Scotland - 2015

So okay, it’s been awhile since we last posted something and no, it hasn’t been all rugby, far from it, in fact this post is about the first of two, 12 day ‘rugby hiatus’ periods enabling us to wander off and explore new places.  

We had come to Birmingham to watch Australia play Uruguay so had decided to pick up a rental car here and after driving 3 hours on a motorway further north, it wasn’t until the turn off towards Edinburgh that things started to improve scenery wise and as per the title, the start of our travels did include a brightly lit moonlight night that night.

So with roughly 2 weeks planned to explore Scotland which historically during October is its the wettest month with temperatures dropping as winter approaches.  So our expectation was for drizzling rain, fog and quite a bit of wind at many of the places we were visiting.

So let’s for a change, start with a map of where this journeys took us.

Scotland route map

So using the map above, the very short trip summary is that we started in and around Edinburgh before heading north east through the Scottish Highlands to Inverness, then via ferry to the Orkney Islands before driving along a road marked in red referred to specifically later, to the Isle of Skye.  It was then onto the Isle of Mull before reaching Glasgow and finally returning the car in Birmingham.  In each main location we had planned to stay 3 nights so we could properly explore around and beyond each location.

Edinburgh Castle

Our first few delightful days were spent in the beautiful and historical city of Edinburgh with its abundant stone buildings, rather than shiny new skyscrapers.  Dominant on the skyline, Edinburgh Castle, proudly perched above the city, the Royal Mile leading away from it and then the numerous narrow laneways everywhere.

Near the Royal Mile, Edingburgh

We had heard of a place called the Arcade Haggis & Whiskey House, famous for its modern take on haggis and found it tucked away off the Royal Mile.  It was indeed a very good meal and now with one Scottish ‘must’ experienced, we enjoyed a few more hours exploring the rich character of this city at night.

Haggis with mashed parsnip and pumpkin

Not far from Edinburgh is Stirling Castle (circa 10th Century), and was the site of not only the last time cannons were fired from a castle in the UK, the crowning of Mary, Queen of Scots and where Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully laid siege to the castle.

Stirling Castle

Hadrians Wall

On the way to Inverness we made detours to St Andrews, the home of golf, in fact when we tried to get close to the actual course, we were restricted due to the Dunhill tournament in full swing.  

Further on we again strayed of course to find a section of Hadrian’s Wall, built by the Romans starting in 122AD as a barrier to the marauding Scots and also wandered through Cawdor Castle, the first of a few castles.  

Cawdor Castle

This one has been owned and inhabited by the same family since the 14th Century, the current owner being Countess Cawdor.  It doesn’t take very long at all after arriving into Scotland to be immersed in its long grand history.

Near Inverness is a more modern day and impressive engineering feat called the Falkirk Wheel, opened in 2002 to enable canal boats to travel between the Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal by literally lowering or raising both the boat and water it's floating in, 24 metres from one canal to the other.

Falkirk Whee

Inverness has the feel of a largish country town, made up mostly of pink tinged stone buildings, including the pub we were staying in.  It also sits very close to Loch Ness which we drove along looking for the site of Rob Roy’s gravesite and the ruins of Urquhart Castle (circa 1200AD)  No… we weren’t looking for Nessie.  

Over breakfast on the first morning, we were able to enjoy interacting with a local, who took a little time to warm to us, but after that, it was like have an old friend to chat with.  She told us how lucky we were with the weather, now hitting 21c, then going on to say as many of the locals progressively did, “this is the best summer weather we have had this year” and its now autumn.  

We did observe during our time in Scotland the locals seemed initially slightly reserved with strangers but were soon very warm and friendly once they had finished their initial ‘assessment’.

Before reaching John O’Groats, essentially the most northern spot on mainland UK, we had detoured for quick outside look at Dunrobin Castle (1401) as time was short because we had a ferry to catch, taking us to the Orkney Islands, sitting desolately out in the North Sea.  Our final destination on the Orkneys was the largest town of Kirkwall and the very comfortable Karrawa Guest House.

Dunrobin Castle

Heading towards the main island of the Orkneys, our ferry passed a number of smaller now deserted islands, with the skeletal ruins of many small stone houses being worn away by the wind and impacts of the North Sea.  We both wondered in admiration at how tough and resilient the inhabitants living in them must have been, eking out a living in such weather affected locations, the last residents departing around 1969.

By now the temperature had dropped to around 13c during the day and the skies were generally overcast, something which must be very normal when the gales aren’t in full force based on the lack of trees everywhere.

Skara Brae

The Orkneys are a place of amazing history as we soon learned.  Relatively recently was discovered a completely intact village now called Skara Brae, buried for thousands of years in the sand until a fierce storm uncovered it in 1850 and true excavation of the site commenced in 1913.  It dates back almost 5,000 years to the neolithic period which pre-dates the building of the pyramids and the people living in the village were quite advanced based on the artefacts already found, especially the fine and intricate jewellery.  

Also on the island is the Ring of Brodgar, a standing stone circle, a little like but believed to be older than Stonehenge.  Another more recent and major discovery on the island of a village, the Ness of Brodgar is still being excavated and is again from the neolithic period of 5,000 years ago and has forced scientists to re think what they currently know of the history of the UK.

Ring of Brodgar

We were also on the Orkneys on the Saturday night when Australia played England in the Rugby World Cup, so decided we would find a pub in town to watch the game, wearing our bright yellow Australian rugby tops.  We thought we would be safe, having already asked a few Scots so far, including the lady in Inverness, who they would be supporting, England or Australia. To a person they had all by responded saying they would not be supporting England.

So we found a nice little pub to have dinner and watch the game and as the only people there wearing bright yellow clothing, we did stand out, especially to the waitress from London, a mad England supporter.  It was a very funny night as Australia ground out their win against England, the waitress becoming a little more frustrated, especially when all the Scots in the bar started cheering every time we scored anything!

We caught the first ferry off the Orkneys back to the mainland and clear warm skies.  This was to be our longest travel day, our destination the Isle of Skye, especially since we had opted not to take main roads but a road less travelled, known as the North & West Coastal Road, highlighted in red on the map earlier in this post.

The road was mainly single lane with small passing ‘nodes’ on only one side of the road, located about every 50 mtrs or so to let you negotiate oncoming traffic.  This road was seldom straight as it wound its way around and over mounds, hills and mountains, down into valleys or following either the edges of the coast or around numerous Lochs.  We have highlighted this road specifically because it was a spectacular drive constant in the scenery gifts it shared.  Just stunning, especially with fine weather!

our single lane road is on the left

We were both exhausted at the end of the day after about 8 hrs on this road, not just because of the time it took and the number of times we stopped to take pictures, but because as happened on many many occasions, we were greeted by a ‘surprise’ coming at us from around yet another bend in the form of car, motorcycle or small truck and occasionally the local livestock.  Passing was always a negotiation because sometimes they or we had to reverse to a ‘node’ we had just passed to let the other vehicle get through.  But the drive however was truly a delight.

We drove onto the Isle of Skye by way of a bridge and after a few days, departed by ferry.  This Island is different yet again, in that it is covered by large jagged hills and adorned by numerous trees and is exceptionally scenic, with our days spent poking our way along more single lane roads.

yet another castle

The ferry off Skye took us back to the mainland for a short drive around yet more pleasant Lochs before catching yet another ferry onto the Isle of Mull.  If you happen to take a close look at the coast of Scotland, there are lots of islands, remote bays and villages which is the reason Scotland have such a very extensive ferry system established to service them.

The Isle of Mull is different again, more like a large farming community with many small hamlets scattered amongst the hills and valleys joined mainly by yet again, single lane and passing ‘node’  roads.  Surprisingly for us, it is also the final resting place for Major General Lachlan Macquarie, the first Governor in Sydney.

We stayed at the Great Western Isles Hotel dominating a hill over the seaside and very colourful town of Tobermory.  This hotel was very tired but still resplendent with its grand staircase, very high ceilings, grand dining areas or lounges and large rooms.

colourful Tobermory with Great Western Hotel above it

No matter where you stepped, a floor board would squeak in protest and it came with a few personal exercise features built naturally into its structure.  Many of the floors sloped enough to provide you with incline exercises depending on your direction and our toilet let us increase the strength of our thighs when used.  It was a quirky and very charming hotel also once used for training convoy Captains and crew during WW II.

Deciding to have dinner in the hotel on our first night provided us not only with great views out across the ocean and the town below, but included yet another surprise.  The young lady serving us was quite chatty but had a slightly strange accent, so I asked “where are you from?”.  She  paused briefly and simply responded with, “Transylvania” and proceeded to tell us a little more about her home.  Not quite the response we were expecting.

Tobermory just after sunset

Our touring around the island checking out the scenery included not just the single lane roads but increased traffic on them.  We had been warned by the hotel staff to be careful because the annual Mull Rally was being held in a few days involving 150 cars and many of them were already on the island doing some reconnaissance of the ‘circuit’.  A lot of passing negotiation happened but some of our ‘obstacles’ did not want to negotiate.

Highland cattle are big, hairy and have large horns and when standing in the middle of their road not wanting to move until they are ready… well you just wait and admire them.

It was another early morning ferry just after sunrise off the island after negotiating the midst covering the single lane roads and we were back on normal roads through beautiful stands of trees around the sides of even more Lochs, including Loch Lomond, as we headed towards Glasgow.  One of the Lochs was so calm in the still 20 deg. weather, even the locals were out taking photos of it.  The weather had been very kind apart from a little drizzle one night and rain another.

this very calm Loch had the locals enthralled

Can’t honestly say we were overwhelmed during our single night stay in Glasgow in terms of scenery but it did finalise our Scottish cultural immersion.  There were men wearing kilts everywhere, literally thousands of men wearing kilts and most of these men were in pubs knocking back pints.  Scotland was playing Poland in a crucial football (soccer) match the night we were in town and the locals were out in force to support them.

So we found a pub full of kilts and lively conversation to enjoy the atmosphere and whilst I had another wee dram, Rob took note of the variety and styles of sporrans on display.

After 3465 kms of self drive touring, all that was left to do was drive back to Birmingham, drop the car off and catch a train back to London… our Scottish sojourn complete.  

Scotland is a great and fairly easy place to visit, rich in its history, castles, Lochs and culture and a lot of stunning scenery.  The people are very warm and friendly once their ready and have a great sense of humour.  They are very proud to be Scots and will soon tell you and seemed quite stoically industrious in their approach to life.

If we were doing this again, what would we change:

• Would train or fly from London to Edinburgh and hire a car from there rather than spend so much time driving up/down a motorway.
• On the road we highlighted in red, actually spend a night somewhere along it, as there are plenty of hamlets and villages available for accommodation in order take more time to really enjoy the scenery.

There will be another post shortly covering the next roughly 2 week ‘rugby hiatus’ trip, this time to somewhere very different indeed.

For some additional photos, please click on the link below:

CLICK HERE for more photos Scotland 2015