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High In The Highlands

I went to Culloden on my way back from Orkney last week. I hadn't expected to enjoy it (not my period of history at all, but my accompanying friend has a thing about the Jacobites), but it was surprisingly moving. And the shop and cafe are fantastic (just don't go after about two pm if you are a vegetarian. Actually, this applied to the whole of Scotland - they seemed only to have tiny amounts of veggie food which was gone by mid morning).
 
Kondoru said:
Anything nearby to see?
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St Adamnan's Cross, west of the Crannog Centre, near Glen Lyon Church itself. The Croftmoraig Stone Circle, en route to Aberfeldy, then Castle Menzies. The Breadalbane Folklore Centre at the far west end of Loch Tay (although it's only ever open when there's no-one there). Fingal's Stone, in wonderful Killin (and the Chiefs' Graveyard). Not forgetting The Birks of Aberfeldy (and the obligatory tourist photograph of you standing beside the road-sign for the village of Dull, in the Strath of Appin).

Depending upon whichever month the work is happening at the Crannog (for the rebuild) I'd love to go along and maybe help for a couple of days: but time-off is not yet (and may never be) mine to own.
 
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catseye said:
And the shop and cafe are fantastic (just don't go after about two pm if you are a vegetarian. Actually, this applied to the whole of Scotland - they seemed only to have tiny amounts of veggie food which was gone by mid morning).
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As long as there's chicken, she'll be fine. Trust me.
 
Kondoru said:
Im planning a month in Scotland. (Have been particularly virtuous so they are letting me stay that long)

Im going to be helping out at the Crannog Centre on Loch Tay.

Anything nearby to see? I will be right handy to the Fortingall Yew.
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Are you going to Loch Ness??
 
No. Its dull. The Caledonian canal is interesting if you like canals.

Mid June to Mid July, Ermintruder. Can you do leatherwork?

There will be a Haggis shortage, I warn all of you Scots folk. I love Haggis.
 
Kondoru said:
Mid June to Mid July, Ermintruder.
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Aha, interesting! Some inescapable clashes in that four weeks, for me, but not nearly as badly as in August. So I *might* be able to appear....hmm.

Kondoru said:
Can you do leatherwork?
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I've inexpertly done some in the distant past, and probably have some basic tools lurking somewhere (including a rusty bodkin and those open-topped thimble-ring things) so on a scale of 1-10 I might be a 1.5.....it's certainly not totally unknown to me as a skill.
 
No joking though, I was horrified at the lack of veggie options in most place! I'm a confirmed carnivore, but showing solidarity with my friend meant that even most sandwiches were out of bounds. OK, we weren't heading for gourment places, mostly take away food, but there were a lot of cheesy chips eaten, that's all I'll say.
 
catseye said:
No joking though, I was horrified at the lack of veggie options in most place! I'm a confirmed carnivore, but showing solidarity with my friend meant that even most sandwiches were out of bounds. OK, we weren't heading for gourment places, mostly take away food, but there were a lot of cheesy chips eaten, that's all I'll say.
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When my Mum went on holiday to the Highlands, she basically had macaroni cheese every night.
 
GNC said:
When my Mum went on holiday to the Highlands, she basically had macaroni cheese every night.
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Yes, that's pretty much where we were - if my friend had been vegan I dread to think.... we actually went to the Co Op in Stromness and bought food, but all the sandwiches in there were also meat based, ditto the pizzas. I think we found one margarita pizza and one cheese and pickle sandwich.
 
No deep fried Mars bars?

Anyway Ermintruder, I will be doing the leatherwork. Should be making the tankard and shot cups. very fiddly.

But such a satisfaction when they are done an people are admiring your handiwork!

They ask who made it an you tell them and they say `Never!`
 
catseye said:
Yes, that's pretty much where we were - if my friend had been vegan I dread to think.... we actually went to the Co Op in Stromness and bought food, but all the sandwiches in there were also meat based, ditto the pizzas. I think we found one margarita pizza and one cheese and pickle sandwich.
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Two people I know went on holiday to Graz in Austria. They are vegetarians, so a basic pizza was all they could find - because Austria is very much a meat eating country. Veggies have to do a bit of research if they go on holiday, I think.
 
Kondoru said:
Im planning a month in Scotland. (Have been particularly virtuous so they are letting me stay that long)

Im going to be helping out at the Crannog Centre on Loch Tay.

Anything nearby to see? I will be right handy to the Fortingall Yew.
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You can climb the Schielhallion, a few miles north from Fortingall. It is a straightforward walk, but the view from the summit is exhilarating. Plus, this is a "Fortean" mountain : I vaguely remember a tale about a "fairy cave" on the south-western slope of the mountain.

If you have lots of time, there might also be an interesting sight at the end of the Glen Lyon : it seems there is a "Cailleach" shrine standing there, in the middle of nowhere, at the north-west of the dam. I did not get the chance to visit the place, but it might be interesting. Here is a page about the site : https://www.celticcountries.com/traditions/297-the-shrine-of-the-callaich-at-glen-lyon

On your way to the Glen Lyon dam, you can stop to get a glimpse of Meggernie Castle from afar. In 2016-2017, it was privately owned, so I don't thing one can visit the place, but it is the site of a gruesome haunting. A former laird of the place is supposed to have murdered his wife out of jealousy, and to have hidden is body, cut into two parts, in a chest. Some people staying at the castle spread the story that they had seen the ghost of the lady, or more precisely, the "upper part" of her body.

The Fortingall Yew is not very spectacular, and if my memory is correct, you do not get to see much of it as it is enclosed. The story about Pontius Pilates being a native of Fortingall is also a kind of local joke that became entrenched as a "truth". It illustrates how a group of creative intellectuals can give birth to a "urban legend" ... in a rural environment ! But Fortingall is a pretty little village.

I agree with the fact that Loch Ness isn't worth the trip. Most foreign tourists absolutely want to go there when they come to Scotland, but it is really not the most memorable place in the Highlands.

Oh. And one last thing : in the Glen Lyon / Loch Tay area, make sure to listen to Griogal Cridhe (Gregor's Lament).
It is a haunting song. And it was in this area that the hero of this song lived and died, fighting the Campbells of "Black Duncan of the Castles". If my memory is correct, he was finally beheaded by the Campbells at their castle at the mouth of loch Tay, in Killin. Griogal Cridhe is supposedly a song composed by his widowed wife as a deploration for his untimely death. It is a very romantic story. I wonder why nobody ever made a movie about it.
 
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Mythopoeika said:
Two people I know went on holiday to Graz in Austria. They are vegetarians, so a basic pizza was all they could find - because Austria is very much a meat eating country. Veggies have to do a bit of research if they go on holiday, I think.
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I would agree when going abroad. When merely heading up to the north of Scotland, where all the shops are pretty much the same - and also having been married to a Scotsman who was veggie from birth until the age of 30 - we never expected to hit this level of resistance!
 
catseye said:
I would agree when going abroad. When merely heading up to the north of Scotland, where all the shops are pretty much the same - and also having been married to a Scotsman who was veggie from birth until the age of 30 - we never expected to hit this level of resistance!
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Strange. I visited various parts of Scotland as a tourist, and noticed that in most places, they would serve a "soup of the day" with bread and butter, usually a vegetables' soup. Of course, one has to enjoy soup very much to base his vegetarian diet on soups. But that should theoretically be feasible. I did not try though, as I am not vegetarian.

Speaking of food, the pub / restaurant at the Fortingall Hotel was decent in 2016/2017.
 
AmStramGram said:
Strange. I visited various parts of Scotland as a tourist, and noticed that in most places, they would serve a "soup of the day" with bread and butter, usually a vegetables' soup. Of course, one has to enjoy soup very much to base his vegetarian diet on soups. But that should theoretically be feasible. I did not try though, as I am not vegetarian.

Speaking of food, the pub / restaurant at the Fortingall Hotel was decent in 2016/2017.
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Yes, I agree, there were vegetable soups. But only if you 'ate in' (which we didn't always want to do).
 
Kondoru said:
Im planning a month in Scotland. (Have been particularly virtuous so they are letting me stay that long)

Im going to be helping out at the Crannog Centre on Loch Tay.

Anything nearby to see? I will be right handy to the Fortingall Yew.
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Pub next to yew well worth a visit
 
Settling in.

The roads are almost all single track and rather nervy.

Shops are hard to find, and overpriced Co-ops. (Lots of vegetarian options...)

There is not a lot here asides pretty scenery.
 
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