlands
Our whole day was shrouded in mist. Rain showers came and went. It turned out to be a beautiful drive! Daniel estimates we saw over 300 waterfalls. Many of these pictures look alike, I realize, but it was so amazing to drive for hours through this landscape.
Kilchurn Castle
Our whole day was shrouded in mist. Rain showers came and went. It turned out to be a beautiful drive! Daniel estimates we saw over 300 waterfalls. Many of these pictures look alike, I realize, but it was so amazing to drive for hours through this landscape.
Kilchurn CastleBuilt by Sir Colin Campbell, 1st laird of Glenorchy, some time between 1440 and 1460, it was abandoned in the 1700's after being struck by lightning. 'Dwarfing the castle is Ben Cruachan. The summit of 3,695 ft can be reached by the narrow Pass of Brander, where Robert the Bruce fought the Clan MacDougal in 1308.'
Daniel took the camera and walked through the rain to get to the castle. I fed the kids lunch in the car. From the car park, there was no view of the path or the castle. I got a little concerned after about an hour. Turns out the walk was longer than it looked.
'Loch Awe, one of the longest fresh water lakes in Scotland.'
'Welcome to the Highlands'
Daniel took the camera and walked through the rain to get to the castle. I fed the kids lunch in the car. From the car park, there was no view of the path or the castle. I got a little concerned after about an hour. Turns out the walk was longer than it looked.
'Loch Awe, one of the longest fresh water lakes in Scotland.'
Daniel made it back fine (obviously), but he wished he would have worn his rain pants.
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'Welcome to the Highlands'All signs in the Highlands are in English and Gaelic.
Glencoe 
'In 1692, the chief of the Glencoe MacDonalds was five days late in registering an oath of submission to William III, giving the government an excuse to root out a nest of Jacobite supporters. For ten days 130 soldiers, captained by Robert Campbell, were hospitably entertained by the unsuspecting MacDonalds. At dawn on 13 February, in a terrible breach of trust, the soldiers fell on their hosts, killing some 38 MacDonalds. Many more died in their wintry mountain hideouts. The massacre, unsurprisingly, became a political scandal, though there were to be no official reprimands for three years.'
Eilean Donan Castle
Quoting from 'A young person's guide to Eilean Donan Castle' - the activity booklet given to the boys when we entered the castle.
This tower is the MacRae home, so is not open to the public.
We entered the keep through the door where the man is standing. No photos were allowed inside. Two men in kilts told of the history of the castle, one of them with a thick Highland accent and a real Highlander sword.
'The Schoolhouse at Dornie' where we stayed.
Yay, bunkbed!
The view out the back window.
And the view out the front in one direction. The fog was so thick!
And in the other direction.
A while later, the fog had lifted and the whole hill was visible...
Such a beautiful day!
Glencoe 'Renowned for its awesome scenery and savage history, Glencoe was compared by Dickens to "a burial ground of a race of giants".'
'In 1692, the chief of the Glencoe MacDonalds was five days late in registering an oath of submission to William III, giving the government an excuse to root out a nest of Jacobite supporters. For ten days 130 soldiers, captained by Robert Campbell, were hospitably entertained by the unsuspecting MacDonalds. At dawn on 13 February, in a terrible breach of trust, the soldiers fell on their hosts, killing some 38 MacDonalds. Many more died in their wintry mountain hideouts. The massacre, unsurprisingly, became a political scandal, though there were to be no official reprimands for three years.'
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Eilean Donan CastleQuoting from 'A young person's guide to Eilean Donan Castle' - the activity booklet given to the boys when we entered the castle.
'In 1688, [Scottish] King James Stuart was deposed from the throne of Britain. For the next 60 years, his supporters would try to restore the House of Stuart. They are called 'The Jacobites'. The Latin name for James is Jacobus and hence his followers and the followers of his descendants, would be known as The Jacobites.
Some of the strongest supporters of the Jacobite cause were the Gaelic speaking Highland Clans. Eilean Donan Castle was a Jacobite Castle. It had long associations with the MacKenzie clan and their hereditary bodyguards, The House of MacRae. In 1715, the watchtower beacons of Eilean Donan were set ablaze to call to arms the clans, in suppport of the Stuart Jacobite cause. Here gathered the Gaelic Clansmen, before setting off for the long march south to fight at the battle of Sheriffmuir.
Again in 1719, The Jacobites gathered at Eilean Donan Castle, this time with Spanish allies. However, news of this uprising reached the Hanoverian Government [England] and they despatched three warships to attack the castle.
On the 10th of May 1719, two of the ships, 'The Enterprise' and 'The Worcester', began bombarding the castle with cannon balls. They reduced the castle to rubble and completed the destruction by detonating over 300 barrels of gunpowder in the Great Tower.
For nearly 200 years, Eilean Donan was a peaceful, romantic ruin. But, in 1912, the castle began a remarkable re-birth. Lietenant-Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap and his wife Ella envisioned the castle restored. Fortunately they found a local master craftsman called Farquhar MacRae, who, with his team of local stonemasons, restored the castle to its former glory. They finished the restoration of the castle in 1932, and it has been the home of the Clan MacRae ever since.'
This tower is the MacRae home, so is not open to the public.
We entered the keep through the door where the man is standing. No photos were allowed inside. Two men in kilts told of the history of the castle, one of them with a thick Highland accent and a real Highlander sword.
'The Schoolhouse at Dornie' where we stayed.
Yay, bunkbed!
The view out the back window.
And the view out the front in one direction. The fog was so thick!
And in the other direction.
A while later, the fog had lifted and the whole hill was visible...
Such a beautiful day!Isle of Skye
Tuedsay morning. We drove over the bridge in this picture onto the Isle of Skye, the largest of the Inner Hebrides, for another scenic drive.
Dunbeag Broch
One of around five hundred 'brochs' found across north and west Scotland, its name means 'little fort'. Brochs were built in the last centuries BC and the first centuries AD, were circular, and were around 40 feet tall (the height of the best-preserved one). The 'castles' of their time, they were probably displays of prestige and power of the local chieftain as well as defensive structures.
A few cows had wandered into the cemetery and were, as Aaron put it, "hanging out".
The 'standing stone' on the hill is one of many found in Great Britain as well as Ireland - it is believed that they were set up by the inhabitants in the years around 3000 BC.
I wanted to get out of the car to take a picture of a standing stone with Pictish carvings...the cow staring me down made me a little nervous - I know, it was ridiculous to be nervous about a cow.
Highland cows! We had been keeping our eyes peeled for some all day.
The bassalt rock formation is called The Storr. As we drove toward it, I took a few more pictures to show how fast the clouds moved, alternating the weather between rain and warm sun a few times in just a 20-min drive.
Wild thistle, Scotland's national emblem.
The column on the right is called The Old Man of Storr and is 160 feet tall.
Eilean Donan Castle today, in better visibility.
Driving east, we retraced part of our drive from yesterday. The drive had a very different feel without the mist. Bonus-I didn't have to wipe raindrops off the camera lense.
New scenery.
The earliest written record of the castle is from the 1200's but there is evidence that the site has been used since 2000 BC. Like many Scottish castles, Urquhart exchanged hands many times - the local Earls of Moray, the Crown of England, the Crown of Scotland, and others all ruled the castle at different times. The clan MacDonald, 'Lords of the Isles', sacked it again and again throughout the 1300's, killing and plundering the common people of the Great Glen each time. By the 1600's, the castle was abandoned by the Grants to the people of the Glen who dismantled and removed stones to build their own homes.
'This huge machine is a trebuchet, a type of medieval siege engine. It is a giant catapult used for hurling stone balls at the walls and ramparts of castle, weakening their defences and preparing the way for foot soldiers. This replica is based on the work of Villard de Honnecourt, a 13th century French architect. Test firings have shown that it can hurl a stone ball weighing about 24lbs a distance of 153 yards with accuracy.'
In 1977, from a place close to the castle, Anthony Shields saw Nessy, the Loch Ness Monster.
I think that's Nessy poking his head out of the water just above the tree in the center of the picture.
Aaron's favorite - spiral stone staircases - they're everywhere we go. As you can see from this picture, his attitude toward them has improved since our first visit to Bunratty Castle.
A beautiful sight - the gnats add a dimension of reality.
Tuedsay morning. We drove over the bridge in this picture onto the Isle of Skye, the largest of the Inner Hebrides, for another scenic drive.
Dunbeag BrochOne of around five hundred 'brochs' found across north and west Scotland, its name means 'little fort'. Brochs were built in the last centuries BC and the first centuries AD, were circular, and were around 40 feet tall (the height of the best-preserved one). The 'castles' of their time, they were probably displays of prestige and power of the local chieftain as well as defensive structures.
A few cows had wandered into the cemetery and were, as Aaron put it, "hanging out".The 'standing stone' on the hill is one of many found in Great Britain as well as Ireland - it is believed that they were set up by the inhabitants in the years around 3000 BC.
I wanted to get out of the car to take a picture of a standing stone with Pictish carvings...the cow staring me down made me a little nervous - I know, it was ridiculous to be nervous about a cow.
Highland cows! We had been keeping our eyes peeled for some all day.
The bassalt rock formation is called The Storr. As we drove toward it, I took a few more pictures to show how fast the clouds moved, alternating the weather between rain and warm sun a few times in just a 20-min drive.
Wild thistle, Scotland's national emblem.Scotland was under continuous attack by Vikings from 795, and the Kingdom of Norway ruled the Northern and Western Scottish Isles (including the Isle of Skye) and parts of the Highlands for over400 years. In 1263, King Alexander the Third of the Scots presented a claim on these lands to King Haakon the Fourth of Norway. King Haakon rejected the claim, and once more sent a fleet of longships to stake his claim on the Scottish coast. According to legend, sometime during the attack, the Norsemen tried to sneak up on the Scots
under the cover of night. They took off their shoes, proceeded to walk into a thistle patch, and one of them yelled out in pain. This woke up the clansmen who stopped the Norsemen in their tracks. This lead to negotiations which returned the disputed territories to Scottish rule in 1266 under the Treaty of Perth.
under the cover of night. They took off their shoes, proceeded to walk into a thistle patch, and one of them yelled out in pain. This woke up the clansmen who stopped the Norsemen in their tracks. This lead to negotiations which returned the disputed territories to Scottish rule in 1266 under the Treaty of Perth.
Thus the thistle was chosen as the national emblem of Scotland.
The column on the right is called The Old Man of Storr and is 160 feet tall.
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We drove back onto the mainland.
Eilean Donan Castle today, in better visibility.
Driving east, we retraced part of our drive from yesterday. The drive had a very different feel without the mist. Bonus-I didn't have to wipe raindrops off the camera lense.
New scenery.___
Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness
The earliest written record of the castle is from the 1200's but there is evidence that the site has been used since 2000 BC. Like many Scottish castles, Urquhart exchanged hands many times - the local Earls of Moray, the Crown of England, the Crown of Scotland, and others all ruled the castle at different times. The clan MacDonald, 'Lords of the Isles', sacked it again and again throughout the 1300's, killing and plundering the common people of the Great Glen each time. By the 1600's, the castle was abandoned by the Grants to the people of the Glen who dismantled and removed stones to build their own homes.
'This huge machine is a trebuchet, a type of medieval siege engine. It is a giant catapult used for hurling stone balls at the walls and ramparts of castle, weakening their defences and preparing the way for foot soldiers. This replica is based on the work of Villard de Honnecourt, a 13th century French architect. Test firings have shown that it can hurl a stone ball weighing about 24lbs a distance of 153 yards with accuracy.'
In 1977, from a place close to the castle, Anthony Shields saw Nessy, the Loch Ness Monster.
I think that's Nessy poking his head out of the water just above the tree in the center of the picture.
Aaron's favorite - spiral stone staircases - they're everywhere we go. As you can see from this picture, his attitude toward them has improved since our first visit to Bunratty Castle.
A beautiful sight - the gnats add a dimension of reality.
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Just north of Loch Ness is the city of Inverness, 'Capital of the Highlands'.
Inverness Castle, built in 1836 on the site of an 11th century defensive structure overlooking the River Ness. Now it is the courthouse.
We checked into yet another Holiday Inn Express then found a laudromat.
Just north of Loch Ness is the city of Inverness, 'Capital of the Highlands'.
Inverness Castle, built in 1836 on the site of an 11th century defensive structure overlooking the River Ness. Now it is the courthouse. We checked into yet another Holiday Inn Express then found a laudromat.
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