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A real Life fairy tale

Scotland Day 8

By Tineke Ziemer

July 16^th, 2019

the unfortunate folly of John stuart mccaig

On our first evening in Oban, I had spotted a colosseum-type building across the city on the far hill. Of course, our "tour guide" knew all about it because he knows everything! Ron filled us in on the story behind McCaig's Tower, or McCaig's Folly, as it's known colloquially.

The tower is made of granite and stretches 200 metres across, with two tiers of lancet arches - 94 arches in all. It was erected by John Stuart McCaig between 1897-1902. McCaig's intention was to build a monument to his family with this elaborate Roman-inspired structure, including a museum, art gallery and statues of himself and his family. Alas, his death in 1902 put an end to construction with only the outer walls completed. Legal hiccups prevented any further work from proceeding, and here it stands incomplete over 100 years later. It seems that the construction of monuments made to oneself never seems to end well.

Nowadays, the tower provides a beautiful view of Oban, and holds a lovely park within its walls. Something good has come from it after-all.

We drove up the hill through winding streets to explore the monument before saying good-bye to Oban and carrying on our way.

we made it to the highlands!

Day 8 lead us to the highlands of Scotland, with its breathtaking beauty... and crude old bagpipe players... playing songs on the side of the road.

It's true! The road stretched out before us in endless rolling hills, with not a sign of human life to be seen, and suddenly, there was a bagpipe player on the the side of the road, playing songs for people who stopped to listen. Yes, indeed, we surely did. Not only did we take in the hauntingly beautiful strains of his music rolling over the highland hills, but also his crass sense of humour and his continual suggestive references to his "loch ness monster."

Only in Scotland!

To his credit, he allowed us to request a song or two. Hearing Amazing Grace on the bagpipes in that astonishing remote location was a surreal experience that I will never forget.

"The Hills of the Highlands, Forever I Love"

Eilean donan by day

We took a quick road-side stop at Glen Shiel battlefield, where the Jacobites were defeated by the English. I pressed two daffodils in my journal from the battlefield in honour of the lives lost.

From there, it was a lovely jaunt to the most magical castle I have ever seen! It's like a real life fairy tale. To enter the castle, one must traverse a stunning stone bridge to a tiny island where three sea lochs meet. Hello!!! No wonder this castle has been featured in many films, including The Empire Strikes Back and Made of Honor.

My wonderful mom had been following the progress of our trip daily. She even set her phone so that every time I logged onto facebook, an alarm would go off. This was quite a commitment considering the nine hour time difference meant it was usually the middle of the night! We decided to take advantage of the live cam at Eilean Donan to say hi and told my mom what time to be watching. She tuned in and was able to see us live! We put on a good show by dancing a dosey doe and standing on a picnic table to wave to her.

Candid photo of Sherrylynn and I dancing for my mom on the live cam

why are boats more beautiful on the ocean floor?

We were treated to a delicious dinner at an Inn in a nearby town called Plockton (Thank you, Maria!) We also took the opportunity to photograph some of the gorgeous grounded boats in the vicinity.

All of the busy days and excitement finally took it's toll on my body and I started coming down with strep throat that day. When I get too run down, this is how my body insists that I slow down. Unfortunately, that is tough to do when you're not on your own schedule. Thankfully, our guides were considerate and helped me to find ways to rest whenever possible. It was chilly in Plockton and I was feeling under the weather, so while the other girls walked about exploring, Ron took me for a drive in the van. Along the way I spotted the most gorgeous grounded boat of all time. It had seaweed spilling out from the sides and looked like it was only a shadow of its former glory days. Ron stopped so I could jump out and take some photos and that ended up being one of the highlights of the entire trip for me.

"When the Tide Rises, I'll Whisk you Away"

Eilean donan at sunset

I didn't have many specific attractions in mind when I came to Scotland, but I had seen photos of Eilean Donan at sunset and that was one of my few requests. My team was totally on board so we backtracked to the castle just before sunset. We were blessed with the most incredible range of colours as the sun dipped below the horizon line. I had to stop and ask myself if this was a dream!? No sore throat was going to stop me from soaking in this breathtaking beauty.

only in scotland

As if we hadn't had enough excitement for one day, we still had to find our way to the Isle of Skye. It was a brilliant drive, crossing the ocean by bridge with a view of the afterglow over the mountains. As night set in, it became apparent that we had no idea where we were going. We could not find street names or addresses anywhere!

But low and behold, even though it was black as night, we came across a Scotsman outside on a ladder painting his pub. (Not even kidding!) When we asked him for directions to our cottage, located at #14 of such-and-such road, he just shrugged and said, "Number 14 doesn't mean anything because there is a fourteen and a half, a fourteen and three quarters etc."

You can't make this stuff up!

We went on a wild goose chase trying to find a white cottage from a picture printed off the internet in a village full of identical white cottages. After exiting the van and casing out one wrong place, we were finally able to get in touch with the owners for directions.

If matters couldn't get crazier, the dirt road leading to the cottage was full of absolutely gigantic potholes (have I mentioned that EVERYTHING is bigger in Scotland!?!?) and we were nearly hitting our heads on the roof in the black of night on a remote island in the middle nowhere, crossing our fingers that we were heading in the right direction. It would have been hysterical if I wasn't so sick, joined now by my counterpart, Sherrylynn, who also began suffering from an infection. As we described later, we were laughing on the inside, but desperately praying to God that we would find the place before midnight so we could get some much needed sleep.