SCOTLAND Day 6-19 July 2019

Today I woke up early and had breakfast (chocolate fruit loops and apple juice) and I sat in the living room and looked out the window for a bit. It's so pretty. It's super rainy today so I will definitely not being hiking.

I checked out and went to the bus station and caught the 10:30 bus to Inverness. My bus wasn't until 5pm but the driver let me take the early one. I sat on the left side cause I like the left side better for buses and all the views yesterday were mostly on the left so I though that would be good but all of the views were on the right which sucked. We circled all around Loch Ness which was neat! We also stopped at Urquart Castle so I got a glimpse of it.

Inverness is sprawled out in the valley of the mountains just passed the Loch. My hostel is up a little hill but Inverness is must less hilly than the other cities I've been. My hostel has a nice view and the back of it is sorta on a cliff. It has a cute little cozy lounge area. It's the same company that did the Fort William one.

I dropped off my bags at reception and then went back into town and took the 5 bus over to Culloden Battlefield and read Outlander on the bus.

I got there and walked right in. There weren't any ticket booths or anything so I just walked straight onto the field. It was really eerie and peaceful. It's way bigger than I thought and has mountains on either side and sorta looked like Colorado. I wandered around for a bit and then found a tour guide and listened to one of their stops. She said that the Jacobites fired the first shot and had way more canons than the government side but the Jacobites had really bad aim so it didn't really matter. Canons are also fired straight rather than up like you'd think. When you shoot them straight they'd bounce around and make more damage where as shooting with an angle trajectory just makes it land in one spot. Another problem for the Jacobites was that the right flank of the Jacobites charged earlier and were ahead of the others because the land right in front of them was also flatter and more stable. Most of the field was boggy and uneven. This caused the middle and left flank to fall behind and not be a full straight wall which resulted in the left flank being fully surrounded by the government and 700 Jacobite were slaughtered within the first 10 minutes. The highlander charge is a charge where they run and scream as loud as they can in Gaelic and when they're in close range they knock away a bayontte with their shielded left arm slicing the throat of that soldier with the dirk (short dagger) held in that hand and then draw their sword with their right hand slashing the man behind the first man at the same time. The highlanders were also amazing fighters since they are raised to fight since they're as young as 8. However they had lost 500 soldiers on their march back north due to their conditions being so poor for sleeping and eating.

After I listened in I went back to the visitors center to see if I could catch the next free tour but they said they were short staffed so there were none. Then they made me buy a ticket which is annoying. The ticket included an audio tour but it wasn't good and only had 4 ones outside which was upsetting. It had a whole indoor museum which I had also just walked through earlier as well and had random artifacts they had dug up from the fields. Lots of swords and buttons and things.

Then I went back out onto the field and caught the end of another tour guide talking in a different spot. There's a little cottage on the one side that is made of pete and has a thatched roof and was there during the battle but the owners had abandoned it when they saw the armies coming. She also reminded everyone that it was not british vs scottish but Jacobites vs the government and most people were Scottish fighting each other and some killing their friends.

The field itself had lots of brush and tall grasses growing over the whole of it and then there were 4 red flags and 4 blue flags showing the front lines of the government and the Jacobites respectively. When I went over to the Jacobite one they were a bit lower down and I couldn't even see the red flags in certain spots which means they could definitely not see the government troops. Its crazy.

Only 50 government soldiers died as opposed to 1,500 jacobite.

Then I went to the mass graves. There's a big cairn and then little grave markers in front of mounds each with a different clan name. Apparently the names aren't exactly accurate though because these grave markers were made way later. There was Mackenzie and Fraser and a lot for Macintosh. The Fraser one had a bunch of flowers and things on it and a strawberry.

Then I went and looked at the long haired cows and then there was a black horse and a white horse (a unicorn) and then I sat and waited for the bus. The bus was super late and then it finally came and said it wasn't going to Inverness and so we all sat back down and waited more. I read Outlander and it was lovely outside so I was happy.

When I got back I wandered around the town and went into a bunch of little shops. I sorta want a kilt but Nana has one and is gonna give it to me and there all super expensive. I was also thinking of buying the Outlander shawl but I don't think I'd use it. Then I found the clan pins and after a couple stores I found the Fraser one which is a circle shape that looks like a belt with a stag head in the middle and an ile de france on the bottom and the top reads "je suis prest" which means I am ready. I bought it and put it on my skirt on the right bottom like a kilt pin.

I read about the whole kilt set up in the one bus ride. You wrap the kilt around so it fastens on the left and the back has the folds. Then you put a pin in the bottom right to help keep your kilt down. Then you wear knee socks and fold them over just below the knee. Then little strips of cloth go on the outsides of your leg tucked into the fold of your socks and should match your kilt. Then you wear these dress shoes that lace up criss cross like but you either tie them around the ankle with only one x or you tie them below the little fabric pieces. Then you stick your little knife, sgian dubh, in your right sock (if your righty) on the outside so that only an inch is sticking out. The knife should match your pin. You can also wear a "scarf" in the same tartan pattern that just wraps around and fastens on your right shoulder with a pin or you can wear a cape thing that you just attach to your right shoulder.

Then I walked up the castle hill. The castle is pretty new and disappointing but the view was pretty nice. The town is cute and has mountains surrounding it and a pretty river through it.

Then I checked into the hostel. I have a room in the basement but since its on a hill I have nice view out the window. I have a top bunk. Like the other hostel it doesn't have lockers and this one has less outlets than the last. This room only has 6 people in it. 2 of them I met are German and they liked my plaid.

I went to dinner at the tavern on the corner which is super old and I got salmon which was good. It came with potatoes and I got a side of veggies which were carrots, broccoli, and something purple. I sat upstairs near the window that had a nice view of the window. When I got my meal it started pouring outside but by the time I left it had slowed and then stopped.

When I got back I facetimed mom and then blogged and charged my phone and then watched a Nessie movie. It's from 1997 and called Loch Ness. It's about an American scientist who's an unsuccessful Sasquatch hunter and his boss makes him go look for Nessie in Scotland to prove Nessie is fake to redeem himself. He stays at a inn of a single lady with a daughter. He proves Nessie is fake with his machines and is about to leave but then realizes he was wrong cause he has a photo so he goes back in and the movie ends with the little girl showing him Nessie which is actually multiple water dinosaurs. Then instead of proving Nessie and redeeming his career he chooses love with the inn keeper lady yay.

There's some really loud french kids here which is annoying and they're literally yelling in the lounge while everyone else is just minding their own business. It's actually only one girl she's just super loud and doing dumb things and I hope they're no where near me so I can sleep. I'm honestly really tired. Hostel life is rough. I'm sleeping through the night but its a shallow sleep and I'm awoken multiple times in the morning for different people's alarms. I also keep waking at 7 or 8 and then being fully up.

I took a shower after the movie which was an ordeal. The light would turn off after 2 minutes which was awful and then I'd wave my hands around hope it'd turn back on. Then the shower itself was a tight little cubicle that overheated quickly with the hot water on so it was like a sweat box but on top of that it smelt funky and did not have enough hanging space.

After showering I went to my bunk and watched the first two episodes of Outlander season 1 and then went to bed.