Scotland Day 14: You guessed it, more hiking, but surprise! Bollywood.

 

Saturday was our last full day on Raasay, but there was still so much to do! Drew took the ferry and car up to Portree to run some errands for the wedding couple and get a better vacation haircut than he got in either Vietnam or Costa Rica, while I did a solo hike.

 Dun Caan hike

I intended to peak bag Dun Caan, the highest point on Isle of Raasay, but I also wanted to be back by 2 pm for an activity, so I did the abbreviated route to the base of Dun Caan. Dun Cann means hill of the bucket in Gaelic.

 Friday’s big storm and continuing showers turned the trail into either a small stream,

or a bottomless mud pit. I had finding purchase for my feet, nevermind the bike tracks on this extreme example of a mountain bike trail.

 

For most of the hike, I couldn’t see the tippy top, due not to forest, but to topography. Near the top, I understood why. There is a ridge before you get to the base of the mountain top. At the bottom of the ridge lies a valley and a large lake. At the top of the ridge lies a small lake. I repeat: the top of the ridge holds a small lake! What kind of crazy combination of climate and geology has occurred to make a lake on the top of the ridge?  

Dun Caan is the flat-topped high point right of center. The large lake down in the valley left of center is Loch na Meilich. The small lake left of that is the one I am perplexed by. I'm standing at the high point south of the lake and you can see the small hill on the opposite side of the lake. That's the entire drainage basin for this ridgetop lake.

My guess is that the granite is nearly impermeable and there is so much rain that a shallow depression that would probably collect soil in other regions holds a small lake here. In my rough estimate, the drainage basin for this lake is only about 4 times the surface area of the lake. It is the most bonkers hydrology I’ve ever seen.

 

Topo map of the lakes and peak of Dun Caan. The small lake on top of the ridge is outlined in blue. The maximum drainage basin is outlined in red. Really crazy.

Down below, the large and clear Loch na Meilich holds the water supply source for the community of Inverarish where we are staying.  I'm not sure if Dun Caan gets its name from the shape of the peak or because the nearby lake is a "bucket" of water.

 The landscape was truly stunning and I took my time trying to capture a little bit of the atmospheric feeling.

 

Eventually, I had to hoof it down beside another sizable lake and a raging creek that quickly turned into a full blown river. This river is the size of a Utah River with hundreds of  square miles of drainage basin and here it has maybe one square mile.

 

My timing was just perfect to have Drew pick me up as I got to the paved road on his way back from Portree, where he had found doughnuts.

 

Or at least what looked like doughnuts. They tasted a bit more like cake, but at least now we have checked off Scotland on our "Married With Doughnuts" list.

Van Tour

 One of the owners of Raasay House schlepped us around the island in a 9 passenger van. He pointed out natural features and told us interesting stories about Raasay Isle history. Most of the facts can be gleaned from the Wikipedia entry

 

But the addition of individuals, back stories, and the consequences of history were fascinating.

 

The ruins of Brochel Castle on the east side of the island and a seldom occupied holiday house tucked into the cliff. 

David told us that Brochel Castle was probably not occupied as a residence but rather as a pirate stronghold. Pirates held control of the bay and extracted tithing from boats that sought safe harbor.

 I didn't get any pictures, but we saw a red deer (they are big!) and several sea eagles. 

Callums road was built by one man to connect the community on the north side of the island with the south but by that time the population has mostly left. The land is stony and rugged and I can’t imagine trying to live off this land.

 

We saw several areas where peat had been harvested. It isn't done much anymore. 

Peat

Low grade iron ore was mined for the World War I war effort. The kilns and mine building ruins remain. 

The workforce housing is still in use as housing for island residents and the general store.

Down time between the van tour and dinner was spent chilling and coloring in the library. 

Bollywood night

 For our last supper with the group, the chef prepared yummy curry dishes. With the colonial influence of the British Empire, there are loads of people of Indian descent in the UK and they brought with them their cuisine.    

To go with that theme, Jerda and Jeremy hosted us in full Indian garb and provided Bollywood dancers who performed and lead us in trying our hips and fingertips at Bollywood style dancing. 

The dancing performance was great.

These two have made sure we got the whole Scottish experience and then some!

 

Scotland Day 13 a change in the weather, but more hiking!

Sometime during the wedding festivities of last night, a big storm like a Nor’easter blew in. The weather on Friday morning could not have been more different from Thursday, nor less amenable to outdoor activities.

the lawn on wedding day

 

The lawn 20 hours later

The wind was too strong for ferries to run and we were both needing a rest day, so we spent almost the entire day in the amazingly cozy library, catching up on work, blogs, and business while chatting with the other guests and refereeing the games of Uno.

 

But Lucy and Drew can only sit still for long, so when the wind died down somewhat and the sun broke through intermittently, we ventured out to one of the trails that is accessible by foot from Raasay House.

Rugged Raasay shoreline and trail

Spooky woods

Drew wasn’t fully waterproof so when it started to rain again for real, he headed back halfway around but I continued along the path.

A crofters house ruins. I really can’t imagine trying to farm and feed a family here. It is windy and wet, and there was no such thing as Gore-Tex or quick dry fabric.

It was good quick hike for fresh air before the dinner gathering.

The evening’s activity during dinner was a "Burns night" featuring traditional Scottish haggis, neeps, and tatties, and poetry readings of Scottish poet Robert Burns' work performed by a few of the more eloquent wedding guests. More learning and fun for us.

A good relaxing day to recover and continue the celebration.

Scotland Day 11: Isle of Skye

 Wednesday was going to be iffy weather, but there were no organized activities that we were going to do so we took the day to explore the Isle of Skye with our new hiking friends Olga and Steve. Drew especially wanted to see the Old Man of Storr. 

It rained and blew pretty hard, which made for a kind of miserable hike, but the scenery when the clouds parted was quite lovely. 

A very wet hike to Old Man of Storr

The Old Man of Storr

We wanted to do more hikes, but it was soggy so we just drove around the island.

Kilt Rock

Quiraing viewpoint

Thoroughly soaked, we dragged ourselves back to Raasay. Another amazing dinner was followed by some storytelling from a real Scotsman.  He also educated us a bit on the Highland Clearances, where landowners removed the crofters (tenant farmers) to replace them with sheep, a cash crop. Tens of thousands of Scots were removed to Canada in the mid to late 1800s. I have never heard that my great grandparents were forcibly removed, but at the time of their emigration to Canada, many Scots did not go by choice but by necessity because there was nowhere for them to scratch out a living.

Scotland Day 10: Dunvegan Castle, hike, traditional music

 Our hosts Jerda and Jeremy had a week's worth of activities planned. In the Hebrides, the weather changes by the minute so we had to be flexible with the scheduled activities. The weather was looking to be not great, so they decided to do the mostly indoor organized tour of Dunvegan Castle, home of the MacLeod Clan.  

A cool room in the lower level of the castle

The castle was cool to see but the gardens were incredible.

Hydrangea flowers the size of my head

The weather was not horrible so we decided to go on a little hike called Scorrybreac near Portree, the biggest town on Isle of Skye. Two of the other wedding guests, Olga and Steve, were interested in hiking as well.  

Portree Harbor and town in the background

After a little shopping in Portree we headed back on the Ferry to Raasay to make it in time for the Raasay Distillery Tour

The distillery is within walking distance of the Raasay House (a good thing after two tastings of single malt whisky, a gin, and a sour beer at the bar). We learned all about Scotch and enjoyed the upscale environment.

The tasting room

The evening’s meal was as delicious as the previous days. I had better watch it or I won’t fit into the dress I brought for the wedding. After dinner, another activity. For this one, we gathered in the bar to hear music and stories of music from three musicians. They played tunes that would have been played on Raasay and in the Highlands in the 1700s on instruments I’ve never heard: nickleharp, small pipes, and some type of Greek? guitar. It was amazing.

Scotland day 9: Fort William hike and transit

On Monday, the skies looked clearer so upon checkout we drove again around Loch Levin for the famous Glencoe views.

Not exactly guidebook worthy, but lovely nonetheless.  

We needed to be at the ferry to the island where the wedding would take place by 4, so that gave us a bit of time to sneak in another hike.

We drove up the most beautiful valley of Glen Nevis. 

Highland cows for real or just for the tourists?

The hike we chose would get us up off the valley floor with views back to Ben Nevis, the highest point in the United Kingdom at 4411 feet elevation above seal level. That is 3600 feet below where we live on a daily basis, but the massif rising from essentially sea level is impressive.

The trail though was something else, especially in heavy rain.

Then a drive through beautiful country

 to arrive at Raasay House, our home for the next week of wedding festivities.

Raasay House, Isle of Raasay, Scotland

The cozy library

Dinner our first night was delicious and I got to try Scotch eggs made with haggis. They, too, were delicious.

If the food is this good all week, I'm gonna need a real diet when I get home.