Scotland road trip

Ever since we went to Edinburgh, we've been interested in seeing more of Scotland, the Highlands and Isle of Skye specifically. We decided there's probably no better time to do it. One of Pat's Scottish co-workers, Duncan, (the guy who invited us for Burns Night) provided us with a great driving itinerary that covered a lot of the highlights.


We had our trusty portable navigation device, TomTom, to get us around, but I have to say that the little devil let us down once on this trip. When our backs were turned, he decided the fastest route to the Isle of Skye was via a ferry, however, he DIDN'T factor in the time needed to wait for the ferry, the ferry journey time, or the exorbitant cost. Our 2 hour delay cut into the only real hiking time we had planned for the trip. Although we kicked ourselves for not keeping a closer eye on him, we actually saw some really great things along that route, enjoyed the ferry ride, and it prevented the only double-back we would have had. We even saw some areas along the coast up there that were as crystal clear and brilliantly blue as the Caribbean and even had white, sandy beaches to match. Who would have thought?

Turns out this was a great time of year to go to Scotland—it's just before the high season, it has started getting warmer, and the midges haven't come out yet. From what I understand, midges are some kind of super-persistent mosquito-like nuisance. We actually had unbelievable weather with, dare I say, SUN, and, for a change, Scotland was having better weather than the south. So we were very lucky. As Pat said, he doesn't understand why the Scottish are always complaining about their weather :)

This was a roadtrip of the sort I've never attempted before. Each day we were on the road between 3-6 hours, stopping here and there to take pictures and see stuff. Not long distances for an American roadtrip, I know, but long enough for us. Each night we were in a different B&B/hotel. There are some positives to this kind of trip—you get to see a lot of stuff and it's ok if the B&B sucks because you're only there one night anyway. The negatives are that, for me, you become a car zombie (especially since poor Pat had to do all of the driving), too much time in one place can really impact your day, and you get really sick of being in the car and just want to get to the B&B and sleep.

Before you plan your trip to Scotland, there are a couple of things you should know:
1. It's a nature-lover's paradise, but city folk will be bored out of their noggin. Rick Steves says that the Isle of Skye specifically has "more sheep than people" and I think that's true of many areas.
2. It's like the English Lakes on steroids and parts of it feel like Colorado or California.
3. Unlike England, they actually have forests. England was deforested quite a while ago and, from what I've seen, I'd guess most of their wood comes from man-made foresting projects in Scotland. There's a lot of pine forests, which we love, and it reminds us of Vermont.
4. They have good seafood up there because a lot of the lochs are connected to the sea.
5. People are very friendly.
6. There really aren't that many roads and many are single-track with passing places (that's ok because once you get north of Glasgow/Edinburgh, there's virtually no traffic). Even though there's not much traffic, you do run into some obstacles...

Cows on the road...


Sheep on the road...


Construction equipment blocking the road...


Big old tour buses. Pro: they clear single track roads for you (who's going to challenge that bohemeth?) Con: it can be slow going.


The best part about Scotland is the incredible scenery. It's virtually everywhere and a little sun really helps it sparkle. So enough talking about the place, this is what we saw...

Loch Lomond


Loch Linnhe


Glencoe








The Glenfinnan Monument on the shore of Loch Shiel. It was built in 1815 to commemorate the Jacobites who fought and fell during the 1745 uprising. That was a big (and bloody) turning point in Scottish history putting them firmly under English rule once and for all.


Recognize this? It's a viaduct for the Jacobite Steam Railway better known as Hogwarts Express. The movies use this journey for the scenery and the flying car flew through these arches on the way to Hogwarts.


The ferry to the Isle of Skye.




By the time we arrived at our hiking destination on the Isle of Skye and cleared the tree line, our destination, a huge rock formation called the Old Man of Storr, was becoming increasingly shrouded in low cloud making the rest of the climb somewhat dangerous and making the great views impossible to see. We decided to turn around and go to Talisker, a Scotch distillery, instead.








Our hotel room on the Isle of Skye. As Pat said, it looked like a tartan factory exploded. It was worse in the common areas with tartan carpet and upholstery.


A hairy cow! I don't know what they're really called, but I love these things although I'd never want to meet one face to face. I especially like the comb over—how can that thing see? My aunt Pat appropriately described one she saw while here as a prehistoric beast. I think that about sums it up.


Yes, bilingual signs (English/Scottish Gaelic). In some cases the English isn't much easier to read.


Eilean Donan Castle (Scottish Gaelic for Island of Donan) is a beautiful place surrounded by the tidal waters of Loch Duich. After being a ruin for a long time, it was reconstructed in the early 1900s as a personal residence for a clansman. Since the remaining walls and foundations were used as a guide, it's relatively accurate. You might recognize it from the movie Highlander. Apparently it also has some tie to 007.






Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. Sorry, no Nessie sightings to speak of.


There are, however, some very odd rows of bubbles in many of the lochs. You can see them as white lines in this photo traversing the waves. I read an explanation of this, but can't begin to explain it—talk to an oceanographer.


That's Pat standing on the very first golf course in St. Andrews. Who knew the Scots invented golf? I didn't, but apparently lots of other Americans do. The town was saturated with the golfing elite. I heard one American ask a waitress if she knew how to play the bagpipes... then it was time to cower and flee.




The Wallace Monument in Stirling. Yes, William Wallace of Braveheart fame. Built in 1869 on top of a hill, the monument commemorates the underdog Scottish victory at Stirling Bridge and inspired the movie (one of my favorites). It can be seen for miles around.


This is where I learned the limits of my travel flexibility. I'm not as picky about the quality of the amenities, but a bathtub with a hand-held shower head? Never again. I'd even rather be in a standing shower so small that I'm either touching the curtain or the wall the whole time, although that's not my preference either. Weirdly, Pat was fine with it. I attribute it to less hair.


Our favorite places were Glencoe, the lochs around Glencoe, the Eilean Donan Castle, and one of our B&Bs Coig na Shee. Loch Ness wasn't all that spectacular although it is huge. Other lochs are prettier, but they don't have monsters.

Coig na Shee was the best B&B we've ever stayed in and the cheapest one of our trip, go figure. It's almost worth going back to Scotland to spend more time there. Not only was the place nice, but there was a walking trail that literally wrapped around it taking you through some beautiful scenery including an abandoned mill town, Milton (clever naming), that was really reduced to a barely perceptible archaeological site.










On the way home, we stopped at Lindisfarne in northern England—home of an abbey, the beautifully illustrated Lindisfarne Gospels, and a castle. It's on an island (referred to as the "Holy Island") and is still an isolated place cut off by the tides. We had a whirlwind tour of the abbey and managed to get some pictures before we were chased away by the impending tide.


Driving across the causeway should be a hint that you'll get cut off by the tide—the road is even sandy.




I can safely say that at the end of all this, we were very happy to be home.