Scottish Highlands

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We have finally done what we set out to achieve that is drive from Land's End in Cornwall to John O'Groats in the far North-East corner of Scotland.

Internet time has been quite hard to come by, hence the blogs aren't as frequent as I would have liked, I will do my best to remember where we have been!!

Day 8. Well and truly in the Scottish Highlands we travelled from Fort William at the base of Ben Nevis via Loch Lochy and Loch Ness to Carbisdale Castle near Dornoch. We seemed to travel for ages on isolated roads before arriving at the castle. The mood was certainly set, misty rain, early evening and a supposedly haunted castle. The castle is run by the Scottish Youth Hostel Association after being given to them by a previous (obviously wealthy) owner. More like a museum than a hostel there are marble statues and paintings of miserable people staring out of gilt frames.
No signs of ghosts or ghoulies only the sound of snoring eminating from the top bunk.

Day 9. Explored the sites around Carbisdale, Croick church, Dornoch township where the last witch was boiled in a vat of tar and Shin Falls where the salmon will be jumping shortly. Mr. Al Fayed has a small Harrods store here believe it or not.

Day 10. Drove to Dunnet Head and John O'Groats via Thurso. Weather has been really kind to us and has remained fine although very cold up this neck of the woods. From the far north coast we could see the Orkney Isles. Back down the coast through Wick then onto Ullapool where we spent the night in a great little B&B. Had to do lots of door knocking as there was a traditional music festival on. Ate the best fish and chips ever and then listened to some Scottish music in the pub....just perfect.

Day 11. Headed down through the Highlands, this time in the rain to Plockton and the Kyle of Lochalsh. Drove over the bridge to have a look at the Isle of Skye but not a lot to be seen, apparently it rains quite a bit. Skye comes from an old word meaning cloud. Back to Fort William and the Glenfinnan Viaduct (Harry Potter fame) then on the Edinburgh. Our longest travelling day yet, 350 mile. Arrived in the city about 9pm and fell into bed.

Day 12. Caught the bus into Princes St. and walked the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle set majestically on an extinct volcano. Must admit that we are all suffering from some degree of "castleitis". The boys went to Camera Obscura (fantastic) then we toured the underground closes to see what life was like a few hundred years ago.

Day 13. Leaving Edinburgh we drove to Falkirk to check out the ingenious Falkirk Wheel, a system of lifting boats into the canal, doing away with the 11 lochs that they once had to use.
Caught the ferry across to Ireland from Stranraer, very smooth and quiet journey taking just under 2 hours. Drove through Belfast and onto Carrickfergus.

Stayed tuned for more from the Emerald Isle.

The Buckleys

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