SCOTLAND



The first thing we noticed when we crossed into Scotland was the proliferation of speed cameras on the motorway.  There seemed to be one every couple of miles. There were other things we noticed too. First, the roads weren’t “hedged in”. You could actually see the countryside and we really enjoyed driving in general much more in Scotland.



This amazing sculpture is one of two under construction beside the
motorway south of Edinburgh. They are quite impressive!



Our first destination was Stirling Castle, just west of Edinburgh. When we saw lots of cars parked a little down the hill from the castle, we too pulled into one of the last parking spots and walked up the hill. It was a good decision as it cost £4 just to park at the castle carpark. Our English Heritage pass also got us in at half price so we had a win on both counts. The castle itself was one of the best we have seen. It sits imposingly atop a hill in the middle of town and is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs. It is in much better repair than those we saw in England and more effort has been taken with historical displays etc.

 

Most of the principal buildings of the castle are from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries but a few fourteenth century structures remain. The outer defences fronting the town date from the early eighteenth century. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including  Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542. There have been at least eight sieges of the Castle, several during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The last was in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle. At the entrance is an imposing statue of Robert the Bruce but it was surrounded by scaffolding and obviously being repaired or cleaned.

The Great Hall was the largest banqueting hall ever built in medieval Scotland. Its roof was replaced in 1964, built the same as the original hammerbeam roof, and using 350 oak trees. Apparently, three new trees were planted for every one cut down.

 

The views from the castle walls were impressive.

The layout of the King's Garden (left) and the Queen's Garden (right)
can still be seen even today.

Inside the palace proper is very ornate. The locals in period costume also proved extremely entertaining, one even letting me hold his horn (unicorn horn that is) while he showed John some amusing paintings in the Queen’s bedchamber.



Exterior of the Palace proper



 



Sitting room ceiling.




The King's bedchamber




The Queen's bedchamber



The banquet hall complete with page and "horn".
Unicorns are used in decorations extensively throughout
the castle as well as on the coat of arms.

Stirling Castle is also home to the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Museum where, as well as the Regimental history, we saw several impressive and unusual items.

Snuff mull from the officers' mess. Snuff is stored in the silver
bowl at the front of the head while cigars were stored
in the bowl at the back.

 

 

Ornate centrepiece for the dining table at the officers' mess.

Across the valley, we could also make out the Wallace Monument, also perched atop  hill and an imposing sight. Photos and information about this monument can be seen by following this link.

The William Wallace Monument can be seen at top left
atop the green outcrop in the distance.

Storming Stirling Castle would have been quite a feat!



These two littlies were having fun with dress-ups.



 



This is a great example of the slate shingle roofs which are
used in many of the buildings around the castle.

 

From Stirling we travelled north through Crieff to Dunkeld. Then it was north-west over Grampian Mountains. The countryside was lovely and we passed some amazing old houses.

 

We also started seeing some of the hundreds of lochs or lakes that dot the Scottish landscape. At Spean Bridge we turned north again and drove past Loch Lochy to Fort Augustus at the southern end of Loch Ness. Along the way we saw the Caledonian Canal for the first time. It is actually one of a series of canals that link Beauly Firth at Inverness in the north with Loch Ness, Loch Oich, Loch Lochy and Loch Linnhe at Fort William then into the Firth of Lorn, thus enabling shipping to bypass the more rough seas to the north of Scotland and go from the North Sea to the Irish Sea. It was the first system of lochs in the world and is an amazing engineering feat. Quite large ships still navigate through the lochs today. We were to see the complete set of lochs during our few days in Scotland as we drove south through Fort William at the southern end of the lochs when we returned to England.

Our B&B on the Moriston River was lovely, set in little dead-end lane not far from Invermoriston. We decided to stay in the area for longer and the guys at Serendipity (our B&B) arranged for us to stay at another just up the road for the next two days.

The garden at Tigh-Litrichean



This little guy, Rum, won our hearts here as well.



Early morning view from our bathroom window.

We dropped our bags off there next morning and set off for the Isle of Skye. The scenery along the way was beautiful.

One of the many dams built along the lochs which provide
hydro-electricity to Scotland.

Loch Cluanie

 

First we stopped off to look at Eilean Donan Castle near Dornie on the way to the island. It has an interesting history. Check out the link if you want to learn more.

Eilean Donan Castle

Next it was off to a beautiful little fishing village called Plockton on the shores of Loch Carron.

Along the road to Plockton.

 

The tide was out so we were able to walk out to a little island in the middle of the harbour. The view on the other side was stunning. We just couldn’t stop taking photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back we stopped off at a beautiful little village called Diurinish. Here we discovered a herd of Scottish highland cattle that roams freely throughout the village. They are delightful animals and are obviously used to lots of attention from passing motorists.

 

 

 

Highland bull

Next it was on through Kyle of Lochalsh and over the impressive 500 metre long Skye Bridge.

 

Once on the island we quickly saw why it is one of the most visited places in Scotland. While driving up to Portree we passed the little settlement of Breakish and discovered a quaint little secondhand store similar to some we had seen in the states. The car park was encircled by tables covered in crockery etc which is obviously left there willy-nilly by anyone and everyone. We had a great time browsing through both the inside and outside and also enjoyed a long and amusing chat with the proprietors, a lovely couple who obviously loved a laugh.

The wind must get strong here. This thatched roof was held
down with wire netting with heavy rocks attached.

From Portree we drove west over the hills to the little village of Struan and then back across to Sligachan. It was a beautiful drive. The landscape on Skye is beautiful and wild.

The west coast of Skye.

I call these "Zorro" sheep. They seem a popular breed in Scotland.

 

We had a lovely day, topped off with a lovely dinner cooked by our host Ben at Tigh-Litrichean, our B&B. Unfortunately Ben is leaving the area so we can’t say go there, as it probably won’t be there soon. Serendipity will be though and it is great too.

Our next day was spent circumnavigating Loch Ness, with a stop off and walk around Foyers Falls on the eastern side of Loch Ness. We also stopped off at a spot where the locals go to build stone cairns dedicated to deceased friends and family.

The southern end of Loch Ness. We didn't see Nessy!

 


Commemorative rock cairns

Inverness was a busy city even on a Sunday. We saw hundreds of ladies participating in a fun run accompanied by bagpipes. On the way back down to Invermoriston we also passed several guys on scooters who were doing a charity ride similar to Australia’s postie-bike run.

 



In Drumnadrochit we had a delicious lunch of "Cullen's skink",
a lovey smoked haddock, potato and leek soup.



That night we drove into Fort Augustus for dinner and took a look at the canal and loch there. We noticed there was a large cruise boat moored at the dock. It is light until very late here and on the way home at about 9 pm we could still stop off for photos on the lake.

 

Loch Ness

Ben said we should go through Glencoe on our way back to England and it was certainly a beautiful drive. The calm of the morning provided some magic photos at Loch Linnhe and then just past Glencoe the mountains provided breathtaking scenery all the way to Crianlarich.

Loch Linnhe



We walked across the peat to this spot.
It feels like you are walking on a dense sponge.

We pulled off the A74 at a little town called Moffat, famous for its toffee, where we had a lovely dinner at the local Indian restaurant.

Main street, Moffat

Next day, after some shopping for toffee and some bargains at the local woollens shop, we headed down to Liverpool before catching the ferry for the next leg, and main reason for our trip, The Isle of Man and the TT.