Bus Tour

The night before we went to The Malt Shovel and some other bar where we met up with Gordo. Hayley and Taylor two-stepped in front of the live band and even though Hayley was leading the whole time the crowd was pretty impressed with their dancing. We didn't stay out too late but it was still rough to get up and catch the 7:45 bus in the morning. We got coffee and got on to the Scotland Experience tour bus. There were 18 people on the bus, including Meghan, Haley, and myself and the tour guide. We sat in the very back of the bus. At first we liked our tour guide because he made jokes for us and told us that “Sex and the City II” was filmed where we were going. Oh course we screamed but then he told us that he was just kidding. Not a funny joke! Our first stop was in a little town called Pitlockery. The tour guide told us that the town was a popular vacation spot in Victorian days. It was raining when we stopped so went into a little cafe for breakfast. We only had 30 minutes until we had to report back on the bus, so when the waiter came Meghan told him that and he responded with “ We don't do hurry food, go next door to McDonald that sounds like what you need”. RUDEEE. The service was terrible but we got egg biscuits that were really good. Our tour guide ended up eating at the same cafe and we asked him to sit with us and he awkwardly said “no”. Then a little later he came back and made more awkward conversation. I did make a request to see a highland cow and the tour guide promised we could if everyone reported back to the bus on time after each stop. We got back on the bus and traveled north for about an hour and took a 15 minute break at some war memorial in the hills. There were sheep EVERYWHERE. Soooo cute! Then we drove for awhile and the tour guide started talking about the whiskey in Scotland. Well, since roomsie # 2 knows all about that we paid lots of attention. His information was soo wrong. For example, there are 108 distillarys in Scotland, not 92. While he was rambling about this, in the back of the bus Meghan's head was fuming because he had no idea what he was talking about. This is when our hatred for the bald man began. For the next stop we took a break in Kilgorn National Park. It was a very forresty and there was a tiny water fall. Our tour guide smoked 3 cigarettes and I'm pretty sure he took a bathroom break in the forest because he gave us the keys and told us to open the bus and he disappeared. When the guide got back on the bus I asked him to tell the story of loch ness and he said he wasn't too sure and that he didn't know a whole lot about it. Yet, a few minutes later he was rambling on about it. He probably just needed time to make it up. One of the facts he mentioned was that “if you took all the people in the world and put them together it still wouldn't reach the bottom”. ???? Not exactly factual. This is when we started calling the charter bus “the bus of lies”. We stopped at a few more locations to stretch our feet AKA the tour guide needed a cigarette. It started to get colder the more we drove and we even saw some snow. We learned that there are 4 ski resorts in Scotland. When we finally got to Port Augusta we went to this quaint little grocery store and got lunch to go. We met up with Sally, who had been with us on the bus and we got boat tickets. Sally was originally from Indiana but was doing research in England and took a day trip to Edinburgh. We got on the boat and ate our lunch while cruising on Loch Ness ( Loch=Lake. Ness=Large or Great). Apparently Loch Ness is bigger than all the lochs in England, Scotland, and Whales combined and 27 feet long. I didn't have any previous knowledge and thought the Loch Ness Monster was just a fable. But there is actually a reptile that lives in the loch. A long time ago people would set out fish traps and in the morning all fish would be gone. More evidence of the “monster” was traced back to 9000 years ago with similar cave drawings They couldn't explain it but there had been citings of a “big creature” thus, began the myth. The reptile lives very deep and very rarely comes to the surface. When I was talking to the captain of the boat he showed me pictures of the few times he had actually seen the reptile in his 30 years of working on the loch. He was very passionate about protecting the animal and not letting the myth get in the way of its safety. The picture was basically just a huge fin on the surface and one skeleton found on the bottom. The reptile weighs about 3 tons and is about 37 feet along!! Sadly he didn't make an appearance on our trip. Stupid 11€ !! Just kidding, it was a nice boat ride. There are 600 “nessies” in the world and 18 of them live in the loch. The lake was beautiful. After an hour we got back to the dock and got back on “the bus of lies”. Hayley and I fell asleep and when we woke up we were in the magical land of Glencoe. It was one of those “we aren't in Kansas anymore” moments. It was amazing. Huge luscious green hills, so high there was tons of mist on the top. So pretty! Definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. We saw some of the places where Harry Potter (!!!), Monty Python & the Holy Grail, and Brave heart were filmed. We also passed through the town where Rob Roy lived. The tour guide talked a lot about battles, but we were too busy talking. . Haha. He had a little rant about how Scotland was so great because there were no laws about trespassing or camping. So basically you could walk or pitch a tent where ever your heart desired. I thought this information was really cool until, the next place we stopped had a “no camping here” sign.... Just before we got to Stirling we pulled to the side of the road where there were two highland cows!!! Hamish was the most famous highland cow because he was saved 15 years ago from being slaughtered. He has been on TV, has a children s book on Amazon, and has a beanie baby created after him. And Heather , the other highland cow had been brought in recently to keep him company. They were so adorable. They are have a ginger color and have shaggy hair with horns. Kind of like the creatures from Where the Wild Things Are. For the past 2 days every time I'm bored at work I Google images them. Not productive but they are so cute!The tour guide told us that the highland cows were originally black with a few ginger colored ones. But on one of Queen Victoria's visits to Scotland she mentioned how much she liked the ginger color. When the farmers learned this they only breed that color. We fed Hamish an apple and had to say “goodbye”. We should totally get some in Arkansas. Although the tour guide wasn't great we still had a good time seeing the highlands and other important parts of Scotland. Since we got back around 8pm Hayley and I ate beef stroganoff and watched “Man of the House” and went to bed. Go JTT and Chevy Chase!