This past weekend, I went to Loch Lomond with my JSA (junior study abroad) program. There were about 70-80 of us total, some from St. Andrews and some from Edinburgh, and we all stayed in a former castle that had been turned into the Loch Lomond Youth Hostel. It is located right on the banks of the loch and right next to a grazing field for sheep. Loch Lomond is actually the longest lake in Scotland, possibly in Britain, and it is surrounded by lovely highland mountains.
We arrived on Friday night and, after a hot dinner, settled down to watch Braveheart on a projector screen in the hostel. It was pretty fun to watch the various events of the movie take place in towns or areas that I've been to or have at least heard about in Scotland...Stirling, the Highlands, etc. I'm sorry to say it but that was actually my very first time seeing Braveheart (yes, I know, mea culpa) but it was so fun to watch it IN Scotland (even though it was mostly filmed in Ireland). I'm actually going to Stirling in April during spring break to see the Wallace Monument. Now I can appreciate it all the more having learned something about William Wallace!
Saturday, we went to Balmatha, a town right on Loch Lomond and in the looming shadow of Ben Lomond (one of the big mountains on the banks). We hiked up part of the mountain with a Scottish hiking guide and then took a walk through the Trossachs Nature Preserve. It was very beautiful! Rainy and cold at times, but beautiful. After a great lunch at the Forth Inn in Aberfoyle, some of us took another hike to the Little Fawn Falls and David Marshall Lodge to see a waterfall (16 m high) and a lovely view of Loch Lomond, Aberfoyle, Stirling, and more. We arrived back for dinner and then a ceilidh (kay-lee) in the hostel. Now, since we are all Americans, most of whom have little-to-no experience with ceilidh dancing, so we weren't much to watch but we DID have fun. I danced the whole time! 3 hours! By the time it was over, I was quite sweaty and tired but now I feel like I know some of the typical ceilidh dances a bit better. The more you do it, the better you get!
Sunday, today, we went to the Ross Priory on the banks of Loch Lomond to play highland games. Some men in kilts, our leaders, split us up into 10 clans and then we rotated through a series of stations: caber-throwing, archery, fly-fishing (with magnets and on land, not in the water), haggi-tossing (like bean bags, except with stuffed haggi balls), bag-piping, petting a golden eagle, and other highlandish events. We also had to make up a clan song to win extra points. My clan, MacClaren (not sure how to spell it), made up a great song, two verses long, to the tune of Amazing Grace. Sadly, we did not win. Also, it was VERY cold and quite wet, sometimes raining, and EXTREMELY muddy. Even so, we had a great morning. The view from the Ross Priory was quite stunning. We even saw snow-capped mountains in the distance. Afterwards, we ate lunch at the Stables Restaurant nearby before heading back to St. Andrews.
All in all, it was a pretty miserable weekend, weather-wise, but so much fun in every other respect. Good company, lovely surroundings, fun events, and invigorating hikes! Check out my pictures in the next post to get a visual or two or ten (!) on my weekend.
Much love,
Sally
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