Loch Ness and the Scottish highlands

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

 - Robert Burns, My Heart is in the Highlands 

The Scottish Highlands, an unmissable destination for all those who have gone on a vacation to Scotland! The Highlands are a historical region of Scotland, sparsely populated due to its mountainous terrain and home to a huge number of Lochs (Scottish for lake). The most famous of these Lochs is Loch Ness, home to the Loch Ness sea monster – Nessie. To our great disappointment, we didn’t have time to stay in the Highlands but nonetheless, we decided to go there on a day tour.

5.30 AM in the morning found us struggling to get up in the cold Scottish weather. You see, the cold there is unlike any other cold that we have experienced. We had to get up early to make sure we got good seats on the bus that we were travelling by. Talking about buses, I have a motion sickness problem. So before the trip, I was worried if I would puke and embarrass myself in front of everybody in the bus. Since music helps me in such situations, I decided to carry my music player and headphones.

All of us were so enthusiastic that we arrived at the boarding point super early, or at least we thought so. Turned out, we weren’t the only people who were excited to see the Highlands. There was a long queue in front of us. Because of this, we faced some problems with the seating arrangement. Since all of us couldn’t sit together, my dad and I sat together and my mom took a separate seat. Often when my head aches in the bus, my dad works some of his magic and it disappears in a flash! So, I was glad to have him with me.

Laura was our driver and guide all rolled into one! She was really funny and managed to add some humor into every story she told. And her stories were captivating - especially about the hidden legends and the forgotten clans of the Scottish Highlands. Her humor was one of the things that made the bus ride tolerable for me.

 

The Hairy Coos...

Our first stop was at the quaint village of Kilmahog. We were there to meet the ‘Hairy Coos’ as the Scottish call their very, very hairy cows. When we stopped at this place it was gloomy and raining very heavily. At a shop there, I bought a bag of sherbet lemons. (For those who read Harry Potter, you might know that this was Dumbledore’s favorite Muggle sweet. Now you know I was really desperate to try them and I think they really lived up to the expectation!)

As we came out of the shop, I zipped my jacket till my nose, buttoned up my coat, tightened my gloves and stepped out into the rain to make my acquaintance with Mr. Hammish (the biggest Hairy Coo) and family. We stood around watching the Hairy Coos soak up the rain and looking utterly bored. I am sure they were tired of watching tourists gape at them all day long!

Mr.Hammish, the hairy coo

I observed that the locals were only wearing a thick cotton shirt. No jackets, no mufflers, no gloves! How did they manage? Brr, it was so cold! Our time at Kilmahog was over and we gratefully hopped back into the bus. Overall, it was a very depressing stop (apart from Mr. Hammish of course!). I wondered whether we had chosen a wrong day for a tour. Though the places we saw were very scenic and picturesque, I found it hard to enjoy it because of the gloomy weather. I hoped that other stops wouldn’t be as chill and miserable as this one.

Harry Potter in the Scottish Moor

After a short ride, we stopped amidst the Glencoe (these are the narrow, dark and deep valleys in the Scottish Highlands) at a place called Rannoch moor. This was the place where the most interesting scenes of the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were shot – like where Harry sees himself conjure a Patronus to save Sirius and himself. This made the place extra exiting for me! As we walked a little ahead, I could see a bridge across which, there was an old Scottish farm with loads of Hairy Coos and fluffy white sheep. Laura told us not to disturb any of the sheep as it would be a sufficient reason for the farmer to shoot us down! And then I thought about back home where no one seems to mind a even a bit at getting stared at!

It had stopped raining by now and the sky was clear. The whole farmland looked pretty. I was quite ready to live in a place like this for my whole life. A place nestled among the secretive mountains, where you would be only with yourself, the highlands and nature.

Rannoch Moor, truly breathtaking

Our next stop was for lunch. We hopped out of the bus into the chill Scottish air and ran into the restaurant. After the chill air outside, the warm and cosy restaurant felt like heaven! And the aroma of the rich soup, and freshly baked bread mmm... got my stomach rumbling. After two helpings of an unforgettable vegetable soup (I still remember the rich, creamy taste!) and bread, we hit the road again. Though I had enjoyed my lunch, I was worried it would increase the possibility of throwing it all up because of the winding highland roads.

Clan Wars

Time flew by as Laura told us stories about the various clans that lived in those mountains. She told us the story of the Mc Donald clan and the McGregor clan and their continuous fights. And then the English king William III ordered the assassination of all tribes in Scotland, considering them barbaric. After this, the clans migrated to Australia and the United States of America. This brought an end to the Scottish clans.

When we met Nessie, well, almost..

Within no time, we had reached our next and the most interesting destination of the day. Welcome to Loch Ness!

Laura told us many interesting stories about Loch Ness. It is the biggest and most famous of all Highland Ness’. She told us about the sea monster Nessie. As per Scottish folklore, Nessie is a creature that lives in the deep, dark waters of Loch Ness. It is described as huge monster, with a long neck who shows herself occasionally to a few lucky people. While one part of me knew that this was a totally made up story, nonetheless, the other part kept an eye out hoping to catch a glimpse of dear Nessie! Unfortunately, that didn’t happen!

Our next stop was the Urquhart castle ruins.  When we got there, we went through a visitor centre where, in addition to the mandatory gift and souvenir shops, was a small movie hall. Entrance to the grounds included a movie screening – we waited for our turn to be seated in the hall and saw a short film about a castle on the banks of the Loch, the numerous wars it had faced and how it had stood its ground. The end was the most fantastic/dramatic part. The curtains in the dark movie hall parted to reveal a picture postcard like castle in ruins – the Urquhart castle, old and forbidding! It was situated on the banks of the Loch.

Urquhart Castle

My parents, always enthusiastic about ruins, went down the hill to the Loch shore to see the castle. There were dungeons, ramparts, torture rooms – everything you expect a medieval castle to have, minus the roof!

Once we were done with the castle, we took a boat cruise on Loch Ness to get back to the bus. I thought that the best part of the cruise was at the rear where all the water was splashing on your face! The cruise was so much fun that I didn’t even get sea sick, which according to my standards on motion sickness is a huge accomplishment!

Urquhart Castle, seen from Loch Ness

We were back on board after the cruise. This time we drove through Inverness (a small laid-back town considered the capital of the Highlands) but didn’t stop. 

Salted Caramel Ice cream!

We turned back to Edinburgh and on the way stopped at the charming town of Pitlochry where we were given a lot of time to explore the place. There was this really nice ice cream shop that Laura recommended to us. I decided to buy a salted caramel ice cream and licking it; we walked around the small city looking at the various shops there.

It was a quaint little place. Few people, few shops, such a laid-back kind of life. I started to wonder whether living here would be better than the farmlands!

Grudgingly, we bid Pitlochry goodbye and went back to the bus for a direct return trip to Edinburgh. We thanked Laura, shook hands and even got a gift from her. It was a postcard with a picture of a Hairy Coo! Laughing, we got down from the bus and walked back to our home. As soon as we reached there, I hit the bed. It was such a tiring, but interesting day. I went to sleep full of dreams of Hairy Coos, Nessie and salted caramel ice creams at Pitlochry!