Scotland

We’ve been away just a week, after flying into Gatwick, to Edinburgh for a couple of days and then a drive to visit the Isle of Skye. We have lucked out with the weather, it has only rained on the driving portion from Edinburgh to Drumbuie; otherwise we’ve been in good to great weather. Sunscreen in Scotland, no midges, no rain. Brilliant.

Here are some photos, of the above. Edinburgh was busy, and only to get busier; Skye is amazing, stunning panoramas of awe inspiring beauty.

Just to fill out some details a bit – we picked up a rental car in Edinburgh, and drove to Drumbuie near Kyle of Lochalch, the bridge to Skye. We didn’t pick the best route, and ended up driving a more remote single lane alternating road down. A bit stressful, but learned quickly from being tossed in the deep end when it comes to driving here. What we discovered is that while distances in Scotland may not be great, it takes a lot more time to travel on the smaller roadways. We drove to Portree on the Friday Bank Holiday and it was busy, and slow going, so we’re not heading up there again. Instead, we chose a couple of hill walks, and a visit to Eileen Dornan Castle, and some very local parks to spend our time. You can’t lose here, the views and vistas are stunning, so it’s easy to stay put. As it’s so beautiful, it doesn’t make sense to race around trying to see everything. We stayed at this AirBnB in Drumbuie, and found it to be perfect. A crofting village, with wonderful hosts, Susan and Duncan. If we return to Scotland, we would definitely revisit this AirBnB.

Here are a couple walks on Skye – and they have been stupendous. These two were both about 10kms, and there are photos in the album linked in this post:

To a beach near the Point of Sleat, and southern most point of the Isle of Skye. The white sand and aqua seas were breath taking. 318 metres elevation gain over the 10kms.

The next was to Camasunary Bay, which led us to the foothills of the Cuillin Mountain range. There was quite a bit of elevation, but the work was worth the sweat of admission! 360 metres elevation gain over the 10kms.

To end our time in Scotland, we did the Jacobite Steam Train ride from Fort William to Mallaig and back. It was a spur of the moment decision, so we headed down to the train station for 8:30 in the morning to stand in line for same day tickets. We were pleasantly surprised to get two tickets together for the 10:15 train. It was wonderful, far more enjoyable than I expected it to be. We met Mirjam, a lovely woman from Holland. Always nice to meet fellow tourists/travellers, and to share these experiences with. Here’s a little video of the Jacobite Train ride.

We have really enjoyed our short but wonderful time in Scotland, but we have had amazing luck with the weather! We needed more sunscreen than rain jackets so we realize this may not be so common. In any case, it has been amazing.
So, S1 comes to an end; tomorrow S2 begins! We fly to Spain – Barcelona early tomorrow morning!