The Scottish Highlands
In May of 2016, after our amazing trip to Iceland, we flew directly from Reykjavik to Edinburgh, Scotland. We figured we were up north, we might as well! Kyle and I had been to Scotland back in about 2005 before we moved to Germany and absolutely loved it. It was a no-brainer decision to return! In 2005, we stayed mainly in Edinburgh and took a guided trip through the highlands on a big bus tour. (That was before we knew how to travel!) We loved the highlands and wanted to see them more thoroughly on our own, so that was where we spent the majority of our trip.
We arrived into Edinburgh late in the evening, so we stayed in a hotel near the airport and headed north in our rental car early the next day. Our first stop was Stirling Castle, one of the most famous of Scottish castles, partly due to its connections to William "Braveheart" Wallace. There was a beautiful view of the Wallace monument from the castle.
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| Stirling Castle |
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| The Wallace Monument |
Our next stop of the day was Scotland's best preserved 14th century castle at the edge of the Trossachs. It was definitely picture perfect. I was excited because it was used as Castle Leoch in the filming of the Outlander series, as well as Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
We stopped for a snack in the tiny village of Killin to see the gorgeous falls of Dochart.
We made a little detour to see an ancient yew tree in Fortingall. It is said to be the oldest living thing in Europe (anywhere from 2,000-5,000 years old). Along the drive there were amazing views of lochs and rolling hills.
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| The Ancient Yew Tree |
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| Loch Tay |
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| More sheep than people! |
We drove up a big hill, through big sheep pastures in search of the prehistoric Croftmoraig Stone Circle, and couldn't find anything resembling a stone circle. It turns out that it was right off of the main road! Stone circles similar to this one are scattered throughout Scotland.
We drove through Aberfeldy, which has a very good distillery, then to our B & B just outside of the tiny village of Pitlochry. The B & B was in a beautiful old mansion surrounded by peaceful gardens.
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| Wade's Bridge in Aberfeldy (1733) |
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| Our B&B |
We started the next day with a delicious full English breakfast. We stopped in Pitlochry to see a hydro-electric dam that had a ladder for salmon to make their way around the dam and up the river.
We continued north to one of Scotland's best known viewpoints; the Queen's View. We were so lucky to have sunshine and to enjoy the clear views over Loch Tummel.
We stopped to see the classic Blair Castle with its white washed walls. We didn't tour the castle, but walked the grounds to soak up the sun. The whole time we were in Scotland, people told us how lucky we were with our weather!
As we drove north through the true highlands, the landscapes became more barren and rugged. We stopped for a whiskey tasting at the Dalwhinnie Distillery; Scotland's highest elevation operating distillery. I couldn't taste the whiskey since I was pregnant with sweet Maddie, but they had chocolate pairings that I thoroughly enjoyed while Kyle sipped his highland malt.
We made our way to the Ruthven Barracks, a ruin that was destroyed by Jacobite soldiers after they realized their cause was lost after the battle of Culloden.
We drove through a pretty forest to Loch Eilein, where we stopped for a lakeshore walk. There is a small island on the loch where you can see castle ruins.
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| 17 weeks pregnant with Maddie |
We then visited at a cute little town, Grantown-on-Spey, for some afternoon sweets before continuing north. We had planned on stopping to see the Culloden battlefield, but at that point we were pretty tired and decided to just head to Inverness where we were staying for the night.
Inverness is considered to be the capital of the highlands and is the northernmost city in the UK. It's not huge, but its a nice town. We enjoyed dinner, drinks, and strolling around town. Inverness is so far north that even in May it stayed light until about 9:30pm.
Inverness was the northernmost point of our trip, so the next day we continued our tour heading back south. We stopped for a few photos at the Loch Ness. We had been to Loch Ness on our highlands journey in 2005 and did a boat tour, so we didn't feel the need to repeat that this time around. Although the tour boat guide made us think twice about the reality of old Nessie, the Loch Ness monster!
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| Urquhart Castle on the Loch Ness |
From Loch Ness we drove about an hour and a half to the infamous Glencoe. The area is a barren, mountainous region, surrounded by rocky cliffs. It has a very moody feel, due in part to the legends and history of the inhospitable landscapes.
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| The "Three Sisters" |
From Glencoe it was a scenic drive south, starting with the rugged and rocky mountains of the highlands and turning back into green, rolling hills. We stopped at some scenic viewpoints before arriving in the picturesque town of Perth, where we were staying for the evening.
We had a few good hours of daylight left when we arrived in Perth, so we headed to the Scone Palace to enjoy the beautiful gardens, where the peacocks roam around flaunting their feathers.
We finished our trip to Scotland in Edinburgh, which is only about an hour away from Perth. On our way there we made a couple of stops in scenic little towns. Our first stop was in the quaint little town of Falkland, dating back to the 12th century.
Our last stop before hitting Edinburgh was the tiny town of Culross, set on the River Forth. It is believed to have been founded in the 6th century. We walked up to see the Culross Abbey and ruins before having lunch in a cute little garden tea room.
We arrived in Edinburgh midday on May 12th, our 9 year wedding anniversary. We spent a good amount of time in Edinburgh previously, so we weren't in a rush to try and see all of the tourist sites, but just enjoyed the atmosphere and rare Scottish sunlight in the historic city. Its not huge and is very walk-able, making it most enjoyable.
