Thu, 03 Oct 2002

author Tim	location Carbisdale Castle, Culrain, Sutherland, Scotland
posted 08:26 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/Scotland/Scotland 1 ( all photos )

A Night in a Haunted Castle ( No photos )
We took advantage of the SYHA (Scottish Youth Hostel Assn)'s ability to book and pay for places ahead yesterday, and organised both last nights accommodation (at the SYHA's pride-and-joy Carbisdale Castle) and Friday night's - they have a £5 deal which we had to book early for. Quite handy, it meant we could arrive later and know we had a room organised. Quite a change!
Before leaving Aviemore, we fuelled up Percy and did a few dabbly things in town - trying to hook up to the net (no luck), make a few phone calls (Happy Birthday Mrs Meaghan's Nanna!), and stock up on some more junk food.
I managed to convince the girls that we needed to visit a few last distilleries, and they kindly obliged. No more tours, we just had a quick look around and then visited the shop.
At one point on this little tour, we drove past a man pushing his hand down in the universal "slow down" sign. I obliged, although we didn't know what to expect. A little further, a woman was walking along the road, around a corner. This time her hand signals were not as clear, so we slowed down even further. Imagine our suprise when about fifty cows come walking, ever so slowly, around the corner. Liz just had to take a photo, so while we waited by the side of the road for them all to pass, she proceeded to snap away. However, a passing bull decided that he needed a closer look. The power window was deployed upwards with full force, just in time to get a great "clack" from the bull-ring against the glass. He snuffed and snorted a few times at Liz's red shirt, before deciding that opening this can was going to be a little difficult to open, and continuing his wander onwards. Eventually the road cleared, and the woman following the herd came over and laughed with us all.
After finally leaving the Whisky trail, we ventured North around Inverness, and through some great scenery. This took in the coast drive to Comarty (where we almost caught the ferry across to Balnapaling), then north through Dingwall and plenty of other little towns. Our destination was Carbisdale Castle. After a quick stop at Tain for supplies, we finally made it.
The place is amazing. It was bequeathed to the SYHA completely intact, and now functions just like any other Youth Hostel. With the exception that it is a massive castle, sleeping two hundered people or so. All sorts of paintings, statues, and plenty of strange little rooms made for a memorable experience.
We cooked ourselves dinner (sweet-and-sour veges) and enjoyed it in one of the dining rooms, before retiring to a little alcove by a window on one of the massive landings with a drink or two.
While getting up during the night, both girls reported sightings of the resident ghost. I'm not so sure...

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