Day 6- August 16

I woke up feeling even worse this morning :( It sucks being sick on vacation, but I tried to make the most of it anyways. Luckily, we discovered when we got onto our new bus with our new driver, Bruce, that it would be a long day of travel. This meant few stops and lots of time to SLEEP!

Bruce is an interesting man, with a sheep skull on his dashboard and a bizarre taste in "music", but he's pretty mellow and very friendly. The first stop of the morning was just down the road at the oh so tacky statue of Nessy in a little man made pond beside an even tackier gift shop. Definitely the perfect place for the typical tourist photo :)

We had 6 newcomers on the tour to replace those 6 who were returning back to Scotland with Danny. Simone, Catherine, EJ, Lisa, and the French couple were lost and in return we gained a pair of blonde German girls whose names I never figured out, a Danish couple whose names I also cannot remember, and a couple from Australia, Rowan and Claire, who were currently working in a hotel on the Isle of Iona. Beth and I remained the only Americans, for which I was grateful.

We stopped at the Corrieshalloch Gorge for a "wee walk". Fortunately, Bruce was accurate in his description and the walk was a very gentle slope and only a short distance. It led us over a swinging suspension bridge spanning the gorge for a breathtaking view at the water below. There was another viewpoint further on that led you out onto a platform over the gorge as well. Awesome.

Our route today led us along the Northwest coast of Scotland on our way to Orkney Island. There was a stop to see the ruins of Ardvreck Castle and enjoy our lunches. Another stop was at Smoo Cave, a vast cavern beneath the cliffs by the sea. Then it was on to Tongue (yes, that's the real name of the town) to get tea and a snack. Beth and I considered buying I love Tongue t-shirts, but decided against it. Probably for the best. The final stop before reaching the ferry terminal was at Duncansby Head, the northernmost point of the Scottish mainlaind. Sadly, there were a lot of clouds blocking our view, but we were able to catch of brief glimpse of Orkney.

The ferry ride took only an hour and was fairly smooth. We ate dinner on the boat and were treated with an impromptu bagpipe show, introduced by a very drunk man with an open bottle of whiskey on the table. Only in Scotland, right? Our hostel was just down the street from the ferry dock in the small town of St. Margaret's Hope. We had the whole place to ourselves and I got to bed early in hopes of feeling much better the next day.