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Isle of Skye to The Highlands
HAGGIS BACKPACKERS 3-DAY
TOUR
I sign up for a 3-day
Haggis Backpackers tour. We head up to Loch Ness
and the Isle of Skye to check out dramatic scenery off Scotland's northwest
coast. Then our bus driver Kenny drives us down to the Highlands to see
where they filmed Braveheart. Photo highlights include:
Eilean Dunan castle is where they filmed the
castle scenes from Highlander. The castle also doubled as M's
headquarters in the James Bond Tomorrow Never Dies.
Headed by Kenny, our tour group is like the
United Nations, including a few Americans, Aussies, Kiwis, Hong Kongers,
South Africans, Japanese, and Brits.
View from Catle Duntulm
We hike up to the foothills of the Old Man of Storr rock
formation to eat lunch.
Our tour guide Kenny, and Erin from Australia.
Castle Moir, on the Island of Skye.
View from Catle Duntulm
Doing the gopher pose in the Highlands.
Check out my Scottish kilt. Near Old Man of Storr.
The Highlands
We drive to the Highlands, and Kenny shows us where they filmed the opening
shots of Mel Gibson's character William Wallace's village.
We later leave the Highlands to visit the
William Wallace monument. If you've seen Braveheart, you
know the story. Kenny tells us that despite a few of
its factual inaccuracies, Scotland loves Braveheart, because
that movie put the plight of the small 5-million population country on
the world map. There's even a Gibson-look alike statue at the
base of the monument.
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Our tour driver Kenny was given the thumbs up from some Aussies on my
Ireland 3-day Shamrocker tour, so I make sure I get onto Kenny's bus.
Kenny is snowboarded in the winter, tour driver in the summer and
talks with speaks with Scottish Snowboarder accent. He teaches
us some Scottish. Like Scotty's "Aye, Captain Kirk", Aye is Yes.
Nay is No. Small is week, and really small is teeny wee.
Kenny tells uf that petting the horns of
the Hairy Coo (Scotland's Highland cow) is a super aphrodisiac, like
10 times Viagra. Our tour bus stops to take a photo, and I think
we would have ventured thru the field to pet the horns, if it weren't
for the barbed wire fence.
Kenny tells us it's local tradition that
if you wash your face with water from this certain river, you will
become even more beautiful forever. It worked for a medieval
princess, so we give it a try.
Kenny really is gung ho about Scotland and its history, telling us
dozens of stories on our bus rides.
Traditional weaving factory. Each
pattern represents a different Scottish clan.
Anaka from Germany doesn't like photos.
Inspired by the ongoing World Cup, we take
a lake beach break and play some football, I mean soccer.
William Wallace's sword is 66 inches long,
so they estimate you had to me 6 foot 6 to use it. Kenny tells
us the Braveheart makers wanted Gibson to use the original, but the
wee guy wouldn't be able to use it. |
