Highland Fling

We started our next round of travels from Glasgow. The morning of our departure, we got up and had the complementary breakfast provided at our hotel. For the majority of people, this would, or rather should, be a routine and uneventful experience. Not for us! Seating in the dining area was scarce by the time we got there so as soon as two chairs opened up, I grabbed them. Doing what I thought was right thing, I sat with our luggage and purses and told Mom to go up and get her breakfast first. At one point I recall thinking she seemed to be taking a long time, but I went right back to my usual zombie like morning state. She came back to the table and had this ‘look’ on her face. She looked at me and said, “I burnt my toast.” Being half awake and hungry I said “Okay (with a question mark)” and went to get my breakfast. When I got back, Mom provided a little more detail.

 

There were two options for toasting bread at the breakfast buffet. One was a standard toaster. The second was the big industrial conveyer belt option of a toaster. Mom initially chose the former. But the longer she stood there, she became inpatient and in an effort to speed things up, plucked her bread from the toaster and put it on the conveyer belt industrial toaster. Before she knew it, her toast was on fire on the conveyer belt.

 

Flames shot from the industrial toaster and Mom stood there in shock not knowing what to do. All the Japanese tourists walked by said the same “Oh!!” in unison. A woman eventually emerged from the kitchen and seeing the flames, instantaneously became mad as a hatter. She growled at Mom, who couldn’t make out a word she said, plucked the toast out, and stomped back into the kitchen. When Mom tried telling me this, she started to laugh. By the end of the story, we were both hysterical. I couldn’t help but think to myself “We haven’t made it out of Glasgow yet, and she almost burned the hotel down?” But that is why I love travelling with my mother – it is never dull or predictable.

 

Our first stop in the Highlands was Glen Coe. Named after the River Coe, Glen Coe is perhaps most famous for the Massacre of Glencoe that took place there in 1692. It is stunningly beautiful and eerie at the same time. The fact that it became overcast while we were there also added to eeriness, but it didn’t deter us. We were in the highlands and loving it.

 

 

As we drove along Loch Lomond, Mom and I both thought of Grammie and the traditional Scottish song, The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond, that she so often sang. We knew she was there with us.

 

 

As we made our way along the Loch, I looked for the Youth Hostel I stayed at twenty years ago located right along the Loch. It was still there, up and running. I stayed at a lot of Youth Hostels that year. They were cheap, clean, and plentiful. At that time, Scotland had one of best hostelling systems in the world. It was perfect accommodation for a university student like me and somewhat of a right of passage. In saying that, I am also comfortable in saying I am glad to now be able to stay at nice hotels.

 

We made a short stop in Fort William for lunch. Due to its proximity to Ben Nevis (mountain) and as the second largest city in the Highlands, it is a popular stop for tourists. We had a nice leisurely lunch in a small restaurant and little did we know, our bathroom experience following lunch would prove to be what we would remember about Fort William. Normally, I would not share a story anything remotely related to a bathroom, but this was just too funny.

 

After we ate our lunch, we proceeded to the bathroom for the mandatory stop. When we got to the entrance to the washrooms, we very quickly realized we could barely keep our feet under us. The floor had been scrubbed and it was like a sheet of ice. As Grammie said, we “skuzled” our way to the ‘ladies’ door. Mom opened it, and then she closed it – then opened it, and closed it again. Each time she did this, I was behind her, going forward and backing up, going forward and backing up. We went into complete hysterics, but I did manage to ask her *what* she was doing? Mom was laughing so hard, by this point she could barely tell me. She did manage to get out that when she opened the door initially, she thought it was a single stall and as a woman was standing inside, she quickly closed it. But then she did it again. Each time she did, the woman inside the bathroom looked at us wondering what we were doing. When we had established it was not a single stall bathroom, we made our way in – barely. We were sliding everywhere and by that time, the woman inside the bathroom was laughing as well. We continued to slip and slide, laughing hysterically as we did.

 

We managed to make it out alive and continued on into the highlands. Before we knew it we were at Urquhart Castle. Dating to the 13^th century, the castle is one of the largest in Scotland. I always try to imagine what ruins of castles or cathedrals looked like in their day. This one would indeed have been magnificent. Mom and I enjoyed the presentation in the newly built interpretative centre and then we were off to explore the castle.

 

 

 

 

 

We then left from a dock directly below the castle to take a boat cruise on the Loch. By this time, it was raining – a lot, which you can even see in the photo above. But I didn’t care. I always enjoy being on deck....but in her wisdom Mom stayed below. Our next stop was Inverness. I had been to Inverness before briefly, but had no sense of the city. It was lovely. We stayed at what has become one of my favourite hotels of all times. It had a tray of sweets waiting for us upon arrival and the beds were absolutely luxurious. We decided to push the twin beds together so there would be less chance of one of us rolling out at night. Unfortunately Mom managed to almost fall between the two beds before the evening was out – when we were wide awake. hehe.

 

 

 

 

Our patio looked upon a golf course so everything of course was pristine and quiet. We stayed in Inverness two nights and enjoyed exploring the shops in the evening and the meals we had. It was a large city without the large city feeling – something like Halifax. Having survived the bathroom in Fort William and beds in Inverness, we were ready to take on Skye – the Isle of Skye that is.