ONE DAY IN THE HIGHLANDS
If you read my previous post, you will know that I travelled up to Edinburgh for about 4 days last week. For one of the days we had in Edinburgh we booked a day trip to the Highlands. The trip was booked with Rabbie's, there is a wide selection of trips in Scotland, England and Ireland. Our trip was called the 'Loch Ness, Glencoe and Highlands' tour, departing from Edinburgh. For this particular trip we were required to meet at the Rabbie's Cafe and Bar at 8am, so we ended up getting up quite early because it was about a half an hour walk from where we were staying. It's usually a small group tour of about 18, on small minibuses so they a lot more personal and you get to know your driver/tour guide. My tour guide on the day was called Jonathan, and he was excellent, he gave us lots of historical information and geographical insight in to the landscape of Scotland.
Firstly we left the capital and made our way past Stirling and Falkirk, where you eventually join the country lanes and get in to the fields and green nature that is what I love. Our first stop was the town of Callander in Perthshire, just outside of Stirling. There's a cute little high street full of bakeries and cafes so you could get some breakfast if you fancied it. We went in to a cafe called Ben Ledi, which I purely drawn to because above the door the slogan was 'in order of the Peaky Blinders', and if you know me I'm obsessed with the Peaky Blinders, and they even had Peaky Blinder inspired smoothies for e.g. 'Amazing Grace' and 'Tom Shelby'. Also the brownies looked amazing, anything from salted caramel to a marshmallow topped one. The next stop was the the Loch we came across, and I can't remember what it was called ( I think it must've been Loch Lubnaig) because I was too distracted by the beauty of it. I've honestly never seen a landscape like it. We had the nicest weather for the trip so it was even more beautiful with the blue skies and sun glittering on the water. I was honestly blown away that it was actually in front of me, and that's what I was like for most of the trip.
Carrying on up in to the Highlands our next stop was Glencoe. It's very different to the towns and fields that we've been through previous on the way up. It's all flat ground and then the arching mountains that form in to the Glens and the infamous Glencoe. It felt like a different landscape and country because of the large mountains in front of us, it was like the light had been taken out of the sky and centred the light on these beautiful Glens. It's where Skyfall was filmed, in the house and a lot of films have also been filmed around there. We didn't take the route through the glens, but we stopped at the Glencoe Visitor Centre which is run by the National Trust. If you're from the UK, then you'll know that they do an excellent job on preserving a great view of the Glens and there are few paths and trails you can take as well. This was when the drive created the breathtaking scenery, as we descended from the Glens and on to the rise and falls of the stereotypical Scottish landscape. Our tour guide, Jonathan told us about the West Highland Way, where you can walk 96 miles, or stop every 10 miles. It would be amazing to do that because then you'd experience the nature of the country within your own footsteps.
We had time to stop off at Inverlochy Castle, situated just outside Fort William. It's a ruin of a castle, and our tour guide gave us the historical context of the clans that were around at the time of the construction, and why it was built. I find Scottish history extremely fascinating, because I've never really been taught about it, adn the fact that it plays such a huge part in British history I find it quite ignorant of us English to not really acknowledge it. It wasn't your typical Scottish castle that you expect to see dotted around the country, but I always try and think of the footsteps you are taking, are the same as people who lived hundreds of years ago, and how everything has changed in society and in the world.
We made our way onwards to Fort Augustus, which is located at the southern tip of Loch Ness. I recognised the surroundings of this little town from the ITV drama 'The Loch'. It was so picturesque driving in to the town as well with the huge Loch to your right and the valleys rising above you. At the centre of the town is a Lock where boats and barges can pass through, and in it's own right it is a tourist attraction, because for some reason people are fascinated by it (can you tell I'm not interested in the slightest). There is plenty of little shops and restaurants, I don't know why I was slightly surprised that there was a lot of foreign tourists, and of course they wanted to taste the exquisite fish and chips that the British Isles and Scotland has to offer. We had bought some snacks and sandwiches the night before so we sat on the bank and watched the world go by, then we went for walk to the town and back again. The weather was so nice, and everything looked so beautiful and there was a duck and her ducklings waddling about as well. So cute!
We were now descending back down the country, a longer drive until we got the cute little town of Pitlochry. Jonathan, our tour guide recommended ice cream and the best fish and chips in the town. I decided to get an ice cream. I unusually got one scoop of Cranachan flavour (berry and cream) and one scoop of tablet which is a fudge/toffee flavour which was so nice. I also got a white chocolate and macadamia cookie because I was greedy, and I'm on holiday. It was a shame that all the shops were closed because we got there about half past six, so the only thing open was restaurants and pubs. That was our last stop so we were driving back through the Cairngorms and over the Forth Bridge back to Edinburgh. Writing this I definitely have Scotland withdrawal symptoms and I just want to be up there again, so I'm sure that I will be making a trip soon! I would definitely recommend Rabbie's Tours if you want to adventure Scotland, England or Wales. Scotland is a beautiful country and it's probably one of my favourites now! There's so much to explore there, and the culture and people are extremely friendly!
Happy Reading!
Rose x
Firstly we left the capital and made our way past Stirling and Falkirk, where you eventually join the country lanes and get in to the fields and green nature that is what I love. Our first stop was the town of Callander in Perthshire, just outside of Stirling. There's a cute little high street full of bakeries and cafes so you could get some breakfast if you fancied it. We went in to a cafe called Ben Ledi, which I purely drawn to because above the door the slogan was 'in order of the Peaky Blinders', and if you know me I'm obsessed with the Peaky Blinders, and they even had Peaky Blinder inspired smoothies for e.g. 'Amazing Grace' and 'Tom Shelby'. Also the brownies looked amazing, anything from salted caramel to a marshmallow topped one. The next stop was the the Loch we came across, and I can't remember what it was called ( I think it must've been Loch Lubnaig) because I was too distracted by the beauty of it. I've honestly never seen a landscape like it. We had the nicest weather for the trip so it was even more beautiful with the blue skies and sun glittering on the water. I was honestly blown away that it was actually in front of me, and that's what I was like for most of the trip.
Carrying on up in to the Highlands our next stop was Glencoe. It's very different to the towns and fields that we've been through previous on the way up. It's all flat ground and then the arching mountains that form in to the Glens and the infamous Glencoe. It felt like a different landscape and country because of the large mountains in front of us, it was like the light had been taken out of the sky and centred the light on these beautiful Glens. It's where Skyfall was filmed, in the house and a lot of films have also been filmed around there. We didn't take the route through the glens, but we stopped at the Glencoe Visitor Centre which is run by the National Trust. If you're from the UK, then you'll know that they do an excellent job on preserving a great view of the Glens and there are few paths and trails you can take as well. This was when the drive created the breathtaking scenery, as we descended from the Glens and on to the rise and falls of the stereotypical Scottish landscape. Our tour guide, Jonathan told us about the West Highland Way, where you can walk 96 miles, or stop every 10 miles. It would be amazing to do that because then you'd experience the nature of the country within your own footsteps.
We had time to stop off at Inverlochy Castle, situated just outside Fort William. It's a ruin of a castle, and our tour guide gave us the historical context of the clans that were around at the time of the construction, and why it was built. I find Scottish history extremely fascinating, because I've never really been taught about it, adn the fact that it plays such a huge part in British history I find it quite ignorant of us English to not really acknowledge it. It wasn't your typical Scottish castle that you expect to see dotted around the country, but I always try and think of the footsteps you are taking, are the same as people who lived hundreds of years ago, and how everything has changed in society and in the world.
We made our way onwards to Fort Augustus, which is located at the southern tip of Loch Ness. I recognised the surroundings of this little town from the ITV drama 'The Loch'. It was so picturesque driving in to the town as well with the huge Loch to your right and the valleys rising above you. At the centre of the town is a Lock where boats and barges can pass through, and in it's own right it is a tourist attraction, because for some reason people are fascinated by it (can you tell I'm not interested in the slightest). There is plenty of little shops and restaurants, I don't know why I was slightly surprised that there was a lot of foreign tourists, and of course they wanted to taste the exquisite fish and chips that the British Isles and Scotland has to offer. We had bought some snacks and sandwiches the night before so we sat on the bank and watched the world go by, then we went for walk to the town and back again. The weather was so nice, and everything looked so beautiful and there was a duck and her ducklings waddling about as well. So cute!
We were now descending back down the country, a longer drive until we got the cute little town of Pitlochry. Jonathan, our tour guide recommended ice cream and the best fish and chips in the town. I decided to get an ice cream. I unusually got one scoop of Cranachan flavour (berry and cream) and one scoop of tablet which is a fudge/toffee flavour which was so nice. I also got a white chocolate and macadamia cookie because I was greedy, and I'm on holiday. It was a shame that all the shops were closed because we got there about half past six, so the only thing open was restaurants and pubs. That was our last stop so we were driving back through the Cairngorms and over the Forth Bridge back to Edinburgh. Writing this I definitely have Scotland withdrawal symptoms and I just want to be up there again, so I'm sure that I will be making a trip soon! I would definitely recommend Rabbie's Tours if you want to adventure Scotland, England or Wales. Scotland is a beautiful country and it's probably one of my favourites now! There's so much to explore there, and the culture and people are extremely friendly!
Happy Reading!
Rose x
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