Ghostblog Hantu dan Mitos

The last touristy thing I did here in Scotland was to drop by Duffus Castle , just north of Elgin. It's where my old pocket camera died last year *sniffles*. Not much to say, 'cept its a fairly handsome ruin and the short visit there was only partially interrupted by a family of fuckin' Krauts who insisted on making as much noise and wreak as much havoc on the ole' stones as humanly posssible. One of the young 'uns even tried climbing on the stone walls. View from the parking lot. The keep was erected around 1305. A great hall once stood here. This was a later addition. A stone wall enclosed the keep and other buildings. The inside. Parts of the castle starting sliding due to subsidence and the site was abandoned in 1705.

After the long ass boat ride, I got in my car, which, despite standing in a clearly marked 2 hour restricted parking space had not gotten a parking fine on it, and drove away. The next morning, up near Ft William, I set out to Glenfinnan, home to a grand Memorial and of course to Harry Potter fame; the famous train to Hogwarts makes a very scenic journey through these parts. Glenfinnan's claim to fame is that it was where that moron, Bonnie Prince Charles raised his banner and started the Jacobite uprising in 1745, which ended in glorious defeat a year later at Culloden. The Monument was erected in 1835. They have a couple of displays in the visitor center. The only reason why there aren't toys scattered all around was that it was under glass. Bastards. Ze monument. You had to walk up this steep, narrow flight of stairs, then squeeze through a frighteningly small opening at the top, which was actually closed with a fucking hatch. This is the statue of a Highlander on top of th...

After the nice trip to Staffa, we were sailed over to Iona with instructions to take a regular ferry and a regular bus and then a regular ferry back to Oban again. Iona is a very famous island in Scottish history, mainly because it played such a very important role in the spreading to all of Scotland of that cancer upon humanity; Christianity. Peak interest was actually achieved fairly briefly into the three hour stay there, when I found out that an otherwise ancient and sacred and blah blah cemetery also housed the grave of former Labor Party leader John Smith . Now, I wouldn't vote Labor in a thousand years, be it old or new, Corbynista or Blairist. But John Smith always seemed to me to be a basically decent guy and he died too young. My TripAdvisor review of the cemetery: "I normally like cemeteries and this is a very old and historical one. However, there was no information that I'm aware of on all the "famous" people buried here, you have to wander through w...

A couple of weeks in advance, I'd booked a sailing with Staffa Tours , on their Early Bird excursion. I got up bright and early for the ferry from Oban to Craignure on the Isle of Mull . TripAdvisor: "Took a trip on a CalMac ferry over to Craignure on the east coast of the Isle of Mull (appx. 50 minutes). Nice trip on a solid, if unspectacular ship. Staff were polite and friendly. The grub in the cafe is also solid and unspectacular. Great views from the observation deck, especially of the sunrise as we headed out of Oban." I have video: Over on Mull, I got on a bus to the west end of Mull, called Fionnphort. As for Mull itself, I will simply paste this excerpt from my review about Staffa: "You should be aware that different parts of the trip seem to be organized by different companies, something I wasn't aware of when booking. There was no commentary from the bus driver on the 75-80 minutes tour across Mull, although a ton of deer, highland cattle, some spectacu...

Wednesday night in Callander was almost as good as last year, with singing all evening long at the Old Rectory Inn. My TripAdvisor review: "Went here last week and had the three course meal for less than £10 in the small restaurant. Good value for money; tasty, good, decent grub. Afterwards I had a great time singing Scottish folk songs and the likes with the locals in the pub section. Very welcoming, nice people, both the guests and the employees. Will definitely come again!" In the morning, I stopped by to see if I could feed the Shaggy Coos again, but the animals had already had their breakfast I was told, so I pressed on north towards Glencoe. Driving the the A82 between Tyndrum and Glencoe once a year has become something of a rite of passage for me and this year was one of the better. First, I stopped at the parking lot above Loch Tulla and for once, the sun was out. ' I also have video. I then drove down the narrow road to Glen Etive. The sun made the scenery even ...