Northern Scotland

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I haven't had a chance to update my blog recently, but as you guys have been rather slack with comments and emails recently, I don't actually feel guilty at all!

As it's been a while since I was actually in Scotland, I might have to rely on my photos to do much of the storytelling (or at least to jog my own memory)...

I left Edinburgh on Thursday 4th of September, for my intended destination of Stromness, on the Orkney Islands. This meant catching a train to Inverness, then a coach to the ferry terminal at Scrabster, then a ferry to the Orkney Mainland Island. All this traveling and waiting for transport took all of the day, so there wasn't really anytime for sightseeing by the time I got to Stromness (it was too dark to see anything).

The next morning was actually my one and only day that I had allowed myself of sightseeing (being booked on the ferry back to Scrabster on the Saturday morning). I started the day by catching a bus to Maeshowe, a neolithic passage tomb, not unlike the one I saw at Newgrange in Ireland. Besides the neolithic origins of the tomb, another point of interest of this tomb was the viking graffiti (runes) inside on the wall. I had no idea what they said, but the guide did interpret them for us (although really, he could have made it all up and I would have been none the wiser).

After this tour, I walked to The standing stones of Stenness, where there are 3 stones still standing out of a group of 12 stones (also dating from the neolithic period). From there, I walked further up the road to The Ring of Brodgar, where there are about 26 stones still standing in a ring which was thought to have included 60 stones.

Standing Stones of Stenness

Ring of Brodgar

Ring of Brodgar

I was able to catch a bus from here to Kirkwall. The bus driver just so happened to be a Tasmanian also! From Launceston, would you believe? What a small world. From Kirkwall, I caught another bus back to Stromness, then another to Skara Brae- a special site where a neolithic village has been uncovered which is about 5000 years old. Here, there are about 10 buildings, all linked together by passageways, and very similar in design- with stone dressers for displaying precious items, and beds, all sitting around a central hearth. After visiting Skara Brae I then went to Skaill House which is where the man who discovered Skara Brae lived. This was also quite interesting as it had the dinner plates used by Captain Cook on his final voyage on display.

The site of Skara Brae

Looking out to the North Sea from Skara Brae

From here I caught yet another bus back to Stromness, where I got an icecream and had a bit of a wander around the streets.I had then intended to catch another bus back to Kirkwall, but unfortunately I had read Saturday's timetable and so was 5 minutes late and missed it! The buses are not very regular in the Orkneys, so I decided that I just wasn't meant to see any of Kirkwall besides the bus terminal!

The next morning I caught the ferry back to Scrabster, then a coach back to Inverness.

View from the ferry towards Stromness

View from the ferry towards Hoy


View from the ferry of Old Man Hoy

After finding my hostel in Inverness, I decided to make use of the afternoon by walking down the River Ness and visiting the Ness Islands. I also called in at the tourist office and booked a cruise on the Loch Ness for the next morning.

A man fly-fishing in the River Ness

Our bus driver's name for the tour the next morning was Kenny. He drove us to our boat- the Jacobite Spirit- and gave us some commentary about the history of the area and what we were going to see along the way.

The boat trip lasted half an hour and took us down the Loch to the remains of Urquhart Castle, which was blown up in 1692 by the English to prevent it from being captured by Jacobite forces. We were given time to explore the remains and visit the information centre, before Kenny drove us back to Inverness.

I was quite disappointed that I didn't spot Nessie

After lunch that afternoon, I went on another cruise. This one was a wildlife cruise on The Moray Firth. The aim was to see some Moray Firth Dolphins, but unfortunately they didn't want to play with us that day. I didn't really blame them though- it was an overcast day and the water was a little choppy.

Although I was a little disappointed at the lack of wildlife on the cruise, it was quite a good afternoon nonetheless. The commentary on the boat was at least informative and interesting, and I also met some people from Yorkshire who gave me an idea of what I should do the following day.

They told me that the rail journey between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh is one of the most scenic in all of Scotland and definitely worth doing. So that is what I decided to do. I was due to stay in Glasgow that night, so did the train journey to Kyle of Lochalsh from Inverness and back again in the morning, and then travelled to Glasgow in the afternoon.

Proof that sometimes it's the Journey that is important...
View from the train


View from the train


View from the train


View from the train (Hamish MacBeth Country!)


View from the train (I'm quite proud of the above 5 photos, as they were taken through glass on a moving train!)

not the destination!
Kyle of Lochalsh

Kyle of Lochalsh

Unfortunately, the train back to Inverness was delayed slightly by a mechanical problem, which was corrected, and we were due back to Inverness about 10 minutes late. This meant that it was going to be very tight catching my connection to Glasgow, but they said that they would hold the train for me and the other passengers who needed to make the connection. This was going to work fine until as we were approaching the station, our train was forced to stop as someone trying to commit suicide had trespassed onto the track. The train to Glasgow wouldn't wait any longer, so there were twelve or so of us who missed it! It was very frustrating, as if the train had waited just waited for 2 minutes past it's scheduled departure time, we would have caught it. It wasn't so bad for me, as I didn't have anything scheduled in Glasgow that I would be late for, but for several other passengers it was a bit more inconvenient, as they had planes etc that they were scheduled to catch.

There was a bus organised for us, which took us to Perth where we all made our connections about an hour later than we had anticipated. I'm not sure if the others made their flights, but I did eventually make it to Glasgow.