The Great Scotland Tour
Trip Plan
Our Plan
The roving spirit has engulfed us, and it is time to travel once again. We leave for England to attend Julia's brother's wedding and then embark on a grand tour around Scotland. We have the pleasure of traveling this time with two of our friends, Cindy and Donald. They are experienced world travelers too, and it will be great to share this journey with them.
We take the awfully long and boring flight from San Francisco to Heathrow, watch many movies on Julia's iPad, and most likely get no sleep. We will pick up a car and then drive from Heathrow to the ancient city of Canterbury. Here we will stay with Julia's dad, visit her mom, and attend her brother's wedding. It will be a great event, I am sure.
Canterbury to York
After the nuptials and family visits, we will drive from Canterbury to York. Along the way, we will pick up our travel companions Cindy and Donald at Epping tube station. I am sure lunch will be had by all.
In York, we will visit the York Minster. This massive cathedral has been the site of many buildings, the first being a wooden structure built in CE 627.
York to Byrness
After touring the city of York, we will drive to Byrness, where we plan to hike in the beautiful Kielder Forests. Hadrian's Wall is not too far from here, so I am sure we will find time to visit the ancient fortification, begun in CE 122 during the rule of Roman Emperor Hadrian.
Byrness to Edinburgh
After the lovely forests of Byrness, we will drive to the colorful capital city of Scotland: Edinburgh. The last time I was in this ancient city was in 1983. I am sure it has changed since then; or has it? Anyway, we will find out as we plan to tour it and take in its many wonders.
Edinburgh to Braemar
We are not fans of big cities, so our next stop will be the magnificent National Park of Cairngorms. Here we plan to hike and absorb the true essence of this vast land of the Gaels.
Braemar to Drumnadrochit
On to the deep, dark lake that is Loch Ness. Here we will hike and ready our cameras in anticipation of capturing that elusive photo of the water monster therein.
Drumnadrochit to Crianlarich
From the monster's lair, we will travel south to Crianlarich and enjoy hiking around Loch Lomond and the National Park of Trossachs.
Crianlarich to Glasgow
Our journey with Cindy comes to an end at this juncture, as she plans to continue her travels around Britain on her own. We will drop her off at Inverness. From here, we drive to Glasgow, where we will return our car and fly back to Heathrow and on to our Californian home.
Cambridge: Travel Friends
We left everyone in Kent behind and drove to Epping to pick up Cindy and Donald, our traveling companions for this Scottish adventure. Along the way to our first stop at the medieval town of York, we stopped in the very lovely Cambridge. We visited the Trinity College apartments of the great Sir Isaac Newton. Unfortunately, Julia ate something bad for lunch and became very ill. To make matters worse, we encountered a road closure, which made Julia's condition even more unpleasant. Eventually, we arrived in York, where Julia - and the rest of us - collapsed into bed; separate beds!
York: Exploring York
York is a wonderful city to visit, and Julia fortunately recovered enough to join in exploring this ancient town. As is the case with most medieval cities, it is enclosed by a wall. In York, much of the old rampart is still in good shape and accessible for walking. We climbed the ancient barrier, revealing magnificent views of the settlement and its humongous Minster. In the park, we were surprised to find an army battalion firing off a 21-gun salute to celebrate the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday - amazing. We were also pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a Jamie Oliver restaurant for lunch. A truly yummy meal, though poor Julia could only eat bread and drink water.
Durham: Delightful Durham
We left York and drove to the lovely little village of Corbridge in Northumberland. This is the land of the Romans, but more on this later. Along our northern route, we stopped at Durham, where we ate our cheese sandwiches on the vast green lawn of the massive Cathedral of Durham. Julia was recovering from her horrible food poisoning and was able to enjoy a cheese sandwich too, which was lovely. We soon reached our destination of Corbridge, gateway to Hadrian's Wall. At this fabulous little English village, we visited our first Roman ruin, located just outside of Corbridge. Thus began our roaming Roman experience.
Hadrian's Wall: Corbridge in Northumberland
Hadrian's Wall was another vain attempt, in the long history of humanity, to keep "us" away from "them." The Romans could not take the north of Britain; it was too cold, full of bloodthirsty midges, and inhabited by hostile, blue-faced, skirt-wearing Highlanders. So they built the wall. Part of this massive engineering marvel included many forts and towns along its lengthy expanse. We decided to take an 8-mile walk from Vindolanda, the rich site of archaeological finds, to Housesteads, one of many intriguing Roman remains. What a beautiful countryside Northumberland is: rolling hills covered in deep green grasses dusted with bright yellow buttercups. All of these wonderful sights were framed by the ever-present gray, brown, and white straight lines of rocks stacked high by industrious Romans.
Jedburgh: Scotland
The rolling, green, treeless hills of Northumberland slowly gave way to the slightly more treed, rolling green hills of Scotland. Our first stop in the bonny land of the Scots was Jedburgh, where Mary, Queen of Scots, spent some time liaising with her third husband-to-be, the Earl of Bothwell. Alas, things did not end well for her. She ended up losing her head to her second cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, Regina, the mighty Queen of England. We discovered another sacked and ruined Catholic abbey in Jedburgh. This was thanks to that insightful and universal church-purging King Henry VIII, who had no need for the Catholic hypothesis. We bid Jedburgh farewell and continued our journey to the center of Scottish culture and thought: Edinburgh. Our first stop in this big, old city of many burghs was the National Museum of Scotland. This is a well-laid-out museum and a fine place to visit. The natural history exhibit had the most unique cataloging system I've ever seen; well worth the time to see.
Edinburgh: Scotland
Castles, castles, and more castles. Scotland is noted for such things, and there is none so full of pomp and circumstance as the stupendous Edinburgh Castle. When we arrived for our visit, we were greeted with another 21-gun salute. It seems wherever we go in Britain, we receive the same greeting. This castle was once the home of the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots. We wandered around her humble abode with hundreds of other tourists and could not help but feel sympathy for this woman who made several poor choices in husbands. Sometimes it's not good to be the king or the queen. Our travel companions never cease to amaze us with their unending touring stamina. When Julia and I have run out of energy, Donald and Cindy are off and running. This was definitely the case this day as we left the dynamic duo to their own devices and returned to our hotel to rest up from our day of playing tourist. Ah well, tomorrow is another day.
Braemar: Scotland
We bid Edinburgh goodbye and made our way north into the Scottish Highlands. The flatlands of Firth of Forth slid slowly away and were replaced by gentle, rolling, tree-lined hills of the hinterland. Our 11 o’clock coffee break was taken at the surprisingly large town of Blairgowrie, which was halfway on our journey to the Braemar Lodge in Cairngorms National Park. Our first task after arriving was to walk the scenic local path that follows the River Dee around Braemar village. It was our first real up-close view of the Scottish countryside, and it was stupendous.
The Linn of Dee
Day two in the magnificent Cairngorms National Park, we headed to The Linn of Dee to hike a beautiful Scottish Highland valley. We followed the softly winding and gently flowing River Dee to the base of one of the many rolling peaks surrounding us. Then we climbed to its summit to take in the grandeur of this inspirational countryside - flabbergasting. Once again in my life, I was privileged to eat a cheese sandwich in an awe-inspiring place. And this time, the cheese was Wensleydale, which I shared with good friends.
Loch Muick
Day three in the magnificent Cairngorms National Park. Oh my Darwin! How magnificent the Scottish Highlands are. We walked 12 miles around Loch Muick (pronounced Mick) today, and no more glorious mile has been hiked by anyone before - unless you've hiked around the loch yourself. We ate our cheese sandwiches on the doorstep of Queen Victoria's Scottish getaway, which provided excellent views of Loch Muick and a good conversation with a local Scottish man. Although we could barely understand his accent, it was utterly hypnotic. After our cheese interlude, we climbed 1,000 feet to the top of an overwhelmingly beautiful waterfall. From this high perch, we could see far and wide into the crystal-clear sky, revealing a vista of Scotland I am privileged to have experienced. Breathtaking.
The Whiskey Way: Grantown-on-Spey to Aberlour
Whiskey, whiskey, everywhere. And by the end, we had no care. Today, we drove the Whiskey Way from Grantown-on-Spey to Aberlour. This area is like the Napa Valley is to wine, with many of the major manufacturers located here offering tours and tastings. We took a tour at Glenlivet and tasted its malty offerings. Afterward, we made our way around several other notable distilleries. By the end of the day, Donald, Cindy, and I were well-lubricated. Donald guided us through our spirited challenge and tutored us in the finer points of the fiery brew. Don't worry - Julia was our designated driver and kept us safe in our left-hand-drive world of hedgerows and single-file roads. She even managed to drive us all the way to Loch Ness, our final destination for the day.
Loch Ness and Glen Affric: Scotland
The delicate cones of wild purple, white, and pink orchids surrounded us, while deep yellow buttercups engulfed us. Here and there, a purple foxglove reached up to the cloudy skies of the most wondrous place on Earth - the Scottish Highlands. This was our experience today as we walked the boggy, extremely diverse, and complicated bio-mat covering the hills and dales of Glen Affric (Loch Beauly) just a short drive from Loch Ness. To be surrounded by such intricate life forms all competing and cooperating with each other was somewhat dizzying. But after a while, you begin to understand how it might work - this intricate web of life. Of course, walking in a bog is a bit trying, but it was well worth the effort to experience this amazing place.
Crianlarich: Scotland
On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again - but this time to Loch Lomond. Boy, oh boy, this part of Scotland is very green and very attractive. We ate our lunch in Glencoe, and what a grand surprise this place was. It is a massive collection of rocky 3,000-foot mountains, all covered with the now-classic Scottish deep green bio-mat. We'll be back to hike this craggy area. The little village of Crianlarich, in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, was our resting spot this night. More on this beauty spot later.
Glencoe: Scotland
We climbed two Munros in a row today: Stob Coire Raineach, Stob Dubh, and Buachaille Etive Beag, which is not a Munro due to a small technical detail but is just as tall as one. This meant walking up 3,000 feet, then down 1,000 feet, then back up 1,000 feet, and finally down 3,000 feet. It was a tough hike, but I assure you, it was well worth the pain my old bones had to endure. The views of the glacier-carved area of Glencoe are something that will move even the coldest heart. I don't think I've seen so many shades of green before. The other treasure of this hike was all the wonderful people we met - local Scottish hikers enjoying their lovely land and happy to share it with us.
Loch Lomond: Trossachs National Park
An 8-mile hike along Loch Lomond was our pleasure today. We started at the quirky little village of Tarbet, where we took a short ferry ride across the lovely loch and began our ramble beside the gently rolling lakeside shores. Rowardennan was our destination, where, supposedly, the ferry would be waiting to return us across the loch. We were all tired from our triple summiting yesterday and hoped for an easy walk. At first, the trail slipped closely along the lakeside. Occasionally, it would rise gently and then fall softly again. We were canopied by a dense forest of Scottish pines wrapped in bright green mosses and inundated by lush green bracken ferns. All was well in the world. Then, in a merciless act of treachery by those practical-joking gods, the trail widened and began to climb unendingly and relentlessly. Oh, Odin, you evil joker, you.
Goodbye Scotland: The Great Scotland Tour
Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it is with our Scottish tour. We spent 15 days trekking from the southeast corner of this bonny land to the north-central highlands, visiting whiskey distilleries along the way, then on to the west-central loch lands, and finally to the southwestern rocky mountainous regions of this amazing place. We walked about 50 miles on hiking trails and approximately 10 miles around towns. We encountered friendly people in every location. People who seemed to run at a slower speed, more laid-back, less troubled. Oddly, at least to me, we met many people from Hungary and even a young man from Transylvania - truly! But everyone we met was welcoming and helpful to us and, more importantly, understanding of our foreign ways.
I've had the privilege of hiking on every continent on this planet, including Antarctica. And I've experienced some really breathtaking scenery. Scotland truly surprised me with its natural beauty. This stupendous land is up there with the best places on Earth to hike, without a doubt. I had visited this magnificent place 35 years ago on a fleeting trip. That jaunt inspired me to want to return one day and truly experience the place up close. This is what I achieved on this trip, and my 35-year-old expectations were simply blown away.
If Scotland isn't on your bucket list, you'll have missed a truly grand and life-expanding place. It truly is a broon moonlit night to remember.