Scottish Adventuring

Hello everyone :)

The last few weeks have been filled with some hard work and hard exploring. Edinburgh was packed full and buzzing during the festival and the coffee shop was nice and busy. We managed to explore the fringe festival a little bit and saw two fun little comedy shows. The highlight of the Festival was of  course the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo!!!! We had a wonderful time enjoying the different styles of music and dance from groups including the Massed Pipes and Drums (of course!), The Shetland Fiddlers, Highland Dancers, Singapore Drill Team, New Zealand Haka Group, Trinidad Defence Forces Steel Band and.... all the way from home, a Zulu Dance Group!

The Massed Military Bands and Massed Pipes and Drums

Singapore Armed Forces

iNgobamakhosi Zulu Dance Troupe

The Massed Pipes and Drums

We took a day trip to explore the Firth of Forth right here in Edinburgh by taking a boat trip to the Inchcolm Island in the middle of the Firth. It is a beautiful ride out to the island, passing under the magnificent Forth bridges. The island is known for the beautiful Abbey, made up of the best preserved group of monastic buildings in Scotland. Augustinian canons settled on the Abbey in the 12th century where their daily schedule comprised of praying, devotion, writing up some documents and more praying! Unfortunately the peacefulness of the island was interrupted by English raids from the 14th to mid-16th century.

Inchcolm Abbey

Climbing the Abbey tower

The Forth Bridges

The Edinburgh Festival came to a spectacular end with the Fireworks Concert made up of 4 tonnes (yes, TONNES!) of fireworks synchronised with live music from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Tim and I climbed to the top of Calton Hill in the middle of Edinburgh which provides amazing views of the whole city and of course was a perfect view for the fireworks while listening to the music on the radio.

Edinburgh!

We have managed to take 2 weekends away to see some of the highlands and Scottish Islands. For our first weekend away we drove across to Oban. On Saturday we woke up early and headed for our "3 Isles Tour". We caught the ferry from Oban to Craignure on the Isle of Mull. We then caught a bus across Mull to Fionnphort where a boat took us to Staffa and Iona.

Staffa was amazing, it is an Island made up of columnar basalt, similar to the Giants Causeway in Ireland. The sea had eroded away some of the columns and made Fingal's Cave, a cave named after a Gaelic legend who has Fionn or Finn building a causeway between Ireland and Scotland. The whole Island is absolutely spectacular and we had a wonderful time exploring it! Happy happy geologist!

Fingal's Cave

Basalt on Staffa

Fingal's Cave

Staffa Island

After Staffa, we were taken to the Isle of Iona where we had a chance to see the Iona Abbey, one of the most important centres for the spread of Christianity among the Picts and Scots, dated to the year 563 when St Columba came across from Ireland. It really is beautiful and picturesque, especially when approaching it from the sea!

Iona Abbey

The Abbey

Isle of Iona

 On Sunday we had a slower morning, with a full Scottish breakfast, followed by a beautiful wee walk through the forest before enjoying a leisurely drive back to Edinburgh.

A fairy home!

Forest colours

Last weekend we headed North into the Highlands, looking for a certain well-known monster... After a few wrong turns and a couple of extra loops around Perth, we arrived in Fort Augustus a bit later than expected on Friday night! The Northern Lights were on shown in parts of Scotland, so we (i.e. Tim) stayed up with hopes of spotting then, but unfortunately it was just too cloudy :( we will just have to wait for Iceland I guess! On Saturday we went on a lovely 3 hour walk through the forest and along the River Oich before heading off to explore the Urquhart Castle overlooking the mighty Loch Ness!

Mushrooms everywhere!

River Oich

Beautiful walk

The beautiful Castle was built in 1230, but a Pictish fort probably stood there before the castle was built. The castle was captured and stormed numerous times until 1692 when the government troops blew up the gatehouse and left in a huff after the Jacobite Uprising.

Urquhart Castle

Views over Loch Ness

The castle ruins are a favourite spot for people looking for the Loch Ness Monster! The sighting of the mythical monster was first recorded around 700 AD in the biography of Columba. According to the story St Columba had to cross the River Ness when he saw some locals burying a man who had been mauled by a beast as he was swimming. Columba shocked everyone by sending one of his companions to swim across the river to fetch the boat. As the poor man was swimming across, the beast swam back up from the river bed, mouth open and roaring towards the man. St Columba raised his holy hand and invoking the name of God he commanded the beast to "Go no further, do not touch the man." At the sound of the Saint's voice the beast fled in terror and they were able to cross the river... :)

I found Nessie!

On Sunday we slowly drove back to Edinburgh, stopping at a few scenic places along the road. We went for a lovely walk and red squirrel hunt at Foyers, through some impressive Scots Pine forests and waterfalls. My weekend was made when I spotted one of my beloved red squirrels scurrying through the tops of the pines! :)

So all-in-all we've had a wonderful, rather busy past few weeks! Loads of love to everyone, miss you and thinking of you all!
Next stop... CROATIA!!!
xxxH :)