9 days of camping in Scotland

This is going to be a long post so I don't expect you all to read it. But for those of you that do enjoy....

Day 1

We started out our trip by heading off to Fort William where we had a amsing view of Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Britan). After setting up camp we drove over to a place called Lochleven which is where a lot of the harry potter movies were filmed. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to and one of these days when I can upload picutres (when I remember to bring my ipod to the internet cafe) I will post some for you all to see. Along Loch Leven is a place called town called Glen Coe where it is said to be one of the most crulest masacures in scottish history. 38 peope from the Macdonads family were slaughtered for refusing to leave their land on order of the king. The town is really small and has a pretty erie feeling around it.

Day 2

After sleeping until around 10 we packed up camp and piled aall 4 of us and our belongings into my sisters 2 door honda civic hatchback (a tight fit with all the sleeping bags and tents and food for 9 days) and drove off to the isle of sky. Driving through the 5 sisters of kintail mountains I can really understand why they call it the highlands of scotland. Absolutley stunning. The mountains just seem to go forever in all directions. I would compare it to the scenery of Hawaii just without the hot sun. Along the way we stopped at the castle of Eilean Donan where a lot of moives have been filmed. The james bond movie The World is not Enough and I think Entrapment as well. We stayed in a really small town called Sligachan which had a campsite a bar and a hotel and not much more. It was really windy so we had to put rocks on our tent for extra weight while we drove around the north coast of the isle of skye. A place I definitley want to return to at some time.

Day 3

Up ealry and a short 2 hour drive to Loch Ness to a place called invermosiston on the south west side of the loch. The loch is about 22 miles long and about 1.5 miles in width at its largest section. We drove up to Drummnadrochit and went to a castle called Urquhart just outside the town. This is apperently where the most sightings of the loch ness monster have being although I couldn't see anything at all......feeling a little ripped off. Moving on we went up to the capitol of the highlands a place called Inverness just past loch ness and the Caledonian Canal. It was one of the larger towns we stopped at along the way but only spent an hour or so there. After that we drove back down the loch to the campsite where are tents were less than 15ft from the water. It was a great site to wake up to in the morning. I managed to get into the water almost to my knees before it got so cold my legs were hurting. It is said to be at least 975ft deep and possibly deeper because of all the silt at the bottom.

Day 4

A 3 hour drive to a place called Ullapol on the west side of scotland went by really quick. We stayed in a campsite just outside the town in a place called Ardmir which had a beach cover in dead jelly fish. We spent the day relaxing at the campsite and walking around Ullapool.

Day 5

My sister and Brad took a Day trip to the isle of Lewis but Megan and I decided to stay back and save some money because the trip was fairly expensive and we were saving money for the orkney islands. So we spent the day reading and hanging out on the beach full of dead jellyfish. Although this time I made it in as far as my thighs before every in my body was aching in pain.

Day 6

On our way to John o Groats which is the most northern settlment in Mainland Britan we decided to cut through on a narrow road which was not a main access road but still a fun drive down a road that was one car width wide and 2 direction traffic. We were driving through a small town called Rogart when there was a sign for a Sir John A Macdonald memorial. Now this town must have had a population of about 100 and it was in the middle of nowhere. So we went off to see the momument almost hitting a horse in the road. When we got there we saw a Canadian Flag and a Statue dedicated to Sir John A Macdonald by Deifenbaker. Apperently our first Prime Minster's Grandparents lived in Rogart. We found it quite strange, took some photos, and drove on. Oh for those that our wondering Sir John A Macdonald was born in Glasgow. When we got to John o Groats it was raining so we set up our camp and drove into a town called Thrso where nothing much was happening so we heading to Dunnet Head and took photos by the sign saying the most northern point of Mainland Britan. We headed back to camp to find that Our tent had blown over and become a swimming pool. Everything was wet. Sleepbags, themarest, and most of my clothes. So we cooked dinner in the camp laundry room and played cards until we went to sleep in the car.

Day 7

The orkney Islands are stunny. A 45 min ferry ride to the island went by fast as we were whale watching. We had 2 sightings of orca whales on the way there and one sighting on the way back. The bus tour of the orkneys took us by the churchill barrers which as there name states are barrier that Winston Churchill place in between some of the islands to block them off form submarins coming in and sinking there battleships during WW2. It happend once were a sub manovered through the sunken boats in the channel and sunk the HMS Royal Oak ship. After that we went ot the capitol of Orkney called Kirkwall and went into St. Magnus Cathedral which is made out of red and yellow sandstone. Worth looking up on the net for those that our interested. Then we were off to Stomness a small little fishing viallage where we had lunch and walked around the dive shops. Just outside is a place called Scapa Flow where the Germans after surrendering during WW1 took there ships out into the bay and sunk all 72 ships so nobody else could use them. Since then a compnay has bought them and salvaged them for scrap metal. Well all except for 7 of them which you can now go scuba diving in which is the reason I will return to the orkeny islands. After that we went to a place to skara brae which is a old ancient town that dates back to 3000 BC. Yes that is older than the pyramids of Giza. Crazy..... I won't go into a lot of detail but I reccomend you at least look it up on the net and I will post photos when I get the chance. Then it was off to the ring of Brodgar which is a circle of stones a bit like stonehenge or cavanish. 28 stones (I think) remain from what used to be 60. Then 2 more hours in Krikwall and 30 at the italian chappel built by P.O.W.'s and back to the ferry and John O Groats.

Day 8

A hour drive to Aberdeen stopping off at a place called Fraserburgh were the first lighthouse in Britan was built....Not as interesting as it might sound.....Spent a few hours looking around cathedrals and churches in Aberdeen and then crashed back at the campsite to watch live aid.

Day 9

Drove back to Edinburgh stopping off at St. Andrews where they are getting ready for the Open in a few weeks for all you gold fans. It is a great town filled with churches, ruins, cobblestone streets, and amasing scenery. Then back to Edinburgh to watch the protests.

Well if you made it all the way through congratulations I hope you somewhat enjoyed it. Hope everyone is doing well and feel free everyone to sign the comments section. Oh yea and I am not going to go back and check for spelling or grammer mistakes either because it is to long for me to read again as well....lol