our travels to scotland was amazing; i may have a crush. gorgeous edinburgh, isle of skye's fairytale landscapes, and that wonderful charming accent. we all tried haggis and we survived the *very* narrow roads while driving on the wrong side of the road to boot!
it's been six months since our summer trip to ireland/scotland/wales with our friends, the weinsteins who i find myself missing along with the beauty we have seen together. i will break down our 2016 summer travels in one liner-ish notes, the parts that stand out more than others...
Fort Augustus - Inverness
driving through mountain ranges made for impressive sights; i particularly loved the heather patches on the hills; heather everywhere, it was such a pretty drive.
making our way along loch ness; the 23 miles long, less than a mile wide and 754 feet deep river that contains more water than all of the freshwater bodies of england and wales combined. and no, no loch ness sea monster sightings :)
stopping in fort augustus, a cute town, next to the caledonian canal we found a delish lunch of chicken pies and pasties at d.j macdougall butcher. they were so good, we went back for seconds! another mobile coffee truck provided stefan with a nice cup of caffeine :)
inverness certainly wasn't the cutesy tourist towns we had been visiting but it had charm. we strolled through its pedestrianized downtown and walked along the riverside paths. it is here that we returned to eat dinner; we hoped to dine at the mustard seed but we ended up in a pub eating delicious curry.
wandering the barren field of the culloden battlefield was pretty cool; especially for the kiddos. in the pouring rain, an audio tour took us through the battle step by step; the leader of the jacobite clan might have been 'bonnie' (he was often referred to as the 'handsome prince charlie') but when he went against the advice of his military strategist they were essentially mowed down by the hanover troops in just under an hour. the indoor exhibit and actual battlefield were extremely well done.
during our last day in scotland we celebrated chloe's 13th birthday!
first on the agenda was outdoor adventuring; zip lining and obstacle course high in the trees of crieff, scotland's outdoor captial. due to high winds - only a part of the course was open - some of the trees were swaying while my travel mates were on them!!! they had a great and scary time up there. i had every intention of participating (i did this once before, see here) and i did complete the first obstacle but i felt claustrophobic in the harness contraption (i know, weird)... and the height didn't help either.
meeting the biggest, friendliest dog ever.
staying in a quiet little hamlet - we were upgraded to crieff hydro hotel! - walking into town admiring the stone houses.
at yann's at glenearn house, our last meal in scotland was lovely although saying goodbye to our dear friends was anything but... they went off to london and we headed toward wales for the last leg of our trip.
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| the birthday girl. |
i think this quote from sylvia path sums up our experience in ireland, scotland, and wales (stay tuned next week for my wales travelogue)... "i felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery - air, mountains, trees, people. i thought, 'this is what it is to be happy.'"
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