Highlands, castles, and road trips! Oh my....

driving into the Highlands

SCOTLAND

Day 1 (Saturday): the long, the winding, and the beautiful (alternately titled: holy mother of road trips, are we there yet?)

Two words: STUN.ING. Not sure why no one said  much about Scotland, as it is THE most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. Picked up rental car at Edinburgh airport. Started out gloomy, sky opened up as we started the drive, sun started shinning off lochs and  reflecting mountains, trees of varying fall colors, and more sheep. GORGEOUS. Tanya driving, can’t admire pretty scenery since she‘s driving all 5,000 miles (slight exaggeration. but only slight), Missy and I taking insane amounts of photos and video from car window. Almost dropped camera. Hand slightly frozen. Still admiring pretty scenery.
Also lots of cute signs for everything….sheep, red squirrels, deer, and old people (seriously. would have made that my face book profile photo if I had gotten one) Also have signs welcoming you into towns and thanking you for visiting, and to have a “safe journey” on your way out. (much unlike home, where nobody welcomes you to jack shit.)
Drive drive drive. Pull over for first break, can’t find what we’re looking for but find Huntingtower Castle, instead. Proceed to pay for self-guided tour and walk through castle wearing full length cloaks. Stand atop castle walls and pretend to be royalty. Just need minions to complete the picture. Awesome.

Crannog visitor centre

Drive drive drive. Find Aberfeldy Distillery. Pull in, as everyone hungry and hard to pass up whiskey distillery in Scotland. Buy scotch whiskey for boss and have fabulous lunch served by man wearing kilt. Second awesome event of the day.
Drive, drive drive. Take slightly wrong turn and find Crannog Visitor Center completely by mistake. Recreation of ice-age dwelling right on prettiest loch EVER. Missy and I take photos in nice, cold weather while Tanya takes guided tour of crannog museum. Wrong turn = WIN.
Drive, drive, drive. Pull over at scenic spot to take photos of Loch Tay and find bagpipper playing. Take great 2 minute video. Decide that Scotland LOVES us.
Drive, drive, drive. Stop to get snack and realize Missy lost her wallet somewhere along the way. FAIL. (eventually find out someone turns in wallet. WIN. However, passport now invalid and will need new one. FAST. Lose money.)  Decide can’t do anything at this point, as we are more than halfway to Braemore and NOT turning around to head back towards Edinburgh at 4 p.m. Will take care of passport issue with Consulate on Monday.
Drive, drive, drive. Poor Tanya slightly freaked out as she has to drive on the opposite side of the car on the opposite side of the road. Hit curb several times but doing great, considering nobody can figure out the fuckin roundabouts, and signs are somewhat confusing at first. Drive through Glencoe AMAZING. Fort William area pretty.  Get to Drumnadroicht only to discover road CLOSED, and will either have to wait or backtrack and take small back roads up to Inverness. Decide would rather not get lost in Highlands and die, and wait it out instead.  Pull right into parking lot of Glensmaron Arms Hotel as advised by cute Scottish traffic directing guy and proceed to have the BEST DINNER EVER (roasted goat cheese salad with honey and thyme dressing; beef and ale pie with mash and veggies; sticky toffee pudding with ice cream). Road opens up as soon as we pay check. Perfect timing.

Made the drive up Loch Ness towards Inverness as the sun was setting - pretty drive. Didn’t make it to Uruquart Castle or see Nessie - no time. Drive, drive, drive for hours and FINALLY get to Braemore at 9 p.m., approximately 11 hours after leaving Edinburgh (after getting slightly lost in the dark and having to call nice B&B owner lady. Twice.)  TIRED AS HELL. Tanya happy as shit we made it there in one piece and that she drove the entire way without incident. High-fives all around.
Meet Ed & Wendy (very nice, funny, perfect hosts), have short conversation, are shown around the B&B (which is a HUGE, beautiful manor house), take showers and pass out in nice, comfy beds with heated blankets. LOVE. Tomorrow Ed will show us around the property and the archaeological sites featured on the BBC!


Day 2: Braemore, Applecross, and the search for Eilean Donan Castle (alternately titled: old ass shit, unparalleled scenery, and sketchy maps)

scenic point - drive to Applecross

Wake up to made-to-order breakfast, including fresh fruit! Yay! NO fresh fruit in Ireland. Am happy. Tanya and I take lovely walk with Ed along the river bank towards the archaeology sites. Digby and Archie, Ed’s dogs, go with us, too. Proceed to take as many photos of cute big doggies as of the sites. Tanya on major high. Ed having fun telling stories. Also tells us about the English invading Scotland and chasing down and massacring the highlanders in what’s called the Battle of Culloden (one of the many reasons they hate the English.) Finish touring the site and head backs towards the manor house to start drive towards Eilean Donan.
Ed makes fun of my map. Gives me a “good” map and advises us to drive to Applecross for lunch. Take his advice, follow map, and drive through some of the most gorgeous scenery in the world. Insane amounts of photos taken again. Have nice lunch of fish and chips at little hotel/restaurant, enjoy the peace and scenery of Applecross, then start journey again. Hours later (and after taking a few wrongs turns, my bad), arrive at Eilean Donan Castle! Highlander! Excited! Reviewers not kidding when they said one of the most beautiful and photographed castles in the world. Breathtaking - sitting on its own islet at the point where three lochs meet with Isle of Skye off in the background. Take tour of the fully restored castle and ridiculous amounts of photos (not inside, not allowed). AM. HAPPY. Hear Queen’s lyrics in my head while walking around grounds….”here we are, born to be kings, we’re the princes of the universe…”. LOVE.

Eilean Donan castle

Leave and start (shorter) drive back to Braemore. Have dinner at scary B&B/lodge in the middle of nowhere. Hear Friday the 13th music in my head. Think the water is poisoned (in actuality it’s just really REALLY salty) but as is the only place for food that far up, with the exception of Ulapool even further north, have no choice. Eat dinner and finally make it back to Braemore at 8 p.m. Tired again, but had great day of sight-seeing. Not wanting to leave. Ever.


Day 3: The long ass drive back to Edinburgh city (alternately titled: 110 MORE miles? WTF, 
I have to pee…)

Pack up, have great breakfast, and say good-bye to Ed and Wendy. Kind of sad. Would have been thrilled to spend weeks in the Highlands with Braemore Square Country House as our base. Again - no time, and need to head back to the city.

Edinburgh castle fortress towering above the garden

Drive further north to Ulapool to get Missy’s new passport photo and fill tank with petrol. Take photos, buy cute little souvenirs, have yummy hot chocolate, and start the long journey back towards Edinburgh. Drive for hours then finally pull off highway to eat lunch and possibly visit Highlands museum. Lunch of chicken korma and naan is a win. No Highlands museum tho, as is farther drive. Take photos of war memorials and garden, then start heading towards Edinburgh again. After much ado about exactly WHICH lane gets us to Edinburgh Airport, finally make it back to rental car return! Take taxi to Old Waverly Hotel…thankful, as drive into and around city would have made all three of us cry. BUSY and confusing, with more buses than I’ve ever seen in my life. But city is full of old, gothic cathedrals and buildings with a castle fortress towering above it, so it makes up for the confusing, heart-stopping drive.

unusual light - Blair St. underground vaults

Have quick dinner at the hotel, and head to St. Giles Cathedral along the Royal Mile to start Mercat’s “Ghosts and Ghouls” haunted walking tour. Excited again!  Tour is fantastic. Have the funniest tour guide, the walk down streets and through closes informative, and Blair Street underground vaults fascinating…quiet and eerie. Got a few interesting photos and heard some creepy stories. Perfect setting. Meet up with Tanya after tour, as she won‘t go anywhere “haunted“, and head back to hotel for some much needed sleep. Have Bailey’s coffee first. Am still addicted. Not as good as in Ireland, but drink every bit, nonetheless. Tomorrow will be nice, relaxing day for seeing Edinburgh city.




Day 4: Edinburgh city and castle (alternately titled: I’m not leaving and you can’t make me…green card, anyone?)

Scott Monument

I LOVE THIS CITY. Old buildings, great architecture, sad but intriguing history…beautiful gardens and a HUGE castle towering above the city on a massive volcanic rock, only accessible by path up the Royal Mile.
Walk a short ways around the city on my own as Missy and Tanya head to the consulate to settle passport issues. Walk into the gardens below the castle, buy some cute souvenirs, and walk to the top of the Scot Monument to admire the breathtaking view. More photos of fairy-tale like setting ensues. Wish I had expensive, fancy camera, but doing pretty good with little Cannon cyber shot. Hard to take bad photos of something so beautiful, anyway. Wonderful music being played everywhere...in pubs and on street corners...love good music. Stop to listen whenever possible.

Meet up with Tanya and Missy and have lunch at cute restaurant along The Royal Mile. If we had known The Witchery served lunch, would have done that, instead. Crap.
After lunch Tanya and I take tour of the castle while Missy heads to the consulate to get new passport (takes two trips and numerous phone calls to finally settle). Tour worth every penny - stood at ramparts and admired the view (and big guns), walked up cobblestone street and took photos of St. Catherine’s church and the governor’s house. Went into the castle, took more photos, saw the crown jewels, and read the history of Mary, Queen of Scots. (no wonder everybody hates the English.)
Headed back to the hotel, meet up with Missy, relax for a bit then head out for Italian dinner during last night in Scotland. Wish we could have spent our entire vacation just in Scotland (except we really did like Ireland and our tour guide so really, we just need to be rich so we can keep coming back).

Edinburgh Castle

Tomorrow morning we pack up and head to London via rail. Had a great time and looking forward to seeing Stonehenge, but also tired and slightly weary at this point and wanting to go home, if for nothing else then to sleep well and not have to walk anywhere else. Thank God for cute, practical, awesome new boots.  Three more days and I’m home…