Scottish Highlands- Of Gaelic, Lochs and Midges!

 

Rick Steve's book on Scottish Highlands had already prepared me with the interesting fact that while only 3% of Scots speak Gaelic, 30% of the Gaelic speakers live in the Isle of Skye. So, entering the grocery store at Broadford, a cute-ish town in the Skye, and seeing all signs in Gaelic, delighted me! Ah ha.. the mental translation started, so Maesan=Fruits and Glasraich =Vegetables. 

Given that all our Bengali hearts were already singing at the prospect of  "dimer jhol/bhat, chicken curry/bhat" dinners over the next 3 days in our Airbnb located at he heart of Isle of Skye , in beautiful Sligachan :)

 Isle of Skye was our second stop in Scotland - filled with surprises, misadventures, and thrills that we  weren't exactly ready for.

 After spending three busy days in vibrant, soulful, historical Edinburgh, we had boarded the train to Inverness - considered the gateway to Isle of Skye - on a sunny Tuesday morning. We got comfortable in the train, watching Scottish villages with clothes hanging out to dry in the yards, small stations with interesting names like Pitlochry (literally meaning tourist trap), and the Cairngorms National park hills carpeted with a sea of violet heather pass by. But suddenly, the train screeched to a stop followed by a PSA from the conductor essentially telling us there was a broken down goods train on the line in front, and our train is stuck, basically with no estimate of when we move again ! Our co-passengers seemed unperturbed - could be tomorrow, one of them said calmly. Well , we were a group of six Bengali friends, so we had some initial fun comparing Scotrail to Bardhhaman local. After about 30 minutes, some existential crisis set in, and one of us decided to leave the train and go find food in the village where we were stopped. Of course, 5 minutes after he left, we got an announcement that the train will now be moving to the next station where we will be put on a bus to Inverness. Oh the panic! Calls were made, some frantic pacing by those of us that are of the more anxious type, until we see our friend running with a huge packet of sausage rolls and chicken pot pies on the overbridge :) Long story short, after queuing up for a bus with all our luggage, then back on some rescue train sent for us,  and profuse apologies from Scotrail about the 'rubbish journey' , we made it to Inverness !

 

The next three days were spent soaking in the gorgeous green Scottish highlands, navigating the endless network of shimmering lochs, hiking the Old man of Storr, gaping at the iconic Kilt Rock waterfall flowing into the North Sea, and getting awestruck by the absolutely majestic Quiraing pinnacles.

We had picked up rental cars from Inverness to travel through the highlands. Driving on the wrong side through the very narrow and often single track lanes is not for the faint of heart, and I sat clutching the front passenger seat at every turn, expecting to run into either the free roaming Scottish sheep or a car from the other side.   

The other interesting driving fact is the roundabouts. It is a surefire recipe for spouses to kill each other while arguing if one just took the second or third exit in a roundabout , and God forbid, if you have to make a U turn.

One of our first stops on the road trip was the iconic Eileen Donnan castle, strategically located on an island overlooking the Isle of Skye. I loved the bridge connecting the castle to the mainland and while I was little tired of touring castles by then (after Edinburgh), my two friends listened and followed the history of the castle on their audio devices, and kept me updated with the facts and fiction bringing the castle alive. 

Climbing up a hill to the base of the Old Man of Storr (otherworldly rock formations in the Trotternish range) was definitely a bucket list wish fulfillment and a magical experience for me. The panoramic views of the Sound of Rasaay looking down from the top of the trail makes the ascent even more worthy.

I had expected the same magic to unfold when we headed to the Fairy Pools at the foot of the Black Cullins mountains on a misty evening. But as soon as we got out of the car, we felt something - a little itch, a sting. As we went down the trail from the parking lot to the fairy pools, this feeling multiplied, and how! Hundreds of little flies, called midges as we later learnt, descended on us, biting every inch of exposed skin. The Cullins  and the fairy pools at its bottom were getting closer, and the mist shrouded valley looked enchanting, but the midges won! After about 45 minutes,  we gave up the fight and ran back to our cars without making it to the pools :( This scarred us for the rest of our trip and every time we set foot outside, we panicked, but thankfully the midges never showed up again after ruining that evening.

 

We had an exciting cruise planned to Loch Coruisk (Elgol) the  last day in the Highlands.  The drive to Elgol was the most  scenic in our trip and we had a fantastic experience on the  boat cruising through the prussian blue sea loch surrounded by dramatic  mountains and passing by a large seal colony sunbathing on the rocks with their babies. The boat dropped us on the shore for an hour, and it was great to explore the other side of the hills and find the river and Loch Coruisk nestled under the Black Cullins mountains.

With our hearts full, and dessert picked up from this wonderful bakery on the way called 'Amy's place', we start heading back to our AirBnb , ready to check out and head back to the US next morning. But some more drama was waiting for us! One of our cars went over the notorious potholes (impossible to swerve by ) and ended up with a flat tire. So, it’s the middle of nowhere in the highlands, close to getting dark, barely any cell service and six brave Bengalis trying to flag down cars for assistance. Some of our kind co-passengers from the boat stopped, offered help but it was tricky as there was no spare tire in the car. After about 2 hours of calling customer service, and planning next steps ( as in spending the night in the highlands and treating it as an adventure till help arrived in the morning), we see a roadside assistance truck pull over! It was a miracle of sorts, and the young guy who towed the car, with us following in the second car, was nothing short of an angel. He got us safely to a garage, replaced the tire and sent us on our way with minimum fuss.
If there  is one memory we will take back from our Scotland trip, it will be this one. There was a lot of apprehension, but also a minuscule sense of thrill at the prospect of car camping in the backcountry in a foreign land, with our 2 boxes of delectable Scottish desserts for sustenance!