I am going to the HIGHLANDS

The Scotland part of the trip is something that I have always wanted to do.  Now I can say that I have wanted to visit Ireland for some time, but I don't remember a time when I haven't wanted go and visit  the Isle of Skye.  I believe that I have dreamed of going ever since I learned that that this is where my Scottish ancestors are from.  We come from the Clan McLeod and the castle and Laird are still there today on the Isle of Skye.  When planning my trip the schedule was to do half the time in Ireland and the other half in Scotland and I almost managed to split it 50/50. 

I started out on Monday morning by finding my way to the bus stop and traveling to the airport.  Luckily for me, having done this once before, I didn't waste time trying to figure out where to go and what to do.  The attendant gave me my keys and I walked to my car, thinking that I would get something similar to the blue smurf that I had in Ireland. 

Nope, I got some sporty nice black foreign car that I was scared to death of getting into an accident in. Oh well...I got in, got lost trying to get out of the parking lot, turned around and found my way.  I had a map of Scotland and my road trip plotted and I was on my way.  Luckily for me it was pretty much a straight shot up from the airport to the Isle of Skye with some nice scenery and a famous castle and bridge to keep things interesting. 

 

I quickly got onto the A82 and traveled north right by Loche Lomond.  Loch Lomond is a freshwater loch lying on the Highland Boundary Fault, the boundary between the lowlands of Central Scotland and the Highlands. It is 39 kilometres (24 mi) long and between 1.21 kilometres (0.75 mi) and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) wide and it has an average depth of about 37 metres (121 ft), and a maximum depth of about 190 metres (620 ft.  Of all lochs/lakes in Great Britain, it is the largest by surface area, and the second largest (after Loch Ness) by water volume.  And as I left Loche Lomond behind me I drove into the HIGHLANDS.

My first glimpse of the Highlands 

 

The Highlands is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was distinguished from the Lowlands when the Lowlands stopped speaking Scottish Gaelic and began speaking the "kings" English.  While the exact boundaries of the Highlands has never been clearly defined the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven, excluding any of the "flat lands" in those areas. I found a poem that describes what most people thought of the Highlands:

 

"Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,

Land of the mountains and the flood,"

Along with this, it was thought that the Highlands inhabitants were "as a brawny, rugged indomitable, impulsive race, steadfast in their friendship and loyalty, but relentless and fierce in their enmity."  I have to say I am rather proud of that.

 

One thing I noticed is that the Highlands are a hikers paridise.  Trailes and places to hike were everywhere.

 

The landscape was fascinating because I would be driving and everything looked so different from Ireland.  It really had its own beauty with the mountains and the brown and gold with what I would think would be just a hint of green and then I would turn a corner and there...

There would be lots of GREEN!

 

My guess is that when I got close to a Loche, the landscape became greener as there was more water running thru the land.  As I passed by Loche Linnhe and Loche Lochy, I managed to see some very beautiful and different countryside. 
 

So as I traveled up the hill and around the courner I ran into...

 

Eilean Donan Castle 

Eilean Donan is the one of the most recognized castles all around the world. It is situated on an island at the point where three great sea lochs in the Highlands meet and it is surrounded by some amazing scenery. The beginnings of Eilean Donan reach back to the 6th century with evidence of a pictish fort was found and the knowledge that a St Donan lived on the island as a "religious hermit". Eilean Donan means "Island of Donan".

 

When looking up how Eilean and Donan came to be I came across this story: "There was a son born to a wealthy chief of the Matheson race, who received his first drink from the skull of a raven. This gave him the power to understand the language of birds. As a youth he went to study and became a great linguist. One day his father asked him to explain what the birds were saying and was told that they were talking about how one day his father would be waiting upon his son like a servant. This so angered his father that the son was turned out of the house to make his way in the world.

Eventually he landed on the shores of France only to hear that the King there was greatly annoyed by the chirping of the birds around the palace. The boy offered his help in getting rid of them and soon discovered that the cause was a noisy dispute among the birds, which together with the King, he was able to resolve. The King was so pleased that peace and quiet had been restored that he presented the boy with a fully-manned ship. This took the boy to many distant lands.

 

On one of his voyages he was invited by the ruler of a far-off country to dine at his palace. On arriving he found the place so overrun with rats that they even invaded the dining table during meals. The next evening the boy returned to the castle with a cat under his coat and when the rats gathered around the table he let it loose among them. The King was so pleased that he offered a hogshead of gold for the cat. After an absence of ten years the young man returned to Kintail and his ship anchored at Totaig. The sight of such a royal vessel caused considerable stir in the district and all wondered who the richly dressed young man might be. Arriving at his father's door, no-one recognised him and he was received with great hospitality. His father set him at the table and waited upon the young stranger himself, thereby fulfilling the prophesy of the birds. His son revealed who he was, proving his identity by a birth mark on his shoulder and the father was reconciled with the boy whom he acknowledged as his heir.  His son's abilities and knowledge of the world brought him into the favour of Alexander II who commissioned him to build Eilean Donan Castle and protect his subjects against the Norwegians." (http://www.sannabay.co.uk/castle/castle11.htm)

 

 

The first fortified castle was built in the mid-13th century during the reign of Alexander II.  In 1263 Alexander III then gave the castle to Colin Fitzgerald, son of the Earl of Desomond and Kildare (later MacKenzie) for services in the Battle of Largs.  It is also believed that in the early part of the 14th century Robert the Bruce, during the time when he was out of favor with many of the clan chiefs as well as being hunted by the English, took refuge in the castle by John MacKenzie, who was Second of Kintail at the time. Later, in 1331, when Robert the Bruce had defeated his enemies and established his position as King of Scotland, he sent his son Randolph, Earl of Moray and Warden of Scotland, to Kintail.

 

 

At least four different versions of the castle have been built and re-built during Scottish history, the last version came when the castle was partially destroyed in a Jacobite uprising in 1719. Eilean Donan then lay in ruins for around 200 years until Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911 and proceeded to restore the castle. The restoration of Eilean Donan took 20 years and the castle was re-opened in 1932. 

  

 

After visiting Eilean Donan, just over the horizon, I saw the Skye Bridge, which carried me over into the Isle of Skye.