HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Doing a good thing for the environment and planting a tree
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Seasickness on the North Minch Sea-ruthless
WORD OF THE DAY: Spew and spew bag
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 157km
It was raining this morning when we left Fort Augustus. I know I have said it before but it is amazing what an alcohol free day and 8 hours sleep can do for the body and the mind. With 6 of us in the dorm and having our own en-suite it is with some planning and military precision that we all get showered and dressed and at the bus by 8.30am, but we have had the same girls before and it works that Candice and I getting up early for the first showers and we are generally always the first into the share bathrooms of the mornings as well. We were 10 minutes late leaving Morag’s this morning and guess who was to blame? Yep Marky Marc….. He even has a watch on his wrist… I love giving him hassle now about his tardiness to which it just washes over his carefree attitude which is quite refreshing.
Our first stop this morning was in the middle of nowhere and as we were driving it started to pelt down with rain. Not a great start when we were going out into a field to plant some trees. I have a feeling if it was going to still be bucketing that we wouldn’t get the opportunity. As luck would have it as we pulled up behind the conservationists car on the side of the road, the rain miraculously stopped and I guess somewhere in here I should thank Mark for being 10 minutes late as we had timed it perfect with the weather so far. I would never tell him that to his face mind you!!!! So we met our conservationist then headed over a fence, walked over a wet and in some places boggy marsh and we were going to do some good and help conserve the badly depleted Scottish Caledonian Forest. This is something that Haggis has been supporting for the last few years and we were going to add 2 trees to the Haggis Woods. Trees for Life are the only organization specifically dedicated to restoring the Caledonian Forest to a target area of 1000 sq. miles in the Scottish Highlands. They work in partnership with the Forestry Commission, RSPB and private landowners, and own and manage the 10,000 acre Dundreggan Estate.
Each year they run over 45 Conservation Holidays. Hundreds of volunteers join us annually in planting over 100,000 trees in protected areas, and carry out other restoration work such as seed collection and propagation of young trees and rare woodland plants. They have planted over 950,000 trees since 1989. Their vision is to restore a wild forest, which is there for its own sake, as a home for wildlife and to fulfill the ecological functions necessary for the wellbeing of the land itself. They are not aiming to regenerate a forest which will be utilized sustainably as an extractive resource for people, although they recognize the need for this in Scotland.
Scotland is a prime candidate for ecological restoration work, as it is one of the countries which have suffered most from environmental degradation in the past. The Highlands in particular have been described as a 'wet desert' as a result of the centuries of exploitation which have reduced them to their present impoverished and barren condition. With most other countries now repeating the same ecological mistakes, we believe that the onus is on Scotland to provide an example of reversing the damage which has been done here. Thus, at Trees for Life, envision work to restore the Caledonian Forest as not only helping to bring the land here back to a state of health and balance, but also having global relevance, as a model for similar projects in other countries. Today only a tiny percentage of the original forests survive, and the native pinewoods have been reduced to 35 isolated remnants. Gone with the trees are all the large mammals, with the exception of the deer. Species such as the brown bear and the wild boar had become extinct by the 10th and 17th centuries respectively, while the last to disappear was the wolf, when the final individual was shot in 1743. So with 4 volunteers today we planted a Juniper tree and an Aspen in our quest to help re-establish the Caledonian Rainforest. We can keep up to speed with our trees progress on line at http://www.treesforlife.org.uk You can also make donations on their web site and also purchase trees for planting as wedding gifts or birthday presents which I think is a great idea. Well done Haggis for this very worthwhile project.
We had a quick photo stop about 30 minutes from here at Glen Moristen Folly where the children’s book Peter Pan was written by Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937). He was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys who inspired him in writing about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens (included in The Little White Bird), then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a "fairy play" about this ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland. This play quickly overshadowed his previous work and although he continued to write successfully, it became his best-known work, credited with popularizing the name Wendy, which was very uncommon previously. Barrie unofficially adopted the Davies boys following the deaths of their parents. Before his death, he gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital, which continues to benefit from them. It was so tranquil and peaceful here and you could see where he drew his inspiration from as we stood on the stone bridge with a busy gurgling river running beneath us.
We were going to have lunch on the road today as we had to catch a late afternoon ferry to Stornoway and we had a few stops in between that Alan wanted to show us. Now I haven’t said too much about Alan. His style is certainly very different from Andy’s to put it politely he is a little rough around the edges and his jokes border on the boundary of ‘not for group travel’. He is lucky he is a good driver, he knows his stuff and all round is a good enough bloke, but he does push the limits with his language and I am not a prude by any means, so just imagine. But I guess he fits the bill of a crazy Scot and what Haggis look for in their staff and he did train Andy-so he can’t be all bad. But geez there are times where Shaz and I just look at each other and cringe…… We stopped in Beauly for a late breakfast and an opportunity to pick up lunch/food supplies for the day. The bakery that Alan recommended didn’t have their oven working to reheat their food, but it looked good anyway so I bought a Thai chicken pie and a meat pie for later to munch on and then we went to the supermarket and bought a salad and some chips for snacks. WE still had 20 minutes of our 45 minutes left so we took a walk to the Beauly Priory. Beauly Priory was a Valliscaulian monastic community. It was probably founded in 1230. It is not known for certain who the founder was, different sources giving Alexander II of Scotland, John Byset, and both. The French monks, along with Bisset (a nearby, recently settled landowner), had a strong enough French-speaking presence to give the location and the river the name "beau lieu" ("beautiful place") and have it pass into English. It is not the best documented abbey, and few of the priors of Beauly are known by name until the 14th century. It became Cistercian on April 16, 1510, after the suppression of the Valliscaulian Order by the Pope. The priory was gradually secularized, and ruled by a series of commendators. The priory's lands were given over to the bishop of Ross by royal charter on October 20, 1634. The ruins today are still extensive and are one of the main visitor attractions in Inverness-shire. To think we were walking though the ruins (they were still in pretty good condition-no roof) of a church that was over 900 years old. It was a little solemn with graves inside and also outside the church with all sorts of other relics and signs that had been collected over the history of the church. It was beautiful though and I am glad we took the opportunity to have a look inside.
Back on the sardine tin we call the bus, I was on the aisle seat today and I think I may like this more than the window as you can stick your legs out and I can use the spare seat in front of us, next to JemJem to throw all my crap….. 30 minutes got us to Rogie Falls. This gave us a chance to stretch our legs for a 40 minute circuit walk that gave us a view of the river and the crossing of a suspension bridge. Rogie Falls are a series of waterfalls on the Black Water, a river in Ross-shire in the Highlands. The bridge will support a maximum of five persons at one time, with a narrow and sharp set of steps at its end. I’m not sure we were told this rule for the bridge as I am sure we had the whole group on there at the same time all snapping photos, man was that a disaster averted? 40 minutes down the road came another suspension bridge and look out called Corrieshalloch Gorge which is situated on the Droma River also in the Scottish Highlands. It is 1.5 km long, 60m deep and formed at the end of the last ice age (10-13,000Y BP) by rapid erosion caused by meltwater. The 46m Falls of Measach can be viewed from a viewing platform which has been installed which projects out into the Gorge and a Victorian suspension footbridge. The gorge and surrounding area are owned by the National Trust for Scotland. We walked the 300m path from the car park, crossing the suspension bridge 6 at a time ONLY and then walking a further 200m to the lookout that suspended a few meters over the gorge where 6 people ONLY at a time were also allowed. This rule was passed to us this time. I am not sure if it was a good thing or bad thing that there were 2 men working/repairing the bridge while we were there? They didn’t stop us from crossing so I am just guessing/hoping they were just doing their routine checks. The bridge does have a history of un-safeness. The bridge was closed to the public in 2010 following the discovery of unacceptable wear and tear, but was reopened in January 2011 after temporary repair work. It was closed again in the winter of 2011/12 for longer term repairs. Shortly before it was due to be reopened in April 2012, consulting engineers discovered cracks in several deck support hangers, and the entire site, including gorge-side paths, was closed until these could be replaced. It fully re-opened in late May 2012 after refurbishment and repairs were completed. This was not told to the group and probably with good cause. I would have still gone across but it had only re-opened 12 weeks ago……. But we all made it so one can only assume the problems were fixed-well enough for us anyway…….
I do need to make a mention on how well my crocs have held up all week. I was worried at the start of the tour that I didn’t have walking boots, with the weather being so unpredictable and everyone rocking a pair the first day. But as it has worked out, especially this morning, my Crocs are holding up fantastic and I don’t think I could have bought a better pair of shoes. Everyone’s shoe were soaked after the tree planting this morning and yesterday when we climbed the muddy mountainside everyone’s shoes were covered in mud, I just walked straight into the lake and cleaned mine all off and then popped them back on. Okay so they will never replace a hiking shoe, but for this week and the intermittent weather I have done better than most. And people laugh when I say I have Crocs, but remember I have the cool pairs and not the original super dorky, super comfy pairs that I would never get caught dead in. Oh yes have your laughs now people……..
We arrived into Ullapool at 2.30pm and we didn’t need to be back at the bus till 4.30pm. There isn’t too much to see of the town so we found a pub just around the corner from the bus and proceeded to kill some time with 2 beers and just chatted the time away. Ullapool is a small town of around 1,300 inhabitants. Despite its small size it is the largest settlement for many miles around and a major tourist destination of Scotland. The North Atlantic Drift passes Ullapool, bringing moderate temperatures. A few Cordyline Australis or New Zealand cabbage trees are grown in the town and are often mistaken for palm trees. The harbor is still the edge of the town, used as a fishing port, yachting haven, and ferry port. Ferries sail to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides. Many of the pivotal discoveries of the Victorian era that contributed to the development of the concept of plate tectonics were made in this area, and there are still regular international geological conferences.
We were told to get something to eat for dinner here or we could also get something on the boat and just before 4.30pm we all decided to grab some fish and chips to eat in the bus as we waited for the ferry to arrive, that ended up arriving nearly 1.5 hours later than scheduled due to weather conditions. This should of sent off an alarm bell, but generally as a rule I don’t get sea sick-only once, no twice-the first time was on a crossing from Honduras to the island of Roatan and the other was a 3 day cruise from Brisbane to Sydney-I was green and hung-over but didn’t actually throw up on that one, so I am not sure if that actually counts or not. Alan had mentioned nothing about the roughness of this crossing so we all walked on just after 6.15pm a little naïve on what we were going to encounter for the next 2.5 hours.
The ferry used on the route is the Isle of Lewis. This is the largest ship in the CalMac fleet and it was built on the Clyde in 1995. The Isle of Lewis is capable of carrying up to 970 passengers and 123 cars with a large cafeteria and an observation lounge that comes complete with a display screen showing the ship's position. Much of the route crosses The Minch. The route from Ullapool involves excellent views of the town as you depart, sailing round Ullapool Point and heading towards the mouth of Loch Broom. The ship then makes its way past the Summer Isles, offering occasional views to the north towards Achiltibuie and the rest of the Coigach peninsula. But it is the mountains that really grab your attention. Most distinctive is the spiky little peak of Stac Polliadh, to the north, and if visibility is good you can also catch glimpses of Suilven, still further north. To the south the landscape is dominated by the peaks of An Teallach. Arriving in Lewis you pass to the south of the Eye Peninsula before making your way into Stornoway Harbour. Shipping links between Ullapool and Stornoway date back at least to the 1870s when a paddle steamer called Ondine operated on the route. In 1881 the route was taken over by one of CalMac's predecessor companies and in 1885 the Ullapool terminus was switched to Strome Ferry.
I was more worried about seasickness for Sharon as she is not the best sailor in the world, even though she was in the NZ Navy, and as soon as we had left port and started to get pounded by the 6m waves JemJem was down for the count. I was a little bit of a bitch to Jem (in the fun kind of way-well at the time) as she held her hand to her mouth I was mentioning parmesan cheese, chunky chicken soup, beers, vodka and Irn Bru and any other thing to have a bit of a laugh to which I got a single bird wave as she tried to switch me off and get some sleep. I was doing okay at this point and tried to get a blog written, but the ship, which was as big as a diver ship, was really rocking and a rolling. There was one poor lady that had a baby in the lounge area and she was really getting sea sick and had to leave her baby on the floor with a 5 year old as she dashed to the toilet. Well the baby was hysterical so I went over to see if I could calm the tike while his mother was throwing up in the toilets. After the first hour Candice needed to come and lie down and shortly after I started to get a bit of a sweat up. Uh Oh…… My mouth started to water and before I knew it I think I needed to be sick. So I weaved my way to the toilets to which there was a queue, Mon seeing my face yelled for some sick bags to a staff member and promptly handed me 3 bags and told me there were toilets down stairs. So I thought if I had a good throw I would feel better and made my way to the toilets on the next deck. The moving around made me feel 100% better, even if it was rough as and you had to hold onto the rails, I was feeling good, but thought I better make a trip to the bathroom anyways. I tell you if I was on the edge of being sick, the toilets would have pushed me over. The smell of urine and spew hit me as I opened the door-ugh there has to be something very wrong about throwing up in a public toilet where peoples fanny’s and butts have been sitting. Funny how it doesn’t seem to matter so much when you are drunk in a nightclub….. anyway I was happy I didn’t have to put my head anywhere near the revolting toilet and made my way back upstairs. I had to pass the cafeteria on my way back and there were people there eating a full on roast meal as the ship dipped and rolled-ughhhhh that was nearly enough to tip me back over the edge, the thought of food. I need to make sure I apologize to JemJem when we arrive-what a bitch I was telling her about food when she felt like I did now…… Nice friend – NOT. Well once back in my seat the calm only lasted about 10 minutes when I had to reach for a spew bag, aim and pray to god that I got it all in my bag. I was so sick it took three heaves to get it all out of my system, half filling my spew bag and thankfully McGiant was at the ready with another one should I require. Enough said but just let me tell you that 2 beers and fish and chips before sailing firstly wasn’t a good idea and secondly it don’t taste that great the second time around. Foot note: it is a good thing they make those spew bags strong and hardy…..
We finally arrived into Stornoway at 9.30pm with a few green faces and relief that the ferry ride from HELL was over. There is not a worse feeling, well besides being hung-over-but that’s self-inflicted, of seasickness and the great thing, well for me, is once the boat stops a rocking I am feeling okay. I was actually a little hungry. The hostel was only a 3 minute drive from the ferry port and we were dropped off at the accommodation with a promise that Alan would be back at 9am in the morning for us and he drove on to where he was staying for the night. I am not sure I find his ‘driver’ attitude very professional saying that the accommodation is not his duty; I would have expected him to have stuck around until we all had a bed for the night in case there were issues to which there were. Thankfully it wasn’t our issue and I think Shaz and I got the pick of all the rooms at the hostel on the 3rd floor that was the attic room with 4 single beds with a sloping roof. It was really cute and cozy and we lost the married couple to another hotel as they wanted to have a private room so we told JemJem about the spare bed and she moved out of an 8 dorm room and we picked up Robert, who was okay to share a room with 3 females as there had been a stuff up with rooms and they were short a bed in the boys dorm. We were fine with him joining us, but I am not sure if he knew what he was letting himself in for. The hostel here was amazing. It was warm, cozy, free Wi-Fi in our room, washing machines to pay as you go and great room mates for the next 2 nights we had here in Stornoway. So it was just a ship recovery, finding our land legs again, loading of photos and then early to bed for a big day tomorrow seeing the sights of Lewis.
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