Scotland: A Step Back in Time

It's been almost three months since we left on our Spring Break trip to Scotland, but in the blogging world it's better late than never!

We flew into Edinburgh and took the train into town.  We had this view of the castle rolling in.

Our hostel was right on the street with the castle!  We walked out the door to see it from this angle.The grass in Scotland is definitely different than the Kentucky Blue Grass we have in Minnesota, it seems like the Scots can keep it a brilliant green year-round.

We did a lot of walking, eating, and drinking in the city for a few days.  This is the Cathedral in the main square.  It was built as a Catholic church (and definitely looks it) but was taken over by the Protestants during the reformation.  There was apparently a thrilling protest to the change involving the throwing of many stools at the priest.

What amazed me most about Scotland was that, despite the often dour weather, nearly every view was picturesque.  This was a walk we took through a graveyard on our first day in town.

The bar scene in Edinburgh is great.  We ran across a small music bar called Captains that has made me so very excited to go to Ireland later this summer.  I could have stayed in this bar all week.

Hiking Arthur's Seat was a nice way to get out of the city streets for a few hours.  It's an old volcanic formation that gives great views of the city.

Our crew at the top!  It was crazy windy.  From left to right: Jimmy, me, Andrew, and Stuart.  We're all high school buddies and you may recognize them from prior travels.

I would be remiss in not thanking Sara Lewis for her spectacular food recommendations in Edinburgh and around.  This cafe, Dovecot, situated in an art gallery had maybe the best sandwiches we've ever eaten.  We talked about them for the rest of the trip.

We took her recommendation to try Haggis as well.  It's a Scottish traditional food made by grinding up all kinds of strange parts of a sheep.  Stu had it several times, I think I was happy with trying it once.  Parsnips and potatoes underneath make the dish "haggis, neeps, and tatties".

Our car!  Driving was interesting considering it happens on the left side of the road.

Admittedly, Andrew did a better job than I did with the switch.  After a few U-Turns I ended up driving on the wrong side once or twice.  It took some getting used to, but since everything is backwards it wasn't so bad.

Our first stop outside of the city was a hike that my tour book recommended to a spot called "The Hermitage".  A bonus was the tallest tree in the UK along the trail!

The Hermitage was pretty cool.  The McGregor Clan was attempting to expand their territory with this little retreat complete with a stone arch bridge and a little building overlooking a waterfall.

I could definitely see coming out here and listening to nature to get away from life for a while.  This was such a great hike right off the side of the highway.

As we continued to drive North, I began to see why there is such a mysterious culture surrounding the lochs of Scotland.  They're pretty eerie.

We rolled up to Loch Ness in the evening and stayed at a lovely B&B in a town called Foyers.  They're known for a series of waterfalls dropping into this channel heading to the loch.  Can you see the monster??  Yeah, we didn't either.

The falls of Foyers!  There were several little drops like this leading down to the loch.

One of Jimmy's goals was to find a stuffed Nessie doll.  It wasn't a problem.

The beers we tried in Scotland weren't fantastic.  Most were poured from a cask and the flavors weren't awesome.  The Loch Ness Brewery was pleasantly different.  They had good selection and this amber ale was great.

We saw a lot of castles.  This one was on the West side of Loch Ness and we caught it on the way out of town.

This is the kind of stuff I love finding when you're just driving across a new country.  It's a beautiful arched rail bridge stretching across sheep grazing land.  Cool stuff!

The damp weather made pubs with fires especially attractive.  We found plenty of them in the highlands!

The further North we traveled, the more serene the landscape became.  More snow-capped mountains and perfectly smooth lochs.  Breathtaking.

The Scottish Highlands were created when Scotland's tectonic plate smashed into the rest of the UK.  Our walking tour guide in Edinburgh told us that the plate will continue sliding North and will eventually (billions of years) separate from the UK once again.

We saw a whole lot of wildlife along the road.  It sounds like motorists hit these stags all winter long, thankfully we got to enjoy them without their jumping in front of our car.

This was probably the best-set castle we stopped to see.  Set out on a point with an arched bridge and mountains in the background.  Definitely worthy of a group pic.

When we reached the Isle of Skye our first destination was Elgol way out on one of the Western points.  We stopped at a little inn for lunch and had potted squat lobsters that had been pulled out of the water that morning.  They were so so very good, and they use all local vegetables and make their own bread.  We also had beer from the local Skye brewery.  Awesome awesome meal.

Shaggy cows!  Mom told me to get a picture with one.  Here you go!

We got about as remote as you can get on Skye.  We stayed on the Northern tip and did some hiking in the area.  It's sobering to see this wide-open land empty out into the sea.

As I said before, the driving on the left wasn't a huge deal, but the one-lane roads took some more getting used to.  Pretty much everywhere in the highlands had one-lane roads with little turn-outs to allow passing every fifth of a mile or so.  Driving definitely required concentration.

One of the Isle of Skye attractions are the Fairy Pools.  It's a series of these little waterfalls dropping down with huge mountains in the background.  Made for a pretty cool hike.

On our way off the island we stopped at a little viewpoint.  I was the only one that got out of the car since it was starting to rain, but got to see some pretty cool cliffs.

And this waterfall falling right into the ocean.  Pretty cool!  I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

Our last stop of the trip was Loch Lomond in the Trossachs of Scotland.  This is definitely where the tourists go; it's closer to Edinburgh than the rest of the highlands, so we called it "highlands lite".  We stayed at this awesome B&B that gave us a great deal since it was the very beginning of their season.

My mom would love this place.  They collect stuff from all over the world but it isn't crowded, and their gardens are beautiful.  Plus they are right on the loch, there are great views from the rooms.

Being so close to the loch and it being Spring Break and all, Stu and I figured we had to go swimming.

I especially like the gloomy background.  Perfect swimming weather, right?

We took our time driving back to Edinburgh since we had the whole day.  Doon Hill is a popular spot for tourists, there are supposed to be fairies that live at the top.  Apparently a famous fairy researcher did lots of work here.  It also made for a cool hike.

There are all kinds of ribbons tied to the trees at the top.  Wishes for good luck and blessings in life.

Although it's quite the journey to get there, anyone visiting Scotland should try to make it out to the Monachyle Mhor Inn at least for a meal if not to stay.  It's at the very end of this long (yes, one-lane) road but it's so worth it.  It's on this gorgeous loch all by itself and the food is awesome.  It was also the best beer we found in Scotland.

Our last night was spent back in Edinburgh close to the airport.  It was Holy Saturday so I walked a couple miles to the local Easter Vigil.  We were treated to the best sunset of the trip on the way.  What a beautiful way to end a great trip!

Huge new adventures coming up.  Come back in August (or a little later, I'll do my best!) to hear about Africa and Europe!