Friday, November 2, we headed out to the Highlands. We started off by catching a bus to the airport, and easy stop because it was, in fact, that last one on the route. Once we got there, we hopped over to Enterprise to rent a car. This might seem an odd step for a student studying in a country that uses the pound, but we decided that for what we wanted to do this weekend, we would go ahead and get one. A lot of the walks we wanted to do would be hard to get without a car/lots of time to hitchhike. Buses don’t run regularly to many parts of the Highlands. So Jonmikel was the lucky one who got to drive (me being too young to do so without high fees attached). First we get to the rental place, and they ask if we want a Saab for 5 pounds a day extra. We say no, plus we really wanted a ridiculously small European car. So they say “OK,” and move one. They ask us one more time if we don’t want a Saab, and we say no again. That seems to be fine, until we get to the car, and they bring out a Saab. We complain, saying we said we didn’t want it, and the guy is like, “Well, we’ve given you a free upgrade.” Except a smaller car would get TONS better gas mileage, which is what we were looking for. But apparently, it’s all they have (something about a kid who was underage and didn’t tell them when he rented the car online so they HAD to give him their last small car). So we take it (the left side, or passenger side here in the UK is already all kinds of beat up) and make sure the guys knows we are not happy.
So we get one the road finally, and it feels freeing, for me anyway. I’m sitting and relaxing in the passenger seat while Jonmikel is concentrating hard on driving on the wrong side of the road. He makes it my job to say, “curb” every time he is starting to run off the road on the left. In actuality, he fares swimmingly, only hitting a couple of curbs and making me suck in my breath sharply 3 times. I was quite impressed. So we make our way northwards.
First of all, the countryside in Scotland is some of the most beautiful I have seen. And I used to live in Yellowstone. Perhaps because it was fall, and I have missed out on fall the past few years. This was probably the last weekend for the beauty of fall, with all the reds and yellows and oranges and greens. Hillsides of evergreens traversed awkwardly by lines of aspen and other deciduous trees in full color. Small farm houses and imposing castles at every turn, tucked away between craigs and forests and in valleys. I haven’t even seen such colors on the drive from Cincinnati to Athens, Ohio. Granted, the sky was gloomy, as per usual in the afternoons, and the sun was already beginning to set (anymore, it’s dark here by 4:45). We finally made it to our destination: a small bed and breakfast in Kingussie, right in the middle of Cairngorm National Park. Note: unlike national parks in the States, national parks here are almost all privately owned by various individuals whose families have probably owned the land for hundreds of years. The little town was quite quaint, with a couple of small grocery stores and pubs. It shut down at about 6, when the pubs opened up to serve food, but the streets were more or less silent, as this is the off-season. A lot of the museums and such would also be closed down this time of the year, so we decided to stick to hiking. After filling up on pub grub, we walked back to our bed and breakfast, past the Ruthven Barracks, old 18th century barracks now in ruins but kept lit up all night long. It was quite a site, very romantic in all of its history. We were in a great location, outside of the noise of the town (not that there would be) but within walking distance.
Oh, and also a point of interest to many to close out today’s entry: I never want to hear anybody in America complain about gas prices ever again. Here in Britain, they’re paying about a pound a liter, which is about 4 pounds a gallon, which is well over $8 a gallon. And many of the people here aren’t driving little Smart cars or small cars; many drive the same kinds of cars as we do in the States, only all their SUVs are Mercedes and Land Rover. Everything is more expensive Across the Pond. When we filled the car up (thankfully the ONLY time we had to put any gas in it), we started at a quarter of a tank, and had to stop at $100, and didn't fill it all the way up.
Let's begin by saying that by the second day, Jonmikel was a pro at driving on the wrong side of the road. you could barely tell he wasn't British. ;-)
Today was a nice relaxed day. As all days should be while vacationing in the country. We began with a hearty breakfast of good Highland eggs and toast with REAL butter (I Know! I can hear all you American gasping at the novelty of real butter). Then we hopped into our car and began our drive into the mountains. We wanted to hit a couple of hikes and a castle ruin today, but first we stopped to gawk at the almost comical-looking Highland cattle. These cows and bulls (they all had longhorn style horn horns, except the babies, so it was hard to tell male from female) were covered in a thick layer of shaggy and sometimes dred-like hair. Long, stringy, moppy. Very cool. You could barely see their eyes from the outside of the fur, and I wondered if they could really see me from underneath it. Totally wild, and I wondered the whole time if you can breed Highland cattle with normal domestic cattle? I would think that if you can somehow breed American bison and domestic cattle, surely these could do the same... And then I wondered what that would look like.
When finally a big (bull?) with rather large intimidating horns gave a look indicating that he now found our presence annoying (I think? after all, he was wearig a mop on his head), we jumped back into the car and drove on our way. The plan was to drive out toward Aviemore via a backroad, which would take us right past the old Ruthven Barracks. So we stopped for a tourist break there, as well. We were able to walk and climb around the old structure, exploring the military quarters, the stables, and even the officer's latrines (rather not as unpleasant as it sounds, I hope). It was cool to think that at some point, this was a very imposing and very modern structure surrounded by wild countryside, fully of Bonnie Prince Charlie's band of wiley outlaws. This place represented 18th century law in all its glory.
After this stop, we took a liesurely country drive, avoiding all crazy cars in the process. We stopped at a small county park, called the Inshriach Forest, near Loch Insh. This small park included many miles of footpaths around the Uath Lochen (small lakes), beautiful bluff and craigs to be climbed and explored, and even some interesting marshlands. It's no wonder these areas inspired people to write novels like The Lord of the Rings series... I myself felt I could see the dead, blank faces of elves staring at me from under the water in the swampy area (see the scenes in the fire swamps from Return of the King). It was easy to imagine bandits and highwaymen and wizards and elves and knights all using this secluded area for their own purposes. Except for the screaming children, which showed up at the last part of our journey around the Lochen, and thankfully did not follow us up the craigs. The highest bluff we climbed was called Creag Far-leitire; it wasn't particularly tall (having lived at well over 5000 ft for a year makes everything in Scotland a "low land"), it did offer fantastic views of the very fallish countryside. Again, the colors were magnificent, and though it wasn't particularlly clear (is it ever in Scotland?), we could see a ways into the distance.
After a few hours wandering this park, we hit the road again, this time ending up at Rothiemurchus, an old estate within Cairngorms National Park, privately owned and operated but providing many ammenities. Skiing seemed popular in the area, though it is not yet skiing season. I wanted to see a castle, so Jonmikel dutifully drove to Loch an Eilein, a lake with the ruins of a small castle on an island right in the middle of it. Unfortunately, it gets dark around these parts between 4 and 4:30, so our daylight was running out and we couldn't walk all the way around the loch. We did get to see the castle and explore the surrounding forests, however, which looked old and tired. Some of the forests (especially in Inshriach Forest) were so dense that it was total darkness inside them. The top soil all around this area seems very thin, and in many places roots are exposed, and many sinkholes have been formed from impromtu rock quarries. But waking around, seeing the remains of old bridges in rivers and old buildings in the ground, you really feel the history of the place.
The light finally gave out on us, and we had to head home, but not before picking up a roast chicken for a late dinner and some mulled wine. I am a huge fan of mulled wine, and many stores around here are preparing for the holiday season (Christmas and New Years here, as opposed to Thanksgiving and Christmas back in the States). Jonmikel was not as huge a fan of it as I am, but I shall make some more anyway, closer to Christmastime. We got back to our cabin and watched some wonderfully British television while while playing various board games left in the cottage by our friendly proprietors.
Our last full day in the Scottish Highlands. It began with a lazy breakfast (for a change), then we headed out to find the Highland Wildlife Park. I had gotten a pass earlier to the Edinburgh Zoo, which is run by the same people who run the Wildlife Park, so it was easy for me. On this trip, Jonmikel decided to go ahead and spring for his own pass (almost twice as expensive as mine, seeing as I am a student and students get at least 20% off everything in this country, which is fabulous). Well worth it though; if you're going to donate money to a good cause, conservation, preservation and any other work with endangered wildlife is always at the top of my list. It's a small zoo, but they do breed tapirs, which is one thing even the Cincinnati Zoo has not done yet. That's saying something.
The Wildlife Park is one of the main reasons we wanted to get a car to rent. The first 75% of the place is an open area full of various hooved grazing animals, many of which used to live in Scotland until recently (dying out here due to either climate change, hunting, habitat destruction, or any combination of the three). But this enclosure is a drive-through only thing, so we'd need a car to go through it. It was pretty cool. They have a herd of European bison (think: wimpy American bison), and when we entered the park, the entrance attendant, after going through all the rules (don't get out of you're car, don't touch or feed the animals, the usual), said, "Watch out for those bison; they've been great road blocks today," and smiled. Jonmikel and I looked at each other, both wondering if we should mention that we're from Yellowstone and we know all about bison jams. :-)
But it was interesting to see how animals compare in Europe and North America. You have the European bison (like American bison), red deer (like American elk), roe deer (like mule or white-tailed deer), and the European elk (no kidding, it is, in fact, a moose, the exact same thing). Of course, yaks don't really have any equivalent.... still. They also had Przewalski's horses, which I'm not sure I have ever seen. So I was pretty excited, being a horse person, to get up close to some. Very curious creatures, though not as curious as those zebras that went extinct not that long ago that only had stripes on their heads (they have a stuffed one at the Royal Museum here in Edinburgh). But the horses look so tame... its crazy to think thesse things are wild, though I definitely know they are. Oh, and point of irritation: we never got to see a European Elk (moose), which we really wanted to do just for the novelty of seeing one in Scotland.
We reached the rest of the park, which you can visit by foot, just in time to watch the feeding of the wolves. Not as cool as watching it in the wild, but still interesting. Until all the children started howling incesently in a barely-recognizable coyote yelp. Scared the poor wolves off a bit. Scared me off a bit, too. We also got to see wild boars (I can totally see how they used to gore people violently in the Middle Ages), an artic fox munching on chicken eggs and something boney (all while being eyed jealously by the snowy owl couple that rested above him), Japanese snow monkeys (who loved to interact with their audience, making me wonder if we weren't the primates on display), and Scottish wildcats (pretty sure they're all just big, striped, ferrel house cats). An interesting variety of enclosures, some following the very European Old-World cagey style, some allowing more open views. The open spaces were impressive and very nice, what I would expect from a wildlife "park" as opposed to a zoo.
After a few hours putzing around, we headed out to find some hiking. We ended up back at the Rothiemurchus estate for some more hiking; this time we took a mountain view trek, lasting a few miles, but stopping short of the longer 6-mile trip, as it was nearing dusk (again, at about 4:30). Jonmikel was apprehensive about this particular trek at first, but was happy he listened to me (I am a woman, after all, aren't I always right about these things? ;-)). We DID get excellent views of the surrounding mountains, even Cairngorm Mountain itself, the largest one in the area, which is used for skiing during the winter months. It has a train that goes to the top, and they ask that if you drive to it, you donate a pound to the cause of making up for your carbon emissions. Quite eco-friendly. We got to watch as fog and rain moved in and happily skipped over us, but clung closely to the tops of the mountains all around. Along this trail we also got to see a small village, much of it abandoned, as well as some capercaillie that were making quite a racket in the brush. The landscape on some of it looked much like Alaska did, short, thick underbrus with some small trees hanging out. Kind of marshy. But quite suddenly it would morph into thick forest land. The geography in the Highlands is much more varying and amazing than I ever though it would be. I pictured... you know, flat stuff with no trees and some mountains and such. And I definitely was not expecting all the fall colors. I guess part of me didn't even think they had fall up here, or maybe that it happened back in September.
After our nice, relaxing hike, we headed back to Aviemore to find some quick eats. Aviemore struck me as the kind of town that has way more business in the winter as a ski resort area. Beds and breakfasts were everywhere, as well as larger hotels, and also skiing and outdoors outfitters littered the sidewalks, but all these seemed almost devoid of people during this shoulder season. I hope we get to come back sometime during the winter to see if it comes alive during ski season.
The next morning we had to head back home. I had school later that day, and the drive would be about 3 hours. We talked to the owners for a while. It's amazing that an older couple from the middle of nowhere Scotland knows exactly where Montana and Yellowstone National Park are, but you say those same things to kids at Edinburgh University who are getting masters degrees and they look at you like you're nuts because you don't live in either LA or New York (even DC is a little shady by Scottish standards, sadly enough). But they were awfully nice, talked to us about my degree and their son, who just sold his hotel in town, and his girlfriend, who just got a job aa a physical therapist at some good hospital somewhere and who also went to Edinburgh University. Then we began our sad journey back to the city. I must admit that being out in the Highlands, in a small town where you can walk everywhere, made me miss Gardiner an awful lot. I miss the small-town feeling, the fact that everybody knows who I am, though I don't miss the silliness of it all... or do I? I have to admit that the big city really wears me down a lot of the time, being constantly in the middle of it all. But that's another year ahead of me yet...
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