The last day of the tour started off slowly. I tried to wake a lil earlier than everyone so I could be first in the shower. But I snoozed and had to wait, twice! It had been another night restless night with Chris shaking the room with his snoring so I was a bit grumpy. We loaded up the bus after breakfast and said goodbye to the hostel.
On the road Doug played some soft music to help ease the hangovers. Again I was feeling fine but almost everyone else was pale, especially Craig. We pulled over once so that Craig could get some fresh air and after that he stayed seated up the front of the bus in case another stop was needed.
The first story of the day heading back home to Edinburgh was about an old man and his 6 daughters. Being very protective he was hesitant to let them go to just any man. Also they had to be married in order from oldest to youngest which proved to be a problem for the man who wanted to marry the youngest daughter. The suitor was from Italy I think, I can’t remember, but made an agreement with the father that he would take the youngest daughter back to his country and convince his 5 brothers to return with him. That way all the daughters could get married in order. The father agreed but then never heard from the man after he had left. A year or so had passed and the father figuring his daughters would soon become old and ugly decided to ask the Faeries for help. The Faery he summoned agreed to help the old man but of course played a trick on him. The result being that the mountains we were driving past were now named ‘The Five Sisters’ because the Faery had turned the daughters into mountains saying they would remain beautiful forever.
Our first stop was at a Loch with a fascinating story about being designed by the gods as an outline of Scotland. The Loch is roughly the shape of Scotland. Back on the bus we passed over what Doug refers to as the 8th wonder of the world, the longest corner in the world. Sure enough the bend in the road was pretty long, so long in fact that I started to slide off my chair. After an hour or less we stopped in at a Commando memorial site. The view from there was similar to that of the Scotland shaped loch. We were still in the highlands and so the view was of stretching forests, winding rivers and rolling hills.
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After a short lunch stop where I had a Filet-O-Fish from Maccas we stopped at Glen Coe. The view we were greeted with was of the Buddean and Nambien mountains. A very nice view and a nice short walk. I feel like I'm repeating myself because the views throughout the highlands are all equally stunning. The thing that stood out for me here compared to the rest of our tour stops was that I got a good look at a stream flowing down from the mountain, and the water was crystal clear.
The next stop was to see Hamish the highland Cow, a huge beast! After grabbing Hamish by the horns we headed to the monument of William Wallace. Doug told us the whole story behind William Wallace and how the movie brave heart had got so many things wrong. It was quite an interesting story but of course I have already forgotten it. What I will hopefully never forget are the highlights of the 3 day tour. It’s been an amazing 3 days and easily some of the best views I’ve ever seen, and I have seen a lot. Now I have just over a week till Costa Rica and I can hardly wait!
