The Highlands of Scotland

Though I really don't like group tours; though I really don't like bus tours; I chose to take a bus tour of the Scottish Highlands because I wanted to see as much as I could in the 4 days that I had.

So I booked a Haggis Tour of  the Western Highlands, including the Hebrides and the Isle of Skye.

This was our bus -

Our bus was filled with 22 others from Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the States, and even Scotland.  Here we are having so much fun riding along as Greg, our Scottish driver, tells us what we are seeing in an accent so thick that I get about 1 out of every 5 words.  

We spent 5 days riding, taking one of the roughest 3-hour ferry rides ever to the Hebrides (waves up over the windows!)  seeing Highland cattle, old churches, Fairy Pools (Scotland has fairies!), mist-covered mountains, teenage boys in kilts and tennis shoes, beautiful castles, the famous Outlander Circle of Stones, tombs of long-dead knights, large, quite battlefields where ancient wars were fought (Culloden) and ending with the happy face of the Hairy Coo. 

During all this time, we spent our nights in hostels (never again!).  First 2 nights - 9 women, one room and one bathroom!  NEVER AGAIN!  Second 2 nights - 2 women - 2 men!  NEVER AGAIN - but actually not nearly as bad as 9 women, except the shower in the bathroom next to our room was out-of-order.  

Did I have a good time?  Yes.  Did I meet some really interesting people?  Of course!  Did I get to see the mystical, misty Highlands I'd read so much about? You bettcha!   Would I take another group bus tour?  Probably not!  Was I happy to return to Edinburgh and hop the plane to Belfast to start my Irish adventure - Yep!

So below are photos of just some of wonderful  the places I saw and of course, my favorite cooooos.  Enjoy!

Until next time....

Mooooooo