We're back! Well, for tonight.

52 Tips For Trips To The Highlands And Islands

1. Even people who do not suffer from travel sickness can get sick on coaches when reading.


2. The way up to Loch Ness from Glasgow is longer than you think.


3. There are two youth hostels on the shores of Loch Ness. They are both overpriced in peak season and about ten miles apart; both led by unfriendly and incompetent owners. Not to be confused if you do not fancy a 10m walk along a very busy road


4. Loch Ness is less gorgeous than it always sounded


5. Hiking in the immediate vicinity of the official Youth Hostel is not to be recommended due to said busy road.


6. The Loch Ness Youth Hostel looks like the Youth Hostel described in the Green Lines book for learners of English, I think it was the second one in which Kate goes hiking in Scotland with her cousin, Fiona, to see the Golden Eagles.


7. Inverness is pretty, too.


8. It is not advisable to book a hostel in the middle of nowhere, whatever they told you about how pretty the landscape was. It’s the Scottish Highlands. The landscape is pretty everywhere.


9. Pittentrail does not sound like a big city, and nor is it. There is no bus connection.


10. Hiking with around 15kg luggage each is not to be recommended, especially not in hot weather, although the landscape makes upo for everything in Scotland. As usual.


11. The road from the cross road of the road to Pittentrail (Lower Rogart) and the road to Golspie is both long (8km) and beautiful.


12. On said road, dead rabbits occur approx. every 3 meters in varying stages of decay.


13. Staying in Pittentrail cannot be recommended, even though the landscape is awesome and the barman is the friendliest guy ever. Oh, and the Sleperzzz hostel directly by the station run by Frank and Kate (aka Ms Drill from “Worst Witch”! She looks just like her!) is also awesome. Camping Coaches must be the coolest invention everrrr. Gotta love trains!!


14. Horse flies are attracted by hairspray. Do not use if you do not want around 100 (not kidding) of the things to follow you around.


15. Horse flies can not be out-driven on bikes, no repellent works on them, the only think to be done, according to experts, is “take cover and hope for the best”.


16. Mountain bikes are a lot easier to repair than they look when driven into unexpected ditches, even by someone who has been told they are “beginners” when it comes to bikes. The chains just tend to flop on and off whenever they feel like it.


17. The local Scottish Bus system is more awesome than it lets on, especially if you are flexible and an early riser


18. Dunrobin in Golspie is one of the most beautiful castles ever, even though it is not nearly as old as some of the other castles. It looks like something straight out of all those cuddly-fied fairy tales with sparkly princesses and all that.


19. Inverness is still pretty, and the bookshop is still a good way to spend money


20. The tour from Inverness to Skye is the most beautiful tour you can make, and you end up wanting to make a stop for photos about every two meters and are somehow glad you are on a coach that does not allow you to do that.


21. Skye is the prettiest place on this planet. You cannot stay there and not fall in love with it and want to come back and raise your children there even though they are going to hate you for it because the houses are about 2km apart on average.


22. When staying on Skye, stay either in Portree or along the east coast. The west is pretty, but less dramatic than the east coast and naerly every place of interest seems to be located on the east coast.


23. When staying on the west coast, avoid arriving any later than 16:00, because the buses on Skye are off the road at around 17:00 and the system needs a while to be sorted out, anyway.


24. Sligachan does not sound like a big city and in fact, is not. It is a junction with a camping site and a hotel. That’s it.


25. The landlords of Skye are awesome and will pick up stray guests in the middle of nowhere.


26. Staying in an old school house is awesome.


27. The landscape on Skye is the most beautiful you will ever see, have I mentioned that?


28. Do not listen to your innocent looking landlord when he tells you there is a really pretty beach, only 8km from the hostel.


29. Things may appear larger on maps than they actually are. What appears to be a great big road turns out to be a trail barely wide enough for one person.


30. Do not attempt to hike through a swamp.


31. The sunsets on Skye are the most beautiful you will ever see in your entire life. Skye is the most beautiful place you will ever see.


32. There are overgrown ruins of settlements from all possible ages to be found everywhere on Skye, out in nomand's land  on an overgrown sheep trail right in the middle of what the map says is a main road. The dream of every hobby Archaelogist's sister.


33. Hiking is actually fun, even though, after around 16 km in the boiling sun, up and down rather steep hills, pulling trainers out of the mud, and many wrong turns, you might feel a wee bit light-headed.


34. Half the buses on Skye will be cancelled due to a lack of customers. Ask a native and reschedule


35. The landlord in your hostel might not want you to pay. He will, in fact, almost dissuade you from paying by telling you a lot of anecdotes which put you off instead of taking the money you have been offering him, discreetly at first and then rather pressingly, for about fifteen minutes, which might make people feel slightly annoyed with themselves in the end for not simply walking out on him if he does not take it.


36. The tour from Skye to Glenfinnan is one of the most beautiful tours one can make.


37. Listen to your Mum. She told you not to stay in the water for too long or your feet would get wrinkly. This applies to wet trainers as well. Two days due to lack of possibilities to get them dry are not recommended.


38. Digicams can refuse to do their job and acknowledge the presence of the memory card whenever they feel like it and nothing short of divine intervention or sheer dumb luck will make them work again.


39. Do not book via the internet. Things might get lost and your booking might get eaten.


40. The warden of the station and the hostel in Glenfinnan is the friendliest person in the world who even takes Harry Potter fans in stride. Around a month ago a group of American fans booked the entire Hogwarts Express and came to the station, all dressed up in their Hogwarts uniforms. I am not sure whether I am glad I was not there because they might have given innocent fans a bad name, or whether I am jealous as hell for not having been there.


41. Camping coaches are still the greatest thing in the world. There is nothing like sleeping in bunk beds in an old train. The only downside are the doors of shower and loo which could not really be closed - but they were still really good.


42. There are dispensable cameras with zoom now and they are not too bad in case expensive digicams might refuse to go to work properly.


43. The mountains in the rain and the mist are absolutely beautiful, and hiking on hills is not too bad, either, if one does not mind slipping and tripping into shoulder-high bracken and mud from time to time.


44. The viaduct the train crosses in the Harry Potter movies is as great in real life as it is in the movies. Woow. Especially with the strands of mist on the mountain. Woooow.


45. Around this time of year, there are fresh blueberries everywhere. Yummy.


46. Do not hike through wet grass in already wet shoes. Wet shoes are not nice. Rolling up trousers is also not to be recommended.


47. Ticks are easy to remove, but the horror stories told by parents about borreliosis and other horrors are somehow not as easy to get rid of. Sigh. Doctor, first thing in the morning.


48. The walls in those camping coaches are so thin that you hear everything. Everything. Snoring neighbours are not to be recommended.


49. Glenfinnan is really, really beautiful, especially in the mornings. Misty mornings, with strands of mist reaching over the sides of the steep hills, above Loch Shiel, illuminated by the sun. Sigh.


50. The trip back from Glenfinnan to Glasgow is one of the prettiest you will ever see, Loch Lomond just beats everything apart from Glencoe and Skye, everything is just so beautiful.


51. The Glasgow tube system is not as dependable as the buses and coaches, and you might end up cramped in a very, very full tube with all your luggage.


52. In spite of all the beauty, somehow the 15kg of luggage and the wet shoes and wet socks and the feeling that wherever you go, you are surrounded by a thick, buzzing swarm of horse flies makes you feel that when you step out of the tube and head off home nobody was ever so happy to see Merkland Square in Partick.

So, we had an absolutely wonderful time, and in spite of all the stuff which went wrong from day one on, it was an absolutely wonderful week. And what else could it be? The Highlands and Islands!!

Since we have still three days of unlimited travelling left, we are going to go on a day trip or something tomorrow. We planned to see the Highland Games at first, but of course this is really short notice and everywhere is booked for weeks to come, so it might boil down to a day trip to Aberdeen or Dundee or somewhere else.

And then?

Monday. 24th. Sending away the boxes with our stuff, four days remaining, and off home. I keep dreaming about returning home, but even though I am looking forward to coming back in a rather half-hearted sort of way, all those dreams are bad.

Anyway, off now.

Hugs to all!