Scotland (Trail of Hairy Coo – Part 3)
Updated: Oct 28, 2018
Imagine waking up by a window in the feeble morning light and catching a glimpse of the Utopia there is. The sun beaming on river Ness, the air full of positivity and the unparalleled serenity. Sometimes what you witness is so beautiful that you feel thankful to be alive. A modest breakfast followed and we jumped into Emily’s minibus that would take us from Inverness to Edinburgh, traversing an entirely different route.
When it comes to history, I must admit that I am not somebody who would read an entire book on a battle, a treachery or a vengeance, but when I see something historic, I am excited to a good measure by imagining the life that was weaved around it. We drove 7 miles east out of Inverness, zig-zagged a bit and hidden in the wild were Clava Cairns, a series of tombs from the Bronze Age. A tomb meant many bulky stones stacked in a circle with a narrow gap to allow passage into the centre. These strange structures are believed to still contain the burial remains.
Turn around, you can see the grand Culloden/Clava viaduct. That’s the thing about Scotland, it has something to offer you in every glance. We made a quick stop at the Culloden battlefield.
And it was finally time to visit the spooky Loch Ness. Now if you type “Loch Ness” in Google and go to the news tab, you will realize how people are fascinated by the unknown. Legend has it that a prehistoric reptile, infamously known as “Nessie” (the Ness monster) still inhabits the lake deep under.
Whether it exists or not is a great mystery yet to be solved. The first sighting of the monster dates to as early as 7th Century and we now have the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register logging the sightings by people who can explain with supporting evidence. And there are a thousand of them. WOW! I switched into Sherlock Holmes mode, jumped into the boat that took us around, scanning the water for the bad boy. In vain. But I did celebrate the vastness of the water body.
The boat dropped us at a castle built on the bank. Urquhart Castle, though in ruins stands with grace, giving breathtaking views of the lake.
As we headed to a village for lunch, we spotted the hairy coos. They are not your normal cows. They are far prettier and people are always after them with their photography tools waiting for a pose. They make the perfect postcard material. The attitude on their face tells me that they realize all of this.
And we met a grumpy looking coo as well
We shot off for more scenic drives in highlands. As we crossed several arrays of pine trees, Emily told us how pine trees were now grown at a fast pace and quickly sold to make furniture, how mad she felt that the sightings of the gracefully ageing pine trees were now becoming rarer. I too felt a bit of it, but when I travel I do it with a largely appreciative eye, so I let go of that.
Entering Glen Coe, Glen being the Gaelic term for a narrow valley with a water course running through it, and the River Coe being that water course, we learned about the 1692 massacre of MacDonald clan in the aftermath of Jacobite uprising.
Geography enthusiasts would like it when I tell them that it’s an ancient volcano that erupted about 420 million years ago and then became extinct and that this valley was formed by an Ice Age Glacier. As the glacier melted, it left a depression in the land and the valley is still recovering from that depression, rising a few millimetres every year.
We were driving now on the dramatic great Glenn, a long straight glen that follows a geological fault line, making it a natural travelling route in the highlands.
A few miles and some highland songs later, we were welcomed by the Grampian mountain range, standing tall on the western end was the Ben Nevis, England’s highest mountain. As we passed some more Hairy Coos, Emily finally answered all FAQs about Gaelic kilts, their significance then and now, and why calling it a skirt (in front of a scot) would turn the conversation unhealthy.
Driving in the countryside, I saw an overjoyed jumping calf – sign of approaching spring, I thought. By this time of the year, the snow was melting off the mountains, many of them covered with creeks of water flowing down to its humble origin. Few things in life are perfect; one of them is the reflection of a mountain in the water collected at its base.
We witnessed the grandeur of Fort William, the wilderness of Rannoch Moor and the pride with which the invincible Stirling Castle stands. I felt just about lucky to be sitting on the correct side of the bus to catch an eyeful of Kelpies, the famous horse-head sculptures.
You know you are back when you receive on your left, what you left on your right. The cantilever Forth Bridge was glowing, welcoming wanderers back home. In Edinburgh, we offloaded.
I wanted to kiss the bus that took us places, but refrained thinking people might take me for insane. But there was more mania on the Edinburgh streets that night. The Scots had won a rugby match, and they tell that to the world in a big way.
My heart has never left that place. Even on the days I am swamped with work, nose buried in the papers, and mind deluged with thoughts of pointlessness, it takes a reminiscence and the purpose returns.
Fun Fact: World’s Shortest Commercial Flight
In the Orkney islands archipelago, north of Scotland, cross the shallow water from one island to another on a flight. Start from Westray Airport and find yourself landing at Papa Westray Airport in under two minutes, covering a distance of approximately 1.7 miles. Save that ferry ride for another place.
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