Blogs from Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

On Sat 2 Jun, we headed south to Dingwall then west to Skye based on Sandra’s advice. She said the scenery would be beautiful and she wasn’t wrong. We stopped briefly at Dingwall to consult our big map and some locals passing by confirmed Sandra’s advice. We drove along the A890 beside Loch Carron to Auchtertyre. We backtracked along the A87 to visit the iconic Eilean Donan Castle. It didn’t disappoint. After a tour, many photos and a late lunch, we set off again passing through the Kyle of Localsh and on to Portree (Port Righ). We found the Givendale Guest House easily. Phew!! Jurriaan, our host, very personable and hospitable. Fountain of knowledge but not intrusive. He rents five rooms that are fully booked from May to September. And he plays U2 every morning at ... read more

We spent our first night at my first AirBnb, a charming 1820’s cottage in the town of Colinton just outside of Edinburgh, the boyhood home of Robert Louis Stevenson. The cottage is the home of a retired teacher named Pam who we immediately adored and put us immediately at ease about the trepidation about staying in a stranger’s home. She chatted with her as she cooked us a delicious breakfast before we headed off to nearby Midhope Castle (Lallybroch to the Outlander fans). Mom is a Outlander book fanatic and I have enjoyed watching the TV series so I have incorporated several Outlander sites along the way on our trip. After Lallybroch we went north to Culross, another Outlander site but quite simply a picture perfect coastal village. Culross has been used in film before because ... read more

Today was such a mixed weather bag. Beautiful sunshine in the morning to mini hail in the afternoon. There was heaps of snow and some rain. I left Perth at around 9 after scraping the ice off the car. I had brekky at Maccas as the cook didn't show up at the Hotel...lol. The toffee latte was yummy Grady!!! I went to a store and bought a double plug for my GPS and dash cam so they could operate together and headed north. The day was a balmy 2 degrees when I left Perth. Lucky I have a warm little car. First stop was the Tomnaverie Stone Circle. It was about a 40 minute drive from Perth through some very pretty countryside, When I finally found the carpark I had to walk about 10 minutes up ... read more

Fort William ...three sleeps... have seen at least five men in kilts...but they were all walking tooo fast to catch them digitally! Two reservations on the National Rail and two seats taken by others. The first taker was a young arrogant looking sort sitting with an equally belligerent looking young thing as girlfriend... left them to it but sent evil looks in his direction every time I looked at him and he looked at me … just in case he thought he had gotten one over on an old lady. The second train ride I was faced with two men in my space... but after a promise of a cup of tea I sat in the four seat combination and spent the rest of the train ride to Fort William talking to two Norsemen. One worked ... read more

Ben Macdui, the UK's second highest peak. If you want to know what it's like at the top, STOP READING. It wasn't the fact that the temperature when I started was 4 degrees, it wasn't that the wind was howling and dropping the temperature even more, it wasn't that rain would sweep in and out at regular intervals, it wasn't that cloud obstructed my views for most of the walk, it wasn't that the track rose 900 m (with the expected drop in temperature of a degree for every 100m), it wasn't that the track was nothing but rocks for about 2 km, it wasn't even the difficulty discerning the path. BUT when it started snowing/sleeting the combination of all the factories saw me turn and retreat. The cloud and mist was so thick that I ... read more