Newtonmore and Killiecrankie, UK

Today, Caroline had planned on taking me to the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, after hearing from a colleague at work that he thought was great. We piled into her car this morning 'round 9ish, and hit the highway up into the Highlands. We chatted a lot about this and that, and I swear I was the proverbial two year old with the eternal question -- 'Why?' I like to know a lot about why things are the way they are and why they differ from things at home, so I hope Caggles wasn't offended by all my questions!

After a lovely ride, through some lovely countryside, we arrived at Newtonmore -- a place we felt was very touristy in the town itself, so didn't really stop there. The highlight of our journey, after all, was the Highland Folk Museum -- a kind of living history, much as the Burnaby Heritage Museum is at home, for example. There were a variety of different things to see -- all sorts of recreated crofters houses, from those made with sticks and peat roofs, to those made of stone, and tin siding. Very interesting! We even briefly watched a wattle and daub demonstration, though I admit to being a trifle disturbed when Caroline mentioned that the stuff used in wattle and daub was a combination of mud and feces. I had been under the impression it was mud only. Hee!

I took pictures mostly of the things that interested me, even though there was much more than my photos show at this place. I just am not turned on by taking pictures of things like.... well, the sheep shearing building, for example. So here you'll find some wee horses, and a rolling hill off in the distance, and the Curling pond in the trees. :) We spent a good three hours there, though -- stopping for lunch in the cafe. I'd stupidly forgotten to bring a protein bar with me, and there wasn't much at the cafe for me to eat because of my allergies, but one of the ladies there made me a salad with some ham and tomatoes, which was lovely. It was really kind of her, and continues to fortify my belief that Scottish people are just lovely.

On the way home, we decided we'd try and check out a few more 'brown sign' places. Brown signs on the highway signify places of interest -- of all kinds, whether National Trust run, or private, or whatever. We passed a few, though nothing piqued my interest until we neared Killiecrankie. I wanted to check that out, because after reading the Diana Gabaldon 'Outlander' books, I was curious about a number of landmarks and historical happenings therein. The pass of Killiecrankie, site of the first uprising between English troops and Highlander Jacobite supporters, was one of them.

Hungry again by this point, Caroline popped into the cafe there to speak to the cook while I was in the washroom, and again -- he offered to do something up special for me that was allergy-free! So nice! I just had a baked potato with baked beans and a salad. Something to note --- salad dressing doesn't seem to be a big thing here. You can add salt and pepper for taste, and really, I quite liked it without slathering lots of stuff all over it. After that, we went to the gift shop (yes, before going to see the actual attraction -- shut up, there's a bunch of historical information in there, too!) And it was there I got to hear the Braes of Killiecrankie song -- one I'm going to have to find when I get home! Found some lovely dark chocolate with ginger in it (SO GOOD) that Caroline and I drooled over on the ride home. Caggles also made me buy some Edinburgh Rock candy, which is quite tasty, as far as candy goes!!

The Pass of Killiecrankie itself is very lovely, and reminds me of places on Vancouver Island, actually. The water with the piles of rocks in the middle --- like Englishman River falls! Everything is so green here, too -- which is, again, like home, though the grass stays greener, as I don't think it gets hot enough here to burn it brown like at home in the summer.

Pooped at this point, we piled back into the car to drive home, Caroline taking a more scenic route through Sterling.... which unfortunately, I was not awake enough to appreciate. Having only had four solid hours of sleep the night before, I was unable to keep my eyes open and napped on the way home. Finally got to meet Caroline's flatmate, Ronnie, and then the three of us walked to the chippy to get dinner. I took the only non-deep fried option there, the smoked sausage, and had some brown sauce on my chips. Mmmm. (Think HP sauce, but vinegared up!) We brought dinner home, and then watched the first Harry Potter movie, in preparation for tomorrow night's showing of the new movie we're going to!

Oh! And I was introduced to Irn Bru today. At first, I wasn't sure I really liked it, but by tonight I'd decided differently. It's very sweet though. Not something I'd like to drink all the time.

Tomorrow is off to Glasgow by myself on the bus. And I should bloody well be in bed, because morning is going to come far too early!