Where2Next

We’ve just finished 16 days in the Scottish Highlands and it’s been pretty smooth, everything going as planned, weather has been good, accommodations have been great to stellar and there have been no delays or hiccups except one thing and even that was corrected with no affects to our schedule.  We missed our 10 am tour of the Culloden Battlefield just northeast of Inverness.  Luckily they had availability for the Noon tour and we had no timed events the rest of the day.  We are planners and kind of OCD about checking details.  The drive to the battlefield was 30 minutes and we were familiar with the route to Inverness on the A9. We double checked the gps before bed and confirmed the 30 minute journey had not changed.  We agreed to leave at 9 am, giving us an extra 30 minutes.  Next morning, checking our route again the gps indicated that our journey would be 1 1/2 hours because the A9 was closed.  The only way to get to our destination was to go around the city. Even when you think you give yourself plenty of time, sometimes it’s still not enough.

We had read that you can’t go by gps in the UK, especially in Scotland and Ireland where you have sheep and cow encounters (and even otter and duck crossings) roads flooded out, and tourists that have difficulty maneuvering the roundabouts and many single track roads while driving on the opposite side with steering wheels on the “wrong side”.  All in all Val has done an excellent job of maneuvering the many roundabouts and dodgy roads.

We drove all over the place from Glasgow through Loch Lomand, Glencoe, and to the Isle of Skye. There was never a shortage of beautiful mountains, greenery, and pristine waters in the form of rivers, waterfalls, and lochs. Sheep were everywhere although we didn’t understand why we didn’t see lots of lamb or mutton on the menu. We covered many of the popular attractions to see (Jacobite Steam train made famous by Harry Potter, ancient castles, tours of ancient stones, old mill visit, Loch Ness monster boat trip, a fair share of whisky tasting events) and a few different experiences (10 course dinner at the chefs table, smokehouse tasting and tour of the salmon industry, storytelling night in Orkney, visit to a Coo farm).

When planning our trips we try to see all the famous historical sights but we also like to have unusual once-in-a-lifetime experiences like riding camels in Morocco which I had the pleasure of doing last February with my sister and nieces – that’s another story.

We ended our Scotland trip in Edinburgh (actually flew out of Glasgow our last day) with a full day of Harry Potter inspired events:  Escape room, afternoon tea, cocktail class, and spirit of Scotland (dinner/ dance show).  It was a great Highland, Scotland visit. Now on to Ireland.