A Scotland Adventure: My first with Wild Women Expeditions

I departed Boise, ID, early on Wednesday June 21, 2017, and arrived mid-morning to Inverness, UK, on Thursday June 22,2017.  Check-in time at the Bazpacker hostel (arranged independent from the WWE) was not until 1400, so I located the hostel and dropped off my bags for temporary storage then browsed the stores for my Clans' tartans. 



I had a great first day in Scotland, locating some gifts and browsing some local sites on foot, then finishing off the day with some excellent Halibut and chips from Castle Tavern (2 doors down from the hostel, currently 4 stars on trip advisor though well deserving of 5 stars).









I met up with my WWE group at just before noon on Friday June 23, 2017, at the local train station.  This was only about a 10 minute walk from my hostel now that I knew the route.  Kirsty Duncan was our fearless leader for the day, and I met up with Michelle Fleming, Marianne Wilson (who would be my roommate for the week), Barbara Frey, and the only other USA resident Anna Barnes. 

June 23rd began by loading up the VW nine passenger van with all our goods (and for me personally this was a good amount of luggage as I packed and used every item on the list as well as brought fresh socks for every day).  Our first destination was Loch Ness!

The drive to the launch point for our trip was a bit more of a drive than I originally anticipated since the Loch is 28 miles long.  Upon arrival, we were a bit early, allowing us to see boats going through the locks with their "handlers" appearing to walk them on a leash. 

Our description for the Loch Ness outing listed a speed boat.  I wasn't sure what that meant.  It turned out to be much cooler than I had envisioned.  We all dressed in our onesies for warmth and water protection, donned our PFDs, and then stepped abroad our zodiac! 


Much more fun, in a large part, to the animated guide Marcus who was an amazing history actor and great attention to detail spotting the goats in the hills alongside the loch for us to also observe.

We then had a lunch in a local pub.  I always envisioned Scottish food as deep fried as they do have a reputation for deep frying everything.  I was delighted to find non-deep fried foods with excellent flavor and amazing presentation throughout the adventure in Scotland.

Our next destination was a castle just up the road a short drive. 
The castle was in the past decimated and later rebuilt and filled with furniture,  decorations, and life sized figures depicting what living in the castle would have looked like.  No photography was permitted inside the castle unfortunately and sadly my description does not even begin to aid in the imagination for what the interior looked like.




We then proceeded to our first overnight location in Plockton, at the Plockton Inn.  Marianne and I had a room with a twin  and a full bed, small bathroom with en suite shower, and a great restaurant/pub in the Inn.  This would be home for us for two nights.

Dinner that night, I decided to try the prawns.  I didn't realize that they would be watching me eat them.  This was a new experience for me as well, and thank goodness Anna could walk me through the best way to remove the shell and deveining.

Our first night included understanding how to set up the day pack and clothes for the next morning to meet our agenda for the day.  Day 2 would include kayaking and hiking in the region.

The next morning (Day Two, June 24th), we decided to wake at 0700 to allow time to dress, have breakfast, and get our hiking/boating supplies finalized for the day.  Arriving at breakfast, we were able to order a hot breakfast or have cold or a combo of the two.  The poached eggs were done to perfection and they provided me with gluten free toast.  The coffee was so good, that I could have stayed there all morning enjoying coffee.  Our guide Rachel Crewesmith joined us at the end of breakfast and would continue with us throughout the remainder of our adventures.

While discussing our day, we learned that the winds were "force 7" - this is apparently quite high with a lot of "white horses" on the water, aka white caps.  Alternate plans were forged for the day and ended with us heading out to Applecross, taking the highest road in Scotland - the Bealach Na Ba. The road was our first exposure to the narrow one lane roads with "passing places" allowing for cars to safely pass.

We were exposed to some "proper rain" that day during our hiking terminating on a great beach and later had coffee in a photo art gallery.

Our next stop was to an area with a rebuilt or replica round house next to old ruins of a round house.  Inside was surprisingly sheltered from the weather and larger than it looked from the outside. 

We had packed lunches from the Inn to enjoy during  day out, again with good gluten free options.

Upon returning to Plockton, we walked through a public garden that was quite varied and
impressive.  We had an amazing dinner yet again, this time I enjoyed salmon.

Over dinner, we discussed our agenda for the following day.  Due to this being our 2nd night at the Inn, we would need to load the van in the morning with all our luggage as well as being prepared for our hiking. 

On Day Three, June 25th, we again had coffee and breakfast then loaded the van and started off for our next adventure, paper bag lunches in hand.  Our hiking would take us to the Cuith-Raing.  This was an amazing location with the most lush green land I have ever seen.  I called this my first favorite day, because I was in awe exclaiming Wow! with every corner we rounded exposing new views. 

 These are by far some of my favorite pictures from the week in Scotland.  Sheep were around us as we hiked.  In the above (2nd) panoramic in the center of the picture there are some plateaus present that from lower altitudes you couldn't see what may be "hidden."  Apparently, this location was used to hide cattle from thieves in the past.  Wow!

There was an option to hike up the saddle (or bealach) in the center of the photo or around the edge to the right.  The large structure on the right of the picture was referred to as "the jail."  We didn't hike up there to see however as we continued through the saddle, behind to the left, up over a high ridge, then cross country downhill with the sheep.

We then proceeded to view some roadside locations, including Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock and a little dinosaur and other small items museum.

This day finished by proceeding to Portree ,on the Isle of Skye, and checking into our new hotel for two nights, the Pier Hotel. 

We had dinner reservations that turned out to be at a different location than intended.  We found ourselves out on the road to Ureig at a small, new restaurant called The Marketplace.  It was a very pleasant surprise.  We all had great meals from the starters on through "pudding" - though it wasn't actual pudding.  Pudding is a term used for dessert (I guess you never then have to wonder if you spelled dessert or desert).

Marianne and I found ourselves that next 2 nights in a room that was a "family" room with 2 twins and 1 full bed, a slightly larger bathroom though still with a shower rather than tub/shower. 

Day Four, June 26th had an agenda for hiking and our group selected hiking on the Isle of Raasay.  This would involve taking a ferry to Raasay and hiking for a good portion of the day.  Breakfast that day

was noted to include an option of the "traditional" Scottish breakfast.  I was surprised what all this included:  1 poached egg, toast, 1/2 of a tomato, bacon (aka ham), mushrooms, beans (like pork-n-beans), and sausage (not breakfast sausage, more BBQ variety), and some amazing coffee.  I loved the coffee, bacon, and egg - the rest wasn't really my "cup of tea" for breakfast.  Now I know.

When driving to the ferry, it was a clear day.  The Black Cullins were without clouds and we had the opportunity to pull over for a quick photo in case this wouldn't happen again during our visit.  We were told by the guides that the Cullins are seldom without clouds on them.

We then caught our Ferry to the Isle of Raasay and proceeded to learn how we would be hiking Dun Caan. 

We had hiked up a while prior to seeing the summit of Dun Caan in the distance here.  The views from the summit were amazing!   The hike did have some tricky footing in the bogs and we were grateful to have our trekking poles.  We took an alternate route down from the summit to have a loop route and to be more gentle on the knees. 

We arrived back at the islands hotel prior to the nearby ferry time allowing us to have tea or coffee and cakes.  I even found some gluten free snacks there.  At the ferry location, I was so impressed with the handi-adapted design, I don't believe I had ever seen so many grab bars.  Cudo's to Scotland for being well adapted!




Day Five, June 27th, our agenda had us hiking on the mainland to Loch Coruisk.  We again had to load up the van with our luggage as we would again be changing locations to base our adventures out of.  We drove and caught the Bella Jane to Loch Coruisk where we spent three hours and expected some good rain for the day with the expectation that the rain would be worse in the afternoon.  We were able to hike, aka hill walk, around the loch. 

There was some impromptu swimming that occurred around the lunch break time that unfortunately was preceded by some wet boots for a wild woman in the group.  The turns were flying around one island in particular leading us to suspect they had nests there.  The boat ride back to the van included hot beverages made to order (the order was taken on the ride over so my tea with milk was ready right away). 

This bottom photo is once we returned to the van and the day cleared beautifully rather than raining.  Amazingly, the Black Cullins (black and craggy) and the Red Cullins (red less jagged and to the right) are visible.

Our drive from the boat launch site to the town of Fort William was approximately three hours.  We stopped by a roadside view spot of Ben Nevis, though he was well hidden in the clouds.  This location also had a WWII war memorial.  Scotland has them all over the highlands, it was very impressive how much they honor the sacrifices of their soldiers.

We then checked into The Lime Tree Inn in For William.  Our room was a little under-lit, though comfortable with two twin beds, a love seat, desk, large television (seldom used), and a very large and fabulous bathroom!  Best shower of the week.

Our late arrival to the hotel that night resulted in a late dinner time, making dinner last from approximately 1930 until 2200 as they served amus bushe, starter, main course, and pudding (aka dessert).  They were able to adapt to gluten free with some requests.  The cod would typically be breaded, though they were able to grill without breading for me.  I wish I had gotten pics of all courses of the dinner, but here are the starter (crab with a cucumber gelatinous covering of some sort) and main course (cod).

Day Six, June 28th, was slated to be a hike on the Isle of Eig (pronounced egg).  We learned that this would include an hour drive followed by an hour ferry to reach the island for starting the hike.  Due to a lack of enthusiasm for the long commute, our magnificent guides offered us other options.  We chose to hike about 40 minutes out of town, for I believe about six hours to the "hidden" or "lost" valley.  This was another location that cattle were hidden from thieves in the past.  I sure wouldn't want to drive cattle there though as we had some scaling of rocky features during portions of the hike.  It was fabulous overall and we were able to be more active with less commute.  We all were so happy to have the flexibility in our group and our leaders.

That evening we had definitely earned our dinners and pudding!  Over dinner we discussed our plans for the next day as there was a choice with an additional guide joining us to allow our group to split up according to the optional hikes.  Two group members elected to hike Ben Nevis and two of us chose to hike Glen Nevis.  We were slated to have Andy join us in the am to lead the Glen Nevis with Rachel leading the Ben Nevis hike.

Day Seven, June 29th, began by learning about some tortuous or arduous "buffeting" - aka being blown around by the wind.  The group consensus was to therefore hike as one group in the Glen Nevis region.  Andy joined us after breakfast, and we first hiked to Dun Deardail, as there was a 300-400m altitude gain and the winds would only increase at the higher altitude as the day progressed. 

We then hiked Glen Nevis (above photo is looking at Glen Nevis from Dun Deardail), with the altitude changes being referred to as "Scottish flat" meaning up and down throughout the hike.  We hike to a waterfall and enjoyed our views in the "proper rain" prior to beginning the slow slog back to the van.

I was saddened to think that there would be no more hiking with the WWE after we reached the van.  Andy then surprised us stating that there is a lower waterfall that we could take in to allow a bit more hill walking following our return to the van.

It was all beautiful and very wet.  My boots have remained wet despite all night on a heater.  Dinner again was fabulous, though slow from what seems to be newer wait staff.  My salmon was excellent though!

Day Eight, June 30th, we had our final breakfast together then returned to Inverness.  Our guides dropped me back at my hostel where again I dropped off my luggage due to my earlier than check in time arrival.  I then purchased my souvenirs, including some art work for my house.

July 1st was my return flight to Boise, ID. I can only say how wonderful this WWE trip was.  I was so nervous about my size affecting others' perceptions of me and how I may affect their experience despite my frequent and capable hiking ability.  I enjoyed staying with another person in the same room despite not knowing her prior to the trip.  Marianne and I were well suited for each other, both being rather quiet evening readers to settle down from the day's events.  I also enjoyed staying at a hostel at the start and end as I bunked with three other women and this also allowed me to easily interact with others including going out for dinner together, and not be a recluse feeling isolated by staying alone in a hotel room. 

What I now have the courage to do differently next time: Now the knowledge that I am OK pre- or post-trip for some extra exploring of the region would allow me to potentially do some backpacking before or after the WWE adventure

Favorite new term:  Wilder-Wee

Favorite Scottish term:  Buffeting wind and Scottish-flat (tie)

View of rain:  still beautiful, doesn't mean you don't go out and explore

I strongly encourage others to step outside of their comfort zone if this is anything that they are considering for themselves!