Islands, Sheep and One-Lane Roads

Last night we spent the night in the village of Glencoe. We enjoyed a little dinner and a pint then got ready for a nice slumber. Then the power went out. At first we thought that we, or someone in our B&B, had blown a fuse until we looked out of the window and saw that the whole village was dark, street lights and all. Frankly, as we were in bed and ready to sleep, having no power didn't matter, until I realized that no power meant no heat. Considering there is snow on the mountains, its raining and the winds are howling, yes it would be a very chilly night. Thankfully the power came on three or so hours later (I honestly have no idea when it came on, I just woke up and saw the light on, turned it off and went back to sleep). We found out this morning that the power outage was widespread through the whole northern part of Scotland, from our area in Glencoe all they way out to the Shetlands and Orkneys, and even out to Skye and the Western Isles. So about 10,000 square miles or so of Scotland was affected, but only 200,000 people. You really start to understand how remote this place is when something like a power outage occurs.

We shared our morning breakfast with the other two guests, Germans, who were hiking the West Highland Way, which is a 95 mile hike from Glasgow up through Glencoe and ends near Fort William. Perhaps on my next trip I will give it a try! We have met other hikers who are walking it and the views they experience are incredible. During breakfast Freddie, our hostess, gave us a history of Glencoe. The village of Glencoe lies in Glen Coe, but Glencoe is not the original name of the village. It was actually something else but when tourists started coming and looking for an actual village named Glencoe, they changed the town name. Glen Coe is of course famous for a massacre which occurred in 1692. 38 people were killed, men, women and children. Freddie said that the worst part of the massacre was when the women and children tried to flee into the mountains. It was winter and they froze to death. What is significant about this massacre is the amount of publicity it received. The Campbells had been guests of the MacDonalds for two weeks. Then, on the orders of the English and with English military support, they violated the Highland laws of hospitality. Campbells and English soldiers attacked and slaughtered the MacDonalds of Glen Coe. The Jacobites used this massacre to aid their cause of Scottish independence and published the story from the MacDonalds' perspective, which is rare since history is written by the victors. For once the victors were condemned worldwide for their actions. The English didn't want the world to know what they were doing...cleaning out the Highlands of Scottish resistance...ethnic cleansing. As such, the massacre at Glen Coe has been remembered for centuries from the MacDonalds' view, a tragic example. 

After touring Glen Coe we headed towards the Island of Mull. Since we wanted to take the ferry from Lochaline, we had to travel on a one lane road for about an hour. The road did have passing places which was nice. But it also had curves and it is virtually impossible to see if anyone or anything is coming. So, when we went around a corner and suddenly met a truck, one of us slammed on the brakes which sent everything flying forward, and the other exclaimed rather loudly and clutched her seat belt. We lived but I had to turn down the car temperature and roll down the window. The near death experience suddenly made things very toasty. Anyway, the drive was quite pretty as it ran along the coast. There were numerous sheep wandering around, in the road and on the side so there was a lot of, "Look out! There's a sheep in the road!" Some of the sheep were rather recalcitrant and sometimes it was a stare down between a sheep and our car. When the stubborn sheep reluctantly moved, it made sure to baa it's displeasure. After all, the road belonged to the sheep! 

We waited about 45 minutes for the ferry to Mull. They were only running the ferry once an hour. The water was incredibly choppy. In fact, the ferries from Oban to Mull were canceled. Crossing from Lochaline to Mull was very rocky, our car even jumped and jerked. I do not get seasick but even I felt a wee queasy because of the waves. Anyway, we got to Mull and guys, it was beautiful! We really hit it at the perfect time. The sun was shining, only a few clouds here and there. The water was such a deep blue and in some places, turquoise. The way the light and wind hit the water made it look like satin. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and gorgeous views to take a few short walks to various viewpoints. I think this could possibly be my favorite place in Scotland! Freddie told us something interesting about Mull. She had been telling us about Scottish Gaelic and how it is taught in schools but isn't widely spoken. The English did a good job of stamping it out. On the islands, however, it lasted longer. When the census takers came to Mull in the mid 1800s to record the residents, they were met by Gaelic speakers. But the census takers were Englishmen from London. They could neither speak nor understand Gaelic. So when the Mull residents gave the Englishmen their names, they gave them in Gaelic. Since the Englishmen couldn't understand or spell the names, they gave half the island the last name of Smith! So imagine trying to do ancestry research on Mull!

Cheers!

Elizabeth