So we have been off the grid for a little while since we left Edinburgh – the capital left us wanting more from Scotland so we continued to head further north and into the Highlands. The great things about Scotland (and its Land Reform Act 2003) is that you can pretty much park up anywhere for the night, within reason, making wild camping and camper vans the perfect mode of transportation. We hit snowy mountains on the first few hours of our drive and soon realised we were going to take a long time to get anywhere as we seemed to be stopping for ‘just one more photo’ every 10km.
Our first stop was Dunbeath, Damien’s family originated from the small rural town North of Inverness and we couldn’t miss making the journey up. We have all heard the sayings that Scotland barely sees sun in the winter months, between the early sunset, the clouds and of course the rain, however this was not the Scotland we experienced. As you can see from the photos, we were blessed with crisp (and I mean CRISP) mornings, blue skies and cloudless sunsets as we journeyed through the mystical hills and lakes of Northern Scotland.
We could not give up the opportunity to do a little hunt for Nessie at Loch Ness and pay the famous Urquhart Castle a visit which commands the shores of the famous Loch. An overnight stopover at Dave’s Rest left us eager to get to our next picturesque location, the Isle of Skye. We dedicated more than two days to cover the Isle and boy we needed every hour to take in the beauty. Single lane roads made for some interesting navigating but Big Karl was up for the challenge!
We spent our first evening watching the sunset at the Isle’s most westerly point, Neist Point Lookout before heading east to the Fairy Glen the following morning. Despite the temperature, someone decided to strip for the fairies pleasure! The rest of the day was filled with more scenery including Quiraing, Old Man of Stor and Mealt Falls before finishing the afternoon off in the small fishing town, Portree, for coffee and scottish scones.
We slowly made our way from the Isle of Skye and through the mountain range which is home to Ben Nevis, the largest mountain in the UK, before camping up in the Glencoe mountains for the night. Our path took us into the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park for a quiet Sunday finished with a local farmers market and roast at the local pub.
Our final day in Scotland was upon us but we think we left some of the best until last. Finnich Glen (better known as the Devil’s Pulpit – Outlander fans will know) was beautiful. It was a bit touchy getting down into the gorge however when we got to the bottom it was well worth it – we even made the poor decision to go wading in the water for better views despite the icicles hanging from the branches.
Before leaving we paid the William Wallace birthplace and memorial a visit before dropping in on some of relatives in Ayr. I am sure that Scotland hasn’t seen the last of us!
Taped leibh agus beannachd (Thank you and good-bye).
C xx
Damien + Caitlin 