Edinburgh

Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 November

The good-weather goddess continued to bless us. Our airBnB was ideally situated within walking distance of everywhere we needed to be. Our local pub was a student hangout called The Brass Monkey and our closest restaurant turned out to be an excellent family-run Italian called Ciao Roma ( or Hispaniola - depending which entrance you use.) This part of the restaurant used to be a pub called Rutherford's; Robert Louis Stephenson's favourite haunt and is now decorated with pirate and shipwreck memorabilia; in honour of Treasure Island.

Stephen and Vivienne packed in a lot of museums, the Castle, Holyrood and a hike up Arthur's Seat. Neil and I preferred strolling the Royal Mile and Old Edinburgh Town, discovering local neighbourhoods and popping into pubs.

We had lunch with Charmaine and dinner with Karen and Neil.

We sampled set menus and local fayre and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the Johnny Walker Experience; a new museum of whisky on Prince's Street; highly recommended even if you aren't a whisky officianado. 

This experience of Edinburgh was so different from our last : two party-filled weeks in our campervan, mid- festival and pre-covid! 

This is why I travel and why I return. This profound and unique mix of the spontaneous and the planned, of the familiar and the strange, of people and place and context and time. 

Road Tripping Scotland: Part Three

Friday 12 November

We left early for the very scenic drive from Fort William to Mallaig on the only rainy morning of our trip.

Here's us at the Glenfinnan Viaduct, featured in the Harry Potter movies.

We were hoping for brunch in Mallaig but everything was pretty much shut. We did get awesome take-away coffee, sausage rolls and cakes from The Bakehouse before heading back to Fort William.

We stopped at Banavie to see Neptune's Staircase, a long series of locks on the Caledonian Canal, completed in 1822 and linking Fort William on the west coast with Inverness on the east coast of Scotland. We took the scenic route along the canal up to Loch Lochy and on to Fort Augustus.

Near Spean Bridge we came across a war memorial and being Armistice Day visiting soldiers were laying commemorative wreaths.

We drove up the western side of Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle and back to Fort Augustus.

The White House was our stop for the night with dinner at The Lock Inn. 

Saturday 13 November

Wow! It's yet another awesome drive today, this time on the eastern side of Loch Ness and over the mountain to Moy and Tomatin with a visit to the whisky distillery. 

Then it was on to Aviemore for a stop at The Balavoulin to watch the rugby; South Africa vs Scotland. Luckily we won because we were the only Springbok supporters in the pub. Our stop for the night was just up the road in Grantown-on-Spey at the lovely Speyside Hotel. The owner suggested Craig's Bar, a restaurant that just does pies and chips. So good!

Sunday 14 November

First stop Dalwinnie Distillery then on to Blair Atholl and a stroll around Blair Castle grounds.

After a quick stop in Dunblane, we visited the Falkirk Wheel - a very unique lock -  and the Kelpies - giant horse statues -  before arriving in Edinburgh.

Road Tripping Scotland : Part Two

Wednesday 10 November

Leaving Portsonachan we travelled back along Loch Awe to Castle Kilchurn, across to Loch Etive and down to Oban.

Oban is a lovely port town with ferries serving quite a few Hebridean Islands. We had a few hours to kill so we visited the Oban Distillery, had some lunch and poked around the shops to shelter from the squally rain.

We took the car ferry to Craignure on the Isle of Mull and travelled around to Tobermory for the night. We loved our stay and cosy pub supper at the Mishnish Hotel on the waterfront.

Thursday 11 November

The Tobermory Distillery wasn't open so we set off around the island on what turned out to be one of the most wild and scenic drives we've ever done in the UK. And the weather was fine! 

Then we took another ferry from Fishnish to Lochaline across the Sound of Mull to the mainland and on to Fort William.

This did involve another great drive and another ferry crossing, this time over Loch Linnhe.

Before dark we drove up to the foot of Ben Nevis for a little walk that didn't involve summitting anything!

Because sunset is getting earlier and earlier as we travel north we have got into the habit of eating dinner early- at about 6.30pm and  then heading off to bed with a few hours of reading, social media or crappy TV.

That's because there's no crowding into a pub or listening to live music during a pandemic!