Journey to the Western Isles

Day 1
Journey to the Western Isles Tour, 2017.  We seek the Old Woman Of The Hills, A'Chailleach, Bringer of Storms.  We climb to her high meadow at the foot of her home, Ben Nevis.

Scot is leading a pilgrimage to the western isles with, appropriately, Seachd Chaillich, seven wise women.

Jamie and Claire 2015 tour dates announced!

Sin sibh a luchdh leanntan!  See youze, Diana Gabaldon Fans!  I have just posted the tour dates for 2015 for the Jamie and Claire tour.

The true "Colum MacKenzie" with our May crowd.

We're still having fun with this year, and our new optional "extensions", but I am already getting requests for 2015.
So, they're up on www.jamieandclairetour.co.uk  for your delectation and the old "can I, can't I?" decision.  Maybe this is your year...

What's NOT there just yet are:
~ the optional extensions that were such fun this year.  I'm still working on those.  I'll put them up soon.
~  The Romantic Borders tour, which we have just come back from.  Quote from a guest:  "I had no idea the Borders would be so exciting!"   There will be the tour date posted soon AND a "What's it like?" video, once we've had a chance to edit it up.
~ Also not posted yet is the Dragonfly In Amber tour.  I'll get to that when I can as well.
~  Furtherly (not a word!) not posted is the Western Isles tour, which for the third year we will be offering in conjunction with Mara Freeman, noted Celtic spirituality author and teacher.  You can find details at Celtic Spirit Journeys.com

Now, I must just get back to other more pressing matters, like the impending tour in August and Sept.  Busy, busy....

By the way, have you seen the first few videos in the "Introducing Scotland" series that we have made?  It's a side-interest thing where we showcase some things about Scotland that you probably didn't know about.  
You'll find them on my MacKenzie Adventures Youtube channel  and I bet you'll find them interesting

Enjoy the summer, Outlandish People, and the websites.
Muchos regardos,
Samantha
(Now where did I put that stack of booking forms...?)

The Peat Hags Tour

Long overdue as a tour record, but the nights are long here in the Highlands now that the clocks have gone back an hour, so I have time to FINALLY put up a wee blurb about the August tour Journey to the Western Isles, known to those who were on it as The Peat Hags. You'll perhaps recall that our laptop died on day 2 so there was no tour blog.

I will let the pictures, just a few, tell the story.

Sue, err, living dangerously.

Gabe and Sam high in the hills of Skye

Sue  - in the presence of stone

Gwen - contemplating the pilgrimage?

These standing stones have... well... character

Taigh Tugh - the 'black' house

Sue, Gabe, Judy and Gwen.  By a peat stack.  Now you know why it's called the Peat Hags

Next year's Western Isles tour will be a joint effort between ourselves and author Mara Freeman.  It'll take place in June (now fully booked) and in August (places available) and have a spiritual focus - we'll be going to more standing stones and sacred places.  See Mystical Scotland page on Mara's site.

Meet the McRaes

Scot blogging here.

Some of our Followers might be aware that we have been developing the tour Journey to the Western Isles.

It's an amazing place, unique unto itself, and while politically part of Scotland, it is quite remote from the mainland and has its own culture.

It's the long chain of islands that runs down the north west coast of Scotland.

We went there in 2010 with Mare and Care (aka The Sisters), just as a wee extension to the Jamie and Claire Tour.

This year we are going twice (or at least I am going twice, Sam is a bit miffed that she's only going to get there once).  The August tour is open to all while the first, in June, is a private tour, so

Da Daaa!

Meet the McRaes.

My favourite photo of them - hiking in remote Skye in 2008

John and Sally did a genealogy tour with me in 2008 and are coming back to see these amazing isles, that lie on the very edge of Europe.
I'll be blogging in the run up to this great pilgrimage to whet the appetites of all concerned.

Because it's a private tour, I've tailored it to their requests.  We'll be spending some time in Glencoe on the way back.  I'll let the photos tell the story.

Big Hills. Wear a hard hat.

In the next months' blogs:  Food, cute cottages, beaches...

Journey to the Western Isles.