6/24
We again used the excellent public transportation system in Oslo to get to Gardermoen airport via the Flygtoget express train.
The weird thing about Norway is that because they're not in the European Union, we had had to undergo passport control leaving the country and then also entering Scotland, probably because the UK and Ireland are not part of the Schengen area. Between that and the Eurozone, it gets increasingly confusing if you ask me.
Our flight was fine and short as they all are in Europe and we quickly got to the rental car area in Edinburgh.
I had mentally prepared myself for left-side driving but then again nothing really prepares you for the horrors that overcome you once you enter the open road. To up the ante, I had booked a manual car because it was cheaper. Now to my surprise, the right-side-wheel cars in the UK and Ireland don't come with mirrored shifts, so the first and second gear are not closest to you as usual but on top of having to shift with your left hand, you also have to mirror everything in your head while making sure you don't accidentally end up in the wrong lane. At the same time, the Scottish weather was in full force and I also had to figure out the windshield wipers all the while listening to the sat nav directing me through the dark city (it was about 11pm by the time we got to the hotel). Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we arrived at our little guest house.
6/25
Our guest house had a bit of an earlier breakfast cutoff than the other places we'd been to, but we welcomed it because it mean that we would get our lazy behinds out of the house on time. We only had one full day in Edinburgh so we had to make the most of it.
We started off by walking away from our hotel towards the Eastern part of town. We had seen a giant park on the map, Holyrood Park, and a palace nearby so this is where we headed. To our surprise the park was surrounded by a giant rock formation that looked too steep and intimidating for us to start our day with. We love to explore all cities on foot but didn't want to be exhausted from such a big hike before noon so we decided to walk around the bottom instead.
We then quickly reached the Palace, and again our plans were foiled. As we entered the ticket shop we saw the signs that the palace was closed in preparation for the Queen's arrival the next day. Holyrood Palace is apparently the official residence of the Queen in Scotland.
No palace for us so we walked around the area to the top of Calton Hill where we were able to visit a number of large monuments with gorgeous views over the entire city and the bay....if it hadn't been pouring down rain.
None of us had waterproof jackets or shoes and Matt's poncho had a suffered a critical tear that prevented the hood from staying up so he was getting a lot of the rain. We only had one umbrella since we had wanted to pack light, and while we braced all of the other rain with it so far, it was starting to become clear that one umbrella wasn't enough for Scotland. Once we reached the main shopping area at the bottom of the hill we purchased a second umbrella and thus were able to survive the day in Edinburgh.
Our next stop was the Scottish National Gallery just as the rain was picking up again. We were just happy to be inside to be quite honest and probably would've gone into any museum but the National Gallery turned out to be a really good selection of 16th-19th century European paintings with a special area on Scottish artists, of course.
Once done with gallery, we walked across the bridge and up into the historic district where the Edinburgh Castle resides above the city. By that time I was starving so we opted for the next Scottish pub that would welcome us.
A good soup and warm sandwiches got us back on track and we made it into the castle and one of its military museums before they closed.
We then continued to walk through Old Town after finishing the castle and then headed back Southeast towards our hotel but wanted to stop by a few other things on the way.
We were pretty exhausted and wet from the long walks and the rain but managed to leave the hotel for dinner at a craft brew pub nearby that Matt had chosen. They served the biggest nacho plate ever....and that was our dinner, and we're not sorry.
6/26
Our next day started off with a near disaster. As the guest house has only very limited parking, guests have to double park. The porter knows which car belongs to which room and you're supposed to leave the key if you're double parking someone in case they need to get out. We informed staff around 10am during breakfast that we'd want to leave around 11am so they could let the owner of the grey car know to let us out. 11am came and the staff was still unable to locate the family despite calling them several times. It looked like they had left for the city and weren't answering their phones. I was already getting nervous that we'd be stuck there for the whole day and would miss out on a ton of sightseeing on the way up to Inverness. But luckily, about 40min later they finally got a hold of the car keys and we were able to leave Edinburgh.
Inverness was about a 3 hour drive away, but our first stop was a tiny little town called Dunkeld. It was really the cutest Scottish little town and featured a stunning medieval church and beautiful scenery surround it.
We then made our way further North to the town of Pitlochyr. I had somehow seen it on a list of things to do but then when we got there it turned out not to be that exciting after all. We had a quick lunch there and visiting their "famous" river dam and fish ladder but as the rain was getting increasingly worse again, we had little interest in sticking around outside for too long.
My original plan had been to stop by the visitor's centre for the Cairngorms National Park on the way to see if we could drive to a nice viewpoint of the Highlands or do a short hike. The rain was so bad at that point that we ditched the idea of running around outside and drove straight to our B&B in Inverness.
After freshening up for a bit we walked the 1.2 miles into town and not only had it stopped to rain, we were also lucky enough to catch a beautiful sunset over Inverness, the river and the castle.
Then the hunt for a dinner spot began and we had several unsuccessful attempts including one where we sat for 15min without a waiter showing up, only to then be told that the kitchen just now closed....oh Europe.
We finally did get some dinner and a decent one at that, and enjoyed a beautiful walk home to our riverside B&B.
6/27
After a great breakfast at our little B&B, we hit the road and drove outside of Edinburgh to visit the Clava Cairns, ancient burial sites that are more than 3000 years old.
It was a quick 20min drive from the cairns to Fort George, the large military fortification North of Inverness. The view from it is amazing and we were lucky enough to avoid rain while there.
Next on our list was Loch Ness and the Urquhart Castle on its shores.
It was starting to rain again as we finished up the castle ruins so we hopped back into the car, drove along the REALLY long Loch Ness and then headed over towards the Isle of Skye with one last stop at Eilean Donan Castle.
Even though it looks prettier, Eilean Donan was a bit of a disappointment after the fantastic Urquhart Castle. The reason is that Eilean Donan was actually completely destroyed by the end of the 19th century. The family who owns it then decided in 1920 to rebuild it so nothing inside is actually historic and almost a bit cheesy, including the family photographs and the staged kitchen scene.
After wrapping up Eilean Donan we drove about another 30min to Kyleakin, the first little town after you cross the bridge to the Isle of Skye.
We walked around the tiny town for about 10min after getting in and eventually settled for a bite to eat at a nearby pub before crashing into bed.
6/28
Breakfast came earlier at the Kings Arms Hotel than at the hotels in the bigger cities so we got on the road on time. Unfortunately, the weather was not our friend this morning but briefly seized raining every once in a while so we still had a pleasant experience on Skye.
We started off by driving West to check out the Fairy Pools but ended up not actually getting close to them. The reason was that a small river separated us, and even though some brave hikers jumped across the stones with waterproof shoes and reached the other side dry-footed, we didn't want to gamble. My predisposition to clumsiness meant that I'd probably have landed in the river. Better stay dry.
We eventually drove across most of the Southern part of Skye but the weather was pretty bad so we didn't have a lot of chances for pictures of anything other than green and clouds;-).
We also had a great lunch in one of the villages before eventually heading on to Glencoe, which was about 2 hours away.
When we arrived at our hotel it was pouring down rain so I never got to take any pictures of the lake view but you can imagine, it was dark with green and clouds ;-)
6/29
We woke up to another downpour so our plans to try out some hiking trails in Glencoe didn't quite become reality as we simply didn't have the shoes and clothes for such an adventure. Instead we opted for a short hike around a lake on a path that was well maintained and filled with gravel so no risk of walking in the mud.
From there we took the A82 towards Glasgow through the incredibly beautiful Glencoe valley. We didn't always find pullouts so we could take pictures so these will have to do.
As our flight wasn't until almost 9pm, we had plenty of time to park the car, walk around Glasgow for a bit, have lunch and still make it back to the airport on time.
We again used the excellent public transportation system in Oslo to get to Gardermoen airport via the Flygtoget express train.
The weird thing about Norway is that because they're not in the European Union, we had had to undergo passport control leaving the country and then also entering Scotland, probably because the UK and Ireland are not part of the Schengen area. Between that and the Eurozone, it gets increasingly confusing if you ask me.
Our flight was fine and short as they all are in Europe and we quickly got to the rental car area in Edinburgh.
I had mentally prepared myself for left-side driving but then again nothing really prepares you for the horrors that overcome you once you enter the open road. To up the ante, I had booked a manual car because it was cheaper. Now to my surprise, the right-side-wheel cars in the UK and Ireland don't come with mirrored shifts, so the first and second gear are not closest to you as usual but on top of having to shift with your left hand, you also have to mirror everything in your head while making sure you don't accidentally end up in the wrong lane. At the same time, the Scottish weather was in full force and I also had to figure out the windshield wipers all the while listening to the sat nav directing me through the dark city (it was about 11pm by the time we got to the hotel). Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we arrived at our little guest house.
6/25
Our guest house had a bit of an earlier breakfast cutoff than the other places we'd been to, but we welcomed it because it mean that we would get our lazy behinds out of the house on time. We only had one full day in Edinburgh so we had to make the most of it.
We started off by walking away from our hotel towards the Eastern part of town. We had seen a giant park on the map, Holyrood Park, and a palace nearby so this is where we headed. To our surprise the park was surrounded by a giant rock formation that looked too steep and intimidating for us to start our day with. We love to explore all cities on foot but didn't want to be exhausted from such a big hike before noon so we decided to walk around the bottom instead.
We then quickly reached the Palace, and again our plans were foiled. As we entered the ticket shop we saw the signs that the palace was closed in preparation for the Queen's arrival the next day. Holyrood Palace is apparently the official residence of the Queen in Scotland.
No palace for us so we walked around the area to the top of Calton Hill where we were able to visit a number of large monuments with gorgeous views over the entire city and the bay....if it hadn't been pouring down rain.
None of us had waterproof jackets or shoes and Matt's poncho had a suffered a critical tear that prevented the hood from staying up so he was getting a lot of the rain. We only had one umbrella since we had wanted to pack light, and while we braced all of the other rain with it so far, it was starting to become clear that one umbrella wasn't enough for Scotland. Once we reached the main shopping area at the bottom of the hill we purchased a second umbrella and thus were able to survive the day in Edinburgh.
Our next stop was the Scottish National Gallery just as the rain was picking up again. We were just happy to be inside to be quite honest and probably would've gone into any museum but the National Gallery turned out to be a really good selection of 16th-19th century European paintings with a special area on Scottish artists, of course.
Once done with gallery, we walked across the bridge and up into the historic district where the Edinburgh Castle resides above the city. By that time I was starving so we opted for the next Scottish pub that would welcome us.
A good soup and warm sandwiches got us back on track and we made it into the castle and one of its military museums before they closed.
We then continued to walk through Old Town after finishing the castle and then headed back Southeast towards our hotel but wanted to stop by a few other things on the way.
We were pretty exhausted and wet from the long walks and the rain but managed to leave the hotel for dinner at a craft brew pub nearby that Matt had chosen. They served the biggest nacho plate ever....and that was our dinner, and we're not sorry.
6/26
Our next day started off with a near disaster. As the guest house has only very limited parking, guests have to double park. The porter knows which car belongs to which room and you're supposed to leave the key if you're double parking someone in case they need to get out. We informed staff around 10am during breakfast that we'd want to leave around 11am so they could let the owner of the grey car know to let us out. 11am came and the staff was still unable to locate the family despite calling them several times. It looked like they had left for the city and weren't answering their phones. I was already getting nervous that we'd be stuck there for the whole day and would miss out on a ton of sightseeing on the way up to Inverness. But luckily, about 40min later they finally got a hold of the car keys and we were able to leave Edinburgh.
Inverness was about a 3 hour drive away, but our first stop was a tiny little town called Dunkeld. It was really the cutest Scottish little town and featured a stunning medieval church and beautiful scenery surround it.
We then made our way further North to the town of Pitlochyr. I had somehow seen it on a list of things to do but then when we got there it turned out not to be that exciting after all. We had a quick lunch there and visiting their "famous" river dam and fish ladder but as the rain was getting increasingly worse again, we had little interest in sticking around outside for too long.
My original plan had been to stop by the visitor's centre for the Cairngorms National Park on the way to see if we could drive to a nice viewpoint of the Highlands or do a short hike. The rain was so bad at that point that we ditched the idea of running around outside and drove straight to our B&B in Inverness.
After freshening up for a bit we walked the 1.2 miles into town and not only had it stopped to rain, we were also lucky enough to catch a beautiful sunset over Inverness, the river and the castle.
Then the hunt for a dinner spot began and we had several unsuccessful attempts including one where we sat for 15min without a waiter showing up, only to then be told that the kitchen just now closed....oh Europe.
We finally did get some dinner and a decent one at that, and enjoyed a beautiful walk home to our riverside B&B.
6/27
After a great breakfast at our little B&B, we hit the road and drove outside of Edinburgh to visit the Clava Cairns, ancient burial sites that are more than 3000 years old.
It was starting to rain again as we finished up the castle ruins so we hopped back into the car, drove along the REALLY long Loch Ness and then headed over towards the Isle of Skye with one last stop at Eilean Donan Castle.
6/28
Breakfast came earlier at the Kings Arms Hotel than at the hotels in the bigger cities so we got on the road on time. Unfortunately, the weather was not our friend this morning but briefly seized raining every once in a while so we still had a pleasant experience on Skye.
We started off by driving West to check out the Fairy Pools but ended up not actually getting close to them. The reason was that a small river separated us, and even though some brave hikers jumped across the stones with waterproof shoes and reached the other side dry-footed, we didn't want to gamble. My predisposition to clumsiness meant that I'd probably have landed in the river. Better stay dry.
When we arrived at our hotel it was pouring down rain so I never got to take any pictures of the lake view but you can imagine, it was dark with green and clouds ;-)
6/29
We woke up to another downpour so our plans to try out some hiking trails in Glencoe didn't quite become reality as we simply didn't have the shoes and clothes for such an adventure. Instead we opted for a short hike around a lake on a path that was well maintained and filled with gravel so no risk of walking in the mud.
As our flight wasn't until almost 9pm, we had plenty of time to park the car, walk around Glasgow for a bit, have lunch and still make it back to the airport on time.
