On the morning of the third day of our Skye trip, we awoke weary and sore from the hikes of the previous two days, but still excited about the sights to come. Our last stop on Skye was right before the bridge off the island and leaving such a beautiful place was perhaps the most disappointing moment of the journey.
We drifted in and out of sleep as we made our way south through the Highlands making stops at some of the more spectacular sights of natural beauty and Highland history. Although we had already spent the last two day experiencing the Highland landscape each new stop was as beautiful as the last.
Mac, our tour guide/bus driver, was a fantastic story teller and his retellings of Highland history allowed us to easily imagine the great battles and lore at each stop. At one such stop, as we loaded off the bus, the familiar bagpipe music we had heard through the speakers of the bus for the past 2 days began, but this time it was not coming from the bus but from Mac! He had brought small practice pipes and began playing at the grave of the body of Roderick Mackenzie. Mackenzie was a well-to-do man from Edinburgh who had joined Bonnie Prince Charlie during the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. After the rebels were defeated they escaped into the hills, but Roderick, being from Edinburgh, did not know the hills like the Highlanders and soon fell behind them and was caught up by the pursuing British soldiers. Once he was within range the British shot him and as they approached his attire, being fancier than most highlanders due to his financial status, made them think they had killed Bonnie Prince Charlie. Realizing this Mackenzie yelled out, “You have killed your prince!” shortly before passing away. The confident soldiers then removed his head for proof and eventually brought the head to the Duke of Cumberland for confirmation. This became a problem, because the Duke had never seen the prince before so he had the head pickled and he took it back to London, but by the time he arrived the head was so badly decomposed that identification was impossible. Many believe that Roderick’s quick thinking may have eased the pressure on the prince and allowing him to evade capture and escape Scotland with his life.
Although it became increasingly difficult to remain awake throughout the day, we forged on and made our way to Loch Ness to take a ride on the lake and launch our own investigation into the alleged existence of everyone’s favourite serpent/dinosaur/sea monster, Nessie. After grabbing a quick lunch, we hopped on a little tour boat that went about a mile or two into the lake before turning around and going back into port. Along the way, we were told of the story of Nessie, some of the sightings and theories, and what past efforts to find her. It is believed that she is a plesiosaur that somehow managed to escape the mass extinction by hiding deep within the crevices at the bottom of the loch, where even sonar has difficulty accurately mapping. The earth that contains Loch Ness lies on the Great Glen Fault, which, during the Ice Age, allowed for glaciers to gradually erode away the land to steep slopes and become the loch. The guide on the boat said that even though Nessie has largely been debunked by science, many, including himself, do believe that Nessie exists. He thinks he saw her on the sonar, and, since the tour service has started, there has been several unexplained sightings. Sadly, even his mother doesn’t believe him. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to not catch a glimpse of her. It was also very cold and wet, so many people stayed inside. The further we travelled into the loch, it seemed that the weather was determined to block our views of the beautiful surrounding hills. So, honestly, it wasn’t much.
After Loch Ness, we climbed back into the bus. Many tried to nap and get as warm as possible. However, the constant hum of the bus, folk music, and Mac’s storytelling made it hard for many to stay awake. Nonetheless, Mac soldiered on. We were pretty much going through the final leg of out trip. We stopped several times at points of interest including a soldiers’ memorial which provided views of Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Scotland) and two crumbling and ancient castles, Invergarry and Inverlochy. We also stopped at more scenic places, including Glen Coe, the supposed birthplace of Ossian. Glen Coe is often claimed to be one of the most beautiful places in Scotland, and rightly so. However, I thought the whole length of the Highlands was equally as beautiful. Much of the associated mythology usually revolves around daughters of noble and/or sinful men being turned into the surrounding mountains, and the mountain streams are their tears as they lament their fate.
Our final stop was Killan, a small, charming town and center to Clan Macnab. Clan Macnab had a long war with Clan Neish, which resulted in the almost complete decimation of Clan Neish, to only a few men. However, the Neishes gradually built themselves up on an island in the middle of the lake and stole some of the gifts and food that was supposed to go to a Macnab wedding party. That was the last straw for the chief. The end result of another few years of skirmishes and war was the extinction of Clan Neish. To this day, the only real bearers of any Neish lineage are the result of out breeding before and during the war.
After everyone did their business and had refreshments, we finally went back to Edinburgh, where we regretfully bid Mac adieu.
