ChrisandDot

What a relief-no more driving. Dropped the car off at Hertz-very dissapointing experience there to tarnish our last day-will explain below. Last day of vacation. Full travel day tomorrow. We left Stirling and made 2 castle stops our way to Edinburgh. We really liked our B&B in Stirling. Perfected situated just outside of town so it was quiet, but just a short walk to the Castle and the downtown restaurants. As you will see in the photos..it was a SUNNY DAY. Our first in a couple of weeks. Our first stop today was Linlithgow Castle. This is a shell, but you can climb all over it. For Outlander fans, this is the castle they used it for Wentworth Prison. You can see 5 or 6 stories clearly. Lots of pics below. It is a huge complex. ... read more

Last night we walked down the street for dinner (in the rain of course). We went to Clan MacDuff restaurant. It was pretty good. They had a tasting of 4 local whiskeys so I tried that. Pictures here in the blog with the descriptions. My favorite was the 1st one and my least favorite was the last one, from the islands with the smokey flavor. I had the sea bass on top of potatoes and rocket (very grassy salad greens) with shrimp and chorizo. Pics in the blog. Dot chose the fish of the day - haddock lightly crusted in pistachio crumbs. Both pretty good. For dessert I decided to stray away from chocolate for a change and tried the Bread and Butter Pudding. The waiter suggested having it with both custard and ice cream - ... read more

It's official: we are starting to blend in. We were walking through downtown Portree on the Isle of Skye and some guy on the street needed help and asked if we were locals. Plus, at dinner tonight we weren't engaging in conversations with our neighbors because we were surrounded by strange languages. But when the guy at the next table went to use the WC, I asked his girlfriend if they were on Holiday. They are on holiday and are from the Netherlands. She asked if we were from Skye! And that was after I opened my mouth! We have been gone over a week and we have become so European, and we still have almost a week left! We started the day with a drive to a new hiking spot: The Fairy Pools Hike. I ... read more

Italics are Dot's comments Note: If you click on the first picture within the blog, you can scroll through all the pictures and skip the blog. :) Isle of Sky Poem (and the theme song from Outlander) Sing me a song of a lad that is gone, Say, could that lad be I? Merry of soul he sailed on a day, Over the sea to Skye. Instead of sailing, we are driving to Skye today. From Inverness to the Isle of Skye. It is a very scenic drive and luckily, pretty easy 2 lane road driving. We had several stops planned along the way. The beginning of the drive was along Loch Ness, so of course we had to stop at the cheesy Loch Ness visitor center. It was surprisingly interesting and worth the stop. Then ... read more

There are 31 photos at the end. Something for everyone. We started our morning in Edinburgh and took an Uber to the Hertz car rental at the airport. Our Uber lady was super nice and was giving me round-about tips as we drove the the airport. Roundabouts themselves don't bother me, until they have multiple lanes. Then they get a little crazy and she had some good suggestions about which lane to be in. You can't just hang out in the outer lane all the way around or you mess everybody up. Never knew that. In the Hertz line, we were, of course, surrounded by Americans. the couple in front of us were from Seattle - Maggie: I have met so many people over here from Seattle - what's up? They were still a little jet-lagged ... read more