Scotland: Day 1

I'll start off, more or less, where my last post ended. It was Thursday night and I had to race home from the 4th of July reception at Winfield House to change out of my suit and finish packing for my trip to Scotland. My train was to leave at 11:50 PM heading to the capital Edinburgh, so I had plenty of time. As is always the case, "plenty of time" never feels like enough and I ended up racing around to get everything ready in time. I then made my way to Euston Station where my train would be departing. I got on the train and quickly found my bunk (picture below). It was small, especially the hallways, but pretty comfortable. It would be very hard to manage with luggage but with just a backpack it was fine.

There was an older Scottish guy on the lower bunk and we chatted a bit before departing. It was VERY hot on the train. Apparently the air conditioning was broken. I was just laying there sweating most of the night but eventually managed to get some sleep. Otherwise it was actually a quite comfortable journey. I only woke up once, when the front half of the train had to detach to head to Stirling while our half continued on to Edinburgh. Shortly before arriving, we were woken up and given hot tea and shortbread cookies. The attendant also gave us a form to fill out for a refund. I'm guessing a lot of people had been complaining about the heat because he was really apologetic. I had just assumed that the train didn't have AC so didn't bother to complain. The Scottish guy and I chatted for a bit more and after arriving he walked me over to where the showers/bathroom were located. I paid the 3 pounds for a shower because I felt pretty grimy, but after that I was fine and ready to go.

So I headed out from the train station to the Haggis tour office. It wasn't far from the train station, but I still managed to get a little lost. Edinburgh looked like a really cool city from the little amount that I saw. I was really disappointed that I wouldn't have time to look around but, unfortunately, the tour was three full days and that is all the time I had. I had been tempted to spend the three-day weekend in Edinburgh and the nearby area but I really wanted to see the Highlands. The more research I did, the more I realized a backpacking tour would be the easiest/best way to do this.

So anyways, after checking in we hopped on the coach and got going. There was a total of about 20 people on board, give or take. After the safety briefing our guide, Donald, went through and asked where everyone was from. Almost the entire group was made up of backpackers or students from all over the world; places like China, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, the US, Canada and one from England. We got going, driving through Edinburgh's old town and past the famous castle. Unlike what I had previously assumed, we were actually going counter clockwise through the country, so we were heading north. We passed over the Firth of Forth while our guide gave us some facts and a background on Scottish history. You could tell he was really passionate about it, which made the tour all the better. We passed by Perth and eventually arrived at our first destination, Dunkeld, which is a small town on the river Tay in the lowlands on the eastern side of the country. Apparently the town was founded by the Picts sometime in the 800's and there are a couple Pictish items in the town's cathedral. The town rose to prominence as a religious center, the only main attraction in the town is the large medieval cathedral. Otherwise it would be just another small town (although there was a battle fought nearby between the Jacobites and Royalists in one of the early Jacobite rebellions). This is not to say the town wasn't worth seeing, it was very pretty in a quaint sort of way. You could walk through it pretty quickly. I checked out the Cathedral (below) then went into the town to get coffee and a pastry. At this point I hadn't really spoken much with any of the other people on the tour. The second picture below is from the side of the Cathedral, looking to the River Tay.

We then headed off towards a small town where we got lunch, while the guide told us the story of the the Wolf of Badenoch (we saw his tomb in Dunkeld Cathedral). Apparently he was a pretty nasty character but the story is too long to relate here. At some point along the way we passed over the unofficial border into the Highlands. You could definitely tell the difference in the landscape as there were less trees and more hills/mountains (obviously). After getting lunch (I had the Scottish Angus burger) we headed towards the battlefield of Culloden.

This is the site of the notorious last battle of the final major Jacobite Rebellion in 1746, where the Highlanders fought to put Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) on the throne. Stuart had landed, with French assistance, in Scotland and was able to raise an army of highlanders. They had some significant successes early in the conflict and were able to invade England, even threatening London. The English quickly got their act together and shifted some troops from the Continent, including a large number of Lowland Scots, under the command of the Duke of Cumberland (who was later to earn the nickname "The Butcher").

As the nickname may indicate, the Highland Scots lost the battle and Bonnie Prince Charlie was forced to flee from Scotland and never return. After looking over the battlefield, the guy from Singapore commented that it seemed like more of a massacre than a battle. This does seem to be the case. Of the 7,000 Jacobites, about 2,000 to 2,500 were either killed of captured; whereas the Government troops only suffered about 50 killed and 250 wounded from a total of 8,000 troops. Most of the wounded and captured Highlanders were killed after the battle.

I've been to dozens of battlefields from the American Revolution, French & Indian War (7 Years War), American Civil War, World War I and World War II and, perhaps with the exception of the battlefield at Verdun, Culloden is the most somber. I suppose there are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that a significant number of Scots still want to be an independent country (members of the largest political party in the country, the Scottish National Party). So I'm sure the brutality of this battle and what it symbolized still stings. The battle, and the brutal aftermath, more-or-less ended the hopes of an independent Scotland. In addition to this, many people in the Highlands have the same names as the clans that fought here, making the battle even more personal.

As the guide explained before we arrived, the typical battle tactic of the Highlanders was to position themselves on an incline (makes sense in the Highlands) and charge down on their enemy. This cancelled out any advantage the Government troops had in firepower as the Highlanders would be on them very quickly. However, as you can see from the below pictures, the battlefield at Culloden was not well suited for this. In fact, I can't think of worse terrain for this tactic. They have paths through the battlefield now, but the ground was really marshy and a tangle of tall grass and shrubs. It would have been impossible to move quickly, which is exactly what happened. Once the Highlanders were finally given the signal to attack (apparently there was a long delay) they were mowed down by artillery and rifle fire. The places where the Highlanders were able to actually reach the Government lines, they inflicted a large number of casualties. Most of the Government force's casualties came from only the few units that made contact. The below photo is from half way between the Jacobite line and the Government line (the red flag marks the government line) it gives you a rough idea of just how hard it would be to run on this terrain. The second photo is from the Jacobite line looking towards the Government line.

The Jacobites were buried in mass graves. Some had markers that stated which clan was buried there, while others just say "Mixed Clans" (the guide thought this was horrible). My family, the Davidson's supposedly fought at the battle as part of the Highland Chattan Confederation, which included a few families (the Mackintoshes, from which the Davidson's apparently originated, where the head of the Confederation). They were situated in the center of the Jacobite line and suffered quite a few casualties as they were one of the few units to make contact with the Government line. Although my particular branch of the family had already left Scotland, it was still a somber moment to see the mass grave (below) where the Davidson's which were killed would have been buried alongside with the Mackintoshes. The second photo below is of the memorial cairn, erected in 1881 where the hand-to-hand fighting had been the worst.

After leaving Culloden we made our way west through the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, and down the western side of Loch Ness. I had no idea how massive Loch Ness actually is. It contains more water than all the lakes in Wales and England combined. It is 23 miles long and incredibly deep. Along the way we stopped by the ruins of Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness to stretch our legs. Below are a couple pictures of the castle and Loch Ness.

The driver accidentally left someone at Urquhart, so after doubling back to get them (which took awhile because the roads are so narrow and it was difficult to find a spot to turn around) we made our way to Fort Augustus where we would be staying for the night. It is a really small town on the southern tip of Loch Ness. A canal runs through Fort Augustus, connecting Loch Ness to Loch Oich and further down to Loch Lochy. Apparently through the lochs and canals, you are able to cut through the country from the North Sea to the Atlantic. Fort Augustus is a small town with only 600-700 inhabitants. It's been around for awhile and was the site of an Abbey and a fort built by the Government after one of the Jacobite Rebellions.

After getting there, we went to a small demonstration (below) on the clothing and life in the Highlands, then we made our way to the hostel to check in. I was in a room with three other guys. It was a pretty decent hostel and included a small breakfast. After checking in, myself and a couple other people went to get some fish & chips for dinner then headed into a pub. This was the only part of the trip that there was any rain, so we got pretty lucky in that regard. I made it a pretty early night though, since we had to get going fairly early in the morning. The last photo below is of the canal leading through Fort Augustus into Loch Ness from outside the fish & chip shop.