High in the Misty Highlands...

It’s been a whole week since all of this happened so I will try to recount it as well as I can...

Friday

On Friday afternoon 150 international students from Strathclyde set off for a super long bus trip into the highlands. Glasgow is in the bottom of Scotland, and Carbisdale Castle, our destination, is almost all the way to the top of Scotland. Driving through the Highlands is quite magnificent, also, there are 5 million people in Scotland and 8 million sheep, and I’m pretty sure I saw all 8 million sheep while we were driving. So anyway, we drove and drove and drove until we got to Pitlochry, a cute storybook looking town in the beginning of the Highland area of Scotland. (where I saw my first Highland Cow!) We stopped there for coffee/tea and were on our way North! We drove and drove and drove some more until we finally got to the castle/hostel that we were staying at. While we were on the bus we had to pick our rooms, and myself and three of my friends wanted to be in the same room. We looked on the sheet and by chance there happened to be four empty beds in room 210. Without thinking twice about it we signed our names and go our keys and went upstairs…

As it turns out, there were four empty beds in that room because no one wanted to stay in the HAUNTED room! Unfortunately (or fortunately…I’m not sure) we saw no ghosts, even though I waited quite patiently to hear them. After we got settled into our rooms we went downstairs for a short history lesson on the castle.

It was built for the Duchess of Sutherland as a will settlement from the Duke of Sutherland’s family, who were very unhappy that after the Duke of Sutherland had been involved in a hunting “accident,” he left all of his estate to the Duchess. (as it turns out, the Duchess’ first husband had died in a hunting “accident” as well). So, instead of the whole estate, the family agreed to build the Duchess a castle as long as it was outside of Sutherland lands. To spite her relatives, she had it built in Ross-Shire, which was directly in between Sutherland and the railroad station used by the Sutherland family. She also had a clock tower built with three faces; she left the face pointing in the direction of Sutherland blank because she didn’t want to give her relatives the time of day. The Duchess never saw her castle completed however, because she ran off with a rich American and was never seen again.

After dinner, Jim, our coordinator told us we were going to have a party with “music from around the world,” but as it turned out, we had to provide the music! Jim put all of the present nationalities in a hat and drew them out, and when he drew your nationality everyone from your country had to get up and sing a song that was typical of the country you live in. Naturally, the Americans sang “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey…

Saturday

The next day we woke up, had breakfast, and went out for a rainy walk in the forest near the castle, which was fun but quite wet. Then we picked up our sack lunches and hopped on the bus to see the Duke of Sutherland’s castle. On the way there we had to stop at the hospital/clinic thing because a guy had touched something in the forest and then touched his eye, and was having an awful allergic reaction. It was in a town right on the sea so it was not such a bad detour, since we got to play on the beach for a little while. After he was patched up we got back on the bus and headed to the Duke of Sutherland’s castle. On the way into Sutherland we saw a large statue up on the highest hill, as it turns out it is a statue of the 1st Duke of Sutherland, who was really an awful guy. Anyway, he insisted it be sculpted by a famous sculptor and dragged up to the top of the hill via horse and buggy, it stands about 100 feet tall.

We got to the Duke’s castle and it was quite magnificent. It is built like a Scottish castle in front, but looks like a French Château (straight up Beauty and the Beast style) from the back (like an architectural mullet, if you will). We strolled around in his beautiful gardens for a while, and then walked down to the sea (the Duke has beachfront property, of course!) After the Duke’s house, we went back to our Castle/hostel for dinner, had a party in the lounge, and went to bed!

Sunday

Sunday morning we got up, packed up our stuff, had breakfast, and hit the road. Then, not an hour away from the castle, we’re going up a hill and the bus suddenly stops. As it turns out, the fuel injection system had recently been replaced, but wasn’t installed properly. So after we waited for TWO AND A HALF HOURS we were finally back on the road. By that time we had lots a lot of daylight, so we didn’t get to see all of the things we were supposed to. Loch Ness was quite fun, although we did not spot Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. After Loch Ness we stopped in Fort Augustus for a quick dinner, which is where they have a huge interloch lock system, for the boats to move in an out. After Fort Augustus I must have fallen asleep on the bus, because all of a sudden we were back in Glasgow!

Next week begins spring break, and my trip up into the Highlands Part II to stay with Meghann and Karen Richardson, so I will keep you updated!

Cheers
J