Hugh spent the majority of our travel time during this tour sleeping. I might have dozed a little myself, but who can blame us? We’d been up for hours and then sat in a small tour bus for a long drive. The weather was gloomy and we were SLEEPY! Hugh and I probably spent $25 this day on hot drinks and coke. Every time we stopped we were looking for something to help keep us awake.
The highlights of the day trip would have to be the William Wallace monument, meeting Hamish the famous cow, the pretty “drunken” loch, and the Monty Python castle. The William Wallace monument is really interesting. The structure is beautiful and it’s high up on a hill. It took us about a 10 minute hike in the rain, but it was worth it for the view. Unfortunately the rain was coming down at a pretty quick rate so we didn’t pull the camera out. Hugh did manage to get a few pictures from the bottom of the hill looking up at the monument, but there’s condensation on the lens. At this particular location we both drank some hot tea to try and wake up.
Hairy Coo’s!!! I know in a previous post I mentioned that the name of the tour was called The Hairy Coo. (Coo=Cow when you have a brogue) Did I mention that the bus was actually painted to look like one? It was orange, had a smile face and two ears hanging off the side. We stopped in a small town where we got to meet Hamish the famous bull. Hamish is a bull that had spent his life on the roadside where people would stop and feed him. According to our tour guide he’d even starred in a few movies. He’s quite large and had the required Justin Bieber hair cut. A few years ago England was struck with a spreading case of Mad Cow Disease. All cattle that were under the age of 7 would get a vaccine, but any cattle that were older would have to be put to death. At this time Hamish was 10. The woman that owned Hamish started a petition to have his life spared. Apparently he gets thousands of visitors a day so she was able to rack up a large amount of signatures. The petition ended up on the Queen’s desk and she granted him a royal pardon. She even came out and visited him one day. YAY!!! Hamish was saved! I do have to say that the cows were cute. Much cuter than our cows. You can buy parsnips to feed them, but if you touch a cow when you’re overseas you can get into trouble with the customs people. Humans can transfer Mad Cow Disease (aka Foot & Mouth disease) and they don’t take that very lightly when you’re coming through customs in Houston. Hugh and I just took pictures and let the Scottish guide get his hands slobbery. Oh, I think we had a coke on this stop.
I love, love, LOVE Monty Python. Hilarious. Simply hilarious. If you’ve never watched Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail you must correct this oversight. It’s awesome. We stopped at the castle where the movie was filmed. It was fun to walk around and hear the story of how it was the comedy troupe’s only option for a castle. Apparently they’d been trying to rent a castle for a while but nobody wanted to rent out their castle to them. Our guide had some coconuts on a string that we walked around with while we were there so we could sound like the “horses” in the movie. This is also where Hugh decided to pull out our new lens and take a few photos of the flowers on the property. He did a great job!
Our last stop for the day was at some various lochs through the Highlands. They were all gorgeous. It’s hard to put into words the beauty of the land. Hugh and I decided that if we ever make it back to Scotland we’d like to spend some extended time out in the Highlands. You can hike forever and all of the water you see is crystal clear (and cold!). My only wish would have been for it to have rained a little less. We were prepared with our raincoats; but it’s still a hindrance. However, as green as Scotland is I have a feeling that the rain is a common occurrence.
We finished our day by coming home and going to bed! We were exhausted but happy that we took the tour and see the Highlands.
This is the really cool bridge on the way out of town.
The William Wallace Monument from the bottom of the hill. Now that I look at it I see that it kind of looks like a penis. Hmmm..
Loch Drunkie: Its name comes from a time when bootleggers would toss barrels of whisky into the lake to hide from the authorities. There's a small wall on the right side that is actually ruins from the Normans.
Oh yeah...we rode around in this.
Hairy Coo!!! Notice the bangs?
Hugh and the Hairy Coo. It sounds like a great name for a children's book....or one of those shows that require a subscription to watch.
The Monty Python castle.
Hugh's practice with the fixed 50mm lens. Love the flowers!
Alright guys...I've only got London and Stonehenge left to write. I might break London down into two parts so I can give the British Museum its own post. :)
Love,
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