Today started with a bit of fun: Irish Lindsay (from Northern Ireland, one of two male Lindays on our tour) had a bit of a late night last night. All we know is it involved an entire bottle of Scotland’s finest. Needless to say, he was less than eager to wake when Greg poked him at 8:30, and consequently was very late to the coach. His punishment, of course, was to take a swim in the icy 5.5-degree-Celsius waters of Loch Ness. He was a good sport, and one of the Aussie guys in the group joined him as well. As a matter of fact, they swam twice that morning in attempts to lure Nessie into the shallows.
Read on
Today was day 2 of our Scottish Highlands tour. After a hearty breakfast of porridge and having to wake the oversleeping boys (an alarm malfunction, honestly), we set off for Eilean Donan castle, which sits at the intersection of three lochs. It is indeed the perfect castle if you’re in the market, and only £2000 for a wedding is a bargain. That said, we couldn’t muster up £3.50 for the entrance fee, but we were completely satisfied with just the exterior.
Read on
Today we embarked on the first of our three-day tour of greater Scotland and its Highlands. The weather could have been a bit more agreeable, but our guides made the day fun nonetheless. Graham and Tony certainly have interesting senses of humor and enjoy punishing the stragglers when we’re running late.
Read on
We started the day early so Greg, Nick and Jen could get out before Katelyn’s maid showed up (yes, they have maids in the dorms at St. Andrews) and caught us. So, we went to check out the Cathedral ruins in the daylight this time. It was quite a magnificent sight to behold, and a shame that the 12th century landmark didn’t survive the reformation. We also visited Tom Morris’ grave, the man who popularized the great sport of golf.
Read on
After the fun experience of showering at the High Street Hostel, frying a blowdryer, and killing Greg’s laptop battery, we took advantage of the dreary weather to show Nick what Scotland really looks like. We wandered up to the castle again, then made our way down to see Greyfriars Bobby. Around Greyfriars, the primary school security guard wouldn’t let us take a photo of the cute uniformed kids.
Read on