Loch Ness trip and other stuff

As I mentioned, the weather in Edinburgh is crazy. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day and yet, this morning, I woke up to the winds howling and hurling rain at my window. Just when I was supposed to meet Jenni. But at least the weather got us to have a good chat for almost 2 hours. She is just a lovely lady.
Okay, as I promised my brother, here's the pictures from my Highland trip to Dunkeld, Loch Ness, Culloden, etc. The right order (chronologically) should be from bottom up. So, you're actually seeing the pictures from the end of my tour first.

Just before we headed back, someone requested to meet Hamish, so here he is:

Hamish is really a "Hairy Coo" as my guide, Alan, calls them. Which means that he is actually a highland cattle. Note the sunny and clear blue sky.

Just before we saw Hamish, we stopped here (I forgot the Glen's name) which reminded me of the scene where Harry flew with Buckbeak over the Loch and Forbidden forrest. As you can see, crazy Scottish weather struck again and it was raining.

Now, this is a historic site - Glencoe...the site of the massacre of the MacDonald Clan by the Campbells during the Jacobite era. Look at how tiny the group was when compared to the mountains. Alan was telling them the gruesome story in the biting rain. It was literally freezing!

Similarly, I was struck by the majesty of the mountains when I saw how tiny our bus was. See that speck of yellow?

What can I say? Subhanallah!

Again, what can I say? In the freezing rain, I just had to take a picture of this wild flower. My favourite picture of the hundreds I've taken on this trip.

Now, before we went to Glencoe, we went to Glen Nevis at the foot of Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in Scotland). Note that it wasn't raining here. Glen Nevis was the site where they shot the first three minutes of Braveheart and also the site of Hagrid's house. Cool, ain't it?

Hmm...we were supposed to stop at this town near Loch Ness to buy lunch but since I was fasting, I used the time to snap some photos. This was one of the pictures of the river running through the town down to Loch Ness.

Okay, the quality ain't that good here coz we couldn't stop and I actually took it from the moving bus. But this is the birthplace of Never Neverland and Peter Pan.

Mid morning of the second day. We visited this ruined castle at the bank of Loch Ness where Robert the Bruce once conquered.

We got to Loch Ness early morning and the sun was shining even though it was cold. Here's Melanie, my French flatmate who came on the trip with me. Did we spot Nessie? Well...see for yourself:

So, any guess?

Bright and early, Alan got us down to Loch Ness. The night before, we stayed in Inverness. Jenni told me this afternoon that Inver actually means, inlet. So Inverness is actually located at the mouth of the River Ness which comes from Loch Ness. Alan told us the Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in all of Britain and deeper than we can imagine (Trillions litre of water).

On the first day, the weather wasn't any better. Here, Melanie and I posed at the Cairne in Culloden where the last Jacobite uprising led to the historic battle there. Bonnie Prince Charlie fought against the English and was defeated. Thousands of Scots died that day.

The cairne is a traditional way for the Scots to remember and honor their dead.

Again, I really couldn't resist experimenting. Any comments?

Okay, the first thing came to mind when I saw this hut was Hagrid's! But no, this was a replica of the hut in which some of the Scottish men took cover in and were burnt alive by the English army.

A clear view of the battleground.

Before Culloden, we visited Ruthven Barracks, where the Scottish army stayed in before the battle. Here's what the view was like from the barracks. And below is the ruins of the barrack seen from the road.

This waterfall is the second stop of our trip. Beautiful place. Unfortunately, this is the place where I broke the camera hood. Ouch!

I played with the shutter speed and got this lovely effect. I was really pleased even though it may not have been worth the broken hood. Now, below is the beautiful River Tay in the town of Dunkeld, our very first stop. The weather was lovely and the scenery was just breathtaking.

The cathedral behind me (and seen below) is one of the oldest in Scotland. It was built in the sixth century when Christianity first arrived in Scotland. A good start to a very interesting trip.