We spent (almost) two weeks driving around in Scotland. I’d never been before so I was looking forward to seeing a new English speaking country! We stopped in London to celebrate a friend’s graduation there then took the train to Edinburgh.
As soon as we got into Edinburgh, we stopped for lunch at Makars Mash where I tried haggis for the first time. We walked some of the Royal Mile and peeked into St. Giles before finding our hotel.
The next day we picked up the car and drove to Aviemore. Driving on the left of course. Well, when there was a ‘left’- a lot of driving we did was on single lane roads with small areas to pull over let others by. Our first hike was to Loch Uaine, where the water is green because pixies wash their clothes in it. At the time, we didn’t realize how unique this would be in Scotland- all the other lochs we saw had very dark brown water. We also stopped by standing stones in a neighborhood in town. Later, we went to Blair castle. They had original tapestries depicting scenes from Don Quixote.
We headed to Tigh Na Bruach where we stayed two nights in a lovely BnB. This was on Loch Ness, where did a couple short hikes and a cruise where we saw a Highland cow or two from the boat. We also had lunch by the locks.
On our way around the west coast, we stopped at Inverewe Gardens which were pretty amazing. They said that because of the jetstream and nearby mountains, they were able to grow a number of more tropical plants. We stopped at Eilean Donan castle too, which has been in a number of movies.
We stopped at Culloden before spending a few days on Isle of Skye. Culloden was a battlefield that marked a major turning point in the history of the Scottish Highlands. The visitor center there had a well laid out explanation of the event leading up to battle. While we were there, they had a demonstration showing to to prepare and wear traditional scottish plaid (full plaid or belted plaid).
While on Skye Island, we did a little more hiking. We went up to Quiraing but the weather turned more foggy and had to turn back before being able to see all the rock formations there. The trail here was a bit difficult, climbing over rocks and water sources. I was able to see ‘the prison’ before the clouds came down and covered it up. The faerie pools was a less technical hike than Quiraing but the gravel path was rather steep.
We left Skye for Oban and stopped by Glen Nevis to hike to Steall falls. On the way we stopped and had sandwiches at a charity run farm that taught gardening to local school children.
From Oban, we’d planned to take a boat to Mull and Iona but it was cancelled due to high waves. We’d taken the ferry over already so we picked up the bus to Tobermory. The next night we spent in a lovely cottage on the edge of a farm. We also saw Stirling castle and the Kelpies before heading back to Edinburgh to return the car.
