Ben An

This morning we walked up to Buchanan Bus Station through Merchant City, to meet up with our tour group and head to the Isle of Skye. The route we are taking means there is a bit of back tracking as we head back up into the Highlands. Our bus driver and tour guide is a lovely man named Gary, he is very informative, lots of fun and has some great Scottish music to play as we head through various areas of the Highlands. We are a group of eight, a German couple and an Indian family.

Our first stop was Loch Loman, we then passed Ben Loman followed by Loch Tulla, Glencoe and the Three Sisters. Gary told us about a terrible massacre that occurred in the original Glencoe on 13 February 1692. Thirty-eight members of the MacDonalds clan - men, women and children - were murdered by the Campbells at the behest of the English King William III for failing to swear allegiance to him by the due date.

We stopped at the Bridge of Orchy for a photo opportunity before arriving at
the Three Sisters where there was a piper, McClusker the Busker who entertained us. We stopped for lunch at Fort William, before continuing our journey north. We then stopped at Spean Bridge where we were afforded wonderful views of the large mountain ranges and visited the Commandos memorial. We then passed Loch Gary and Loch Cluanie and stopped at Glenshiel for a delicious hot chocolate.

We then made our way to Eilean Donan castle. The castle was destroyed as a result of a Jacobite uprising.There were a number of Jacobite uprisings, Jacobites were loyal to King James Stuart who was trying to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland. In 1719 the castle was garrisoned by 46 Spanish soldiers who were supporting the Jacobites. They had established a magazine of gunpowder, and were awaiting the delivery of weapons and cannon from Spain. The English became aware of this and sent three heavily armed frigates to quell matters after attacking the castle for three days with little impact. The captain sent his men ashore and they were able to overwhelm the Spanish soldiers. They then discovered the 343 barrels of gunpowder which they used to destroy the castle. The castle remained in ruins for 200 years. The castle was bought by Lt ColonelJohn Macrae-Gilstrap who dedicated the next 20 years of his life to the reconstruction of Eilean Donan, to her former glory. The castle is definitely impressive and imposing and the family is still in residence.

We then had a short drive to Skye. We crossed over to the island via the bridge and drove around to Broadford and our Bed and Breakfast for the next few days. Katie and I went to a local Italian restaurant for wood fired pizzas, which were delicious.Read more