In Pitlochry.

20th October.

We left Skye a day earlier than we had initially planned, because EVERYTHING is closed there on a weekend (Sundays are particularly bad).  OK not quite everything.  We did a wee roundtrip of the island, and found one attraction that was open on a Sunday, so thought we should check it out.  It was the ‘Giant Angus MacAskill Museum’.  Angus MacAskill holds (held?  He still has the record, but he is dead) the record for being the tallest Scotsman, and is also the tallest man who was not a pathological giant (ie; he was naturally tall and all in proportion, he didn’t have elephantiasis or pituitary disorders or anything).  He was 7′9″, and I took a photo of dad next to the lifesize model of Angus, then loled at how little he looked in comparison.  We also found a castle on the mainland that was open, called Eilean Donan, which is where they shoot castle scenes in movies when they need a castle (it’s been in Highlander and Made of Honour).  We found another really old church on Skye too, and I took several more pictures of the tumbledown gravestones, trying to be arty.

We didn’t get very far from Skye, about 40 miles onto the mainland in a little place called Ratagan.  Pretty much all we did there was play Trivila Pursuit (yay!) and go on a horse trek.  Well, pony trek would be more accurate, since we were riding Highland Mountain ponies, but they were pretty sturdy ponies.  I had one called Rocky, who was very well behaved.  Dad had a mare called Brea, who farted a lot and tried to bite my pony if I got too close.  It was a very cool trek, more relaxed than others that I’ve been on.  Usually they might let you go for a trot if you’re lucky.  This guy informed us that it was easier for the horses to go up hills if they were going fast, so we were going to canter.  And so it was that I went for my first non-accidental canter, ever.  Then he told us that there was a log coming up that we were going to jump.  My horse had slowed down to a trot by now and I was like ‘uh-oh’ coz I don’t think they jump very well at a trot, but then he started cantering again and then whee!  My first jump! Then I went for my third-ever accidental gallop.  That was not quite so much fun, especially since my feet had come out of the stirrups during the jump, but I managed to stay in the saddle and got the pony back under control.  And when I’d stopped shaking I felt pretty damned awesome, and kinda just wanted another log to jump over!

We did a stop-start drive to Pitlochry afterwards, but not really seeing anything of particular interest.  We had intended on staying in the YHA here, but thought we’d pop into the independent hostel and see what it was like.  It’s pretty awesome.  It has free wireless, and the make your beds and do your washing for you!  Just like being at home lol   The people are really nice, and they have Trivial Pursuit too *geek* (I’m 3-0 up over dad at the moment ).  They also have a huge video collection; I stayed up till 11.30 last night in hysterics over an old Billy Connolly show.  If you’re ever travelling through Ireland and Scotland, I’d recommend the independent hostels over the YHA ones, they’re a lot more family-feeling in my experience.

Today we went to the Edradour Distillery, which is the smallest whiskey distillery in Scotland.  It was a half-hour walk from the hostel, and they give you a mug (well, a cheap mug; the tea/coffee is expensive, but you get to keep the mug), a free tour, and a free dram.  I learnt a lot about how whiskey is made (the place smelt pretty good, all malty and a bit marmite-y), and re-affirmed that I hate whiskey (the roof of my mouth was numb for a large portion of the tour).  Very cool experience overall.  Also ticked off my mum’s souvenir in the gift shop lol.

This afternoon we went to visit Britain’s (and possibly the world’s) oldest living thing – an epic old yew tree. It used to be 17m in circumference, but over the years people cut chunks off it and some kids actually burnt a hole through the middle, so now there’s two separate trunks about 2m apart.  Still living though!  It’s approximately 3000-5000 years old (because the trunk isn’t entire anymore they can’t count the rings to tell how old it is), and there’s a tradition that says Pontius Pilate was born there. (veracity unknown!)

We also walked the ‘Birks of Aberfeldy’ track, which was a whole bunch of waterfalls.  The track was named after a Robbie Burns poem of the same name that was written about the waterfalls.  I sat in the spot where he allegedly wrote the poem and dad took a picture of me looking all writerly and ponderous and poetic

Visited the Queen’s View (Queen Victoria went there, but apparently it was actually named after Queen Isabella, wife of Robert the Bruce) on the way back to Pitlochry, which is apparently the prettiest view of a loch in all of Scotland.  It was quite nice.

Tonight I beat dad at Trivial Pursuit again, then discovered that the internet was deciding to work for me, yay!  So blogging.

Tomorrow we’re off to Edinburgh.  We will be eating haggis there.  I am not sure how I feel about that yet, but there will be a blog post about it.  We bought it yesterday at the supermarket and I’ve been psyching myself up lol.  I avoided eating ‘haring’ (quite probably the incorrect spelling) in Holland, so I feel obliged to have some haggis.

Ka kite ano

PS.  Notes that I have written down, intending to blog:

* The river Snizort.  I wrote this down because it sounded more Star Trek than Isle of Skye, and it made me lol.

* ‘Hamish the Hairy Haggis’ – this was a children’s book that I found in a souvenir shop.  It was kind of hilarious, but I didn’t buy it.  If I see it again, I might.  I also found ‘Hairy MacLairy’ amongst all the Scottich kid’s books!

* ‘Coffee, cakes, clothes, and other yummy things’ (on a cafe sign).  mmm, t-shirt….