Travel

Bagpipes, Castles, Whisky and Lochs (Oh, My!)

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Royal Cottage on the shore of Loch Katrine from aboard the steamship Sir Walter Scott

Here is a short summary of our recent Scotland adventure for anyone who may be interested in a synopsis of our trip.

Eilean Donan Castle, Dornie, Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland

We flew to Edinburgh from Charlotte via Heathrow, then spent 4 nights in Edinburgh, exploring the city and attending the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.  The Tattoo was the main reason we went to Scotland in the first place, and it completely lived up to our expectations.  During the time we were in Edinburgh, the International Festival and the Fringe Festival were taking place, which made for a lot of crowds, but some interesting sights and sounds.  We did our best to participate!  Besides spending lots of time walking around, we did a bus tour of the city, toured the Royal Yacht Britannia and Edinburgh Castle, ate (and drank) in a number of pubs and restaurants, and generally absorbed the atmosphere of the place.  It was quite the spectacle!

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle

After our 4 nights in Edinburgh, we rented a car (yes, I drove!) and set off into the countryside in search of sights and experiences.  We stayed at inns in Pitlochry, Inverness, Portree and Luss.  We visited The Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies, toured 4 distilleries and a cooperage, drank some whisky, drank some beer, toured castles, drove some narrow single-track roads and saw some incredible scenery.  A lot of the scenery was in places where it wasn’t safe to stop the car, so I had to make do with making the best photos I could where I was able to stop!  We took boat cruises on Loch Ness, Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine and visited a couple of lighthouses.  Once it was all done we were back in Edinburgh for one last night before returning to Charlotte via New York JFK.  Flights were all on time, the trip was comfortable and the airline food was surprisingly good.  I must say that 8 hours is a long time to be on an airplane!

The Tarbat Ness Lighthouse on the Dornock Firth near Wilkhaven, Scotland

I’ll continue to post photos and narratives to detail some of the individual highlights of our trip.  Overall it was an incredible vacation, but it was also a lot of work for both of us. Our next vacation, someone else may need to do the driving and navigating!

Our visit to the Glenmorangie Distillery in Tain, Scotland
Scene from around Edinburgh

2 thoughts on “Bagpipes, Castles, Whisky and Lochs (Oh, My!)”

  1. Looks like a wonderful trip. The colors just pop in these images. You’ve made another very good series of images telling us a story.
    Sounds like you packed in a lot for your money and time. I would be exhausted! Sorry to say but I had no idea what the festival was about so looked it up. Wow! I bet that was something to experience just by itself.
    Love the Lighthouse image!

  2. Thank you, Monte. I’ll be working on some more photos this evening as we wait for Irma to pass through. Just wind and rain for us, fortunately. 🙂

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