On a bright and sunny spring morning, our group of 11 members left Stirling University, on a journey to explore the famous Scottish Highlands. Incidentally, we were an all girl’s group and coincidentally Women’s Day also fell on the same weekend, call that our double whammy adventure!
Our spirits were high, as we each were excited to explore Scotland. For me, the most exciting part of the trip was visiting Isle of Skye island. The picture below was on my bucket list for places I wanted to see when I was planning my stay in Scotland, while pursuing the MBA degree program at the University of Stirling.
I got lucky to have the chance to join this trip in time and meet some amazing fellow students from various countries, diverse cultures and studying different degrees in the university. We all got along pleasantly, throughout the trip, which was spread over 3 days, covering Glencoe, Isle of Skye, Loch Ness, Eilean Dolan Castle (some scenes of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai-Bollywood movie, were shot here), Hermitage Point, Fairy Pools, Neist Point, to name a few.
The highland’s landscape is breath taking beautiful and our guide Norie, told us interesting stories of Scottish history, tales of fairies, unicorns, many anecdotes about the various clans and tartans, my personal favorite one was the about all the kings named James.
Our days were filled with adventures, knowledge of Scottish culture and sweet Scottish music. Our days ended with us retiring to our humble abode called Stationmaster’s Lodge in Strome Ferry, where a warm bed awaited each of us. We shared rooms and sleep came effortlessly, as we had action packed and eventful days.
Evenings were spent together, cooking harmoniously, playing the guitar, chatting and playing board games, as well as pool. We pooled £5 each and bought sandwiches for lunch, breakfast cereals, snacks and savories, for our day’s journey. In the evening of day 2, the host prepared Haggis, mashed potatoes and mashed turnip for us. Admittedly, I resisted tasting it, as I was of the opinion it is made of meat I didn’t grow up eating (i.e. beef), however, I was pleasantly surprised to be corrected that Haggis is made from lamb. There was a vegetarian Haggis option as well for those who didn’t want to eat meat.
Highlights of the trip for me were Fairy Pools, Eilean Dolan Castle and Creag An Turic & Neist Point. Other bonus events were seeing 3 rainbows, visiting the cutest ever tea and cake shop and the quirkiest bakery in Callander – Mhor Bread, tasting Haggis for the first time, meeting and making new friends and learning so much about Scotland, my land for now.
The trip concluded with a visit to the Hermitage point, where we saw Scotland’s tallest trees and Norie our guide, told us yet another interesting story, about how this place came to be. In all a very well organized, informative, inclusive and adventurous trip by Heartland Tourism and Travels.
My take from this experience was, it is worthwhile to immerse oneself in the cultures of the land and take the panorama with you, wherever you go next.