Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands
The plan
We were going to fly to Edinburgh on easyJet, spend two nights in the city, then spend the next five days slowly travelling up the west coast towards Inverness, where we would pick up another easyJet flight back to Luton. Although we considered not booking accommodation to give us flexibility on our drive, in the end we did decide on a route and pre-booked five B&Bs, plus an apartment in Edinburgh. Our plan was to be scuppered slightly, though, by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland…
Three days in Edinburgh
Upon arrival at Edinburgh airport after an early flight out of Luton, we located the Airlink booking office and bought return bus tickets to the city centre after ensuring we could use the return portion on another day. Mistake one – err, we didn’t actually need the more expensive return ticket, as we would be flying back from Inverness. We put it down to tiredness. However the sun was shining, we’d already stripped down to our t-shirts, and we had a driving adventure ahead of us.
The bus stopped at Princes Street Gardens (photo, right) and we decided to get off here, along with our four bags of luggage (do you know how many clothes you need for nine days in the cold Scottish Highlands?!). We dragged them – and ourselves – to a bench to get our bearings. We knew our apartment overlooked this pretty public park, but we also couldn’t check in for a few hours. Sarah was already off taking photos of daffodils while I was poring over the map book trying to locate the apartment.
Once the general direction of the apartment has been decided, we walked right through Princes Street Gardens with Edinburgh Castle looming large above us, over the train line, and out the other side near the Bank of Scotland headquarters, where we found a cute bar called The Wash almost directly underneath the apartment. As luck would have it, the owner of the apartments was also in the bar and, overhearing our conversation, offered to let us dump our bags in the room while it was still being cleaned. Result!
Bag-free, we headed into the city centre, grabbed some lunch and wandered around. The city centre is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, which we would explore the next day, but along the Royal Mile (the road which links the castle and Holyrood, the Scottish parliament building) is a myriad of independent shops, some selling tacky souvenirs, others clothing and handmade toiletries. We returned to our apartment and explored it for the first time. Capital View Apartments on The Mound does exactly what it says on the tin.
From our seventh-floor apartment we had an excellent view (photo, left) over Princes Street Gardens, Waverley train station, Calton Hill, and across to the Firth of Forth. Inside was just as impressive, with all the mod-cons finished with contemporary touches. For the £100 a night price tag (even the city centre Travelodge quoted us £89 for the same dates), we were mightily impressed.
In the evening, we had a Groupon voucher for an Italian restaurant just to the east of Princes Street Gardens called La Piazza. The food and wine were very good, and the walk back – skirting around the gardens with illuminated fountains, and the sun setting behind the castle – provided some excellent photo opportunities.
The second day we’d decided to dedicate to Edinburgh Castle. In truth and with hindsight, it doesn’t need a full day – half-a-day will suffice, or even just a few hours if you’re not bothered about going into every museum and art gallery on the site. We were predominantly interested in the architecture and views, although did still visit most of the site. The cannons in the courtyards are impressive, and the higher areas give dizzying views to the rest of the city (photo, right). By 3pm, including a stop for lunch at the expensive café, we were done and left to find a restaurant and entertainment for the evening.
We came across The Real Mary King’s Close, a company offering tours of the “hidden streets” below Edinburgh but focusing on a prominent citizen and businesswoman residing there in the 1630s, who the street was named after. Tour guides in period costume and character guide you through this labyrinth of lanes – once open to the skies – but since covered up by modern buildings of the Royal Mile. As an experience in itself, it is very good especially for those interested in local history, but the price tag is quite steep for the short time you spend underground.
Emerging at dusk in modern-day Edinburgh, we hunted out Ondine, an excellent seafood restaurant just off the Royal Mile. Perfectly-cooked fish combined with superb wine and great desserts, with a view of the Castle to boot, make this a fabulous choice for an evening meal.
Our third and final day in Edinburgh consisted of a walk up to Calton Hill, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A collection of Roman buildings still stand proudly, overlooking the castle, Holyrood and the rest of the city (photo, left). Wandering around, you can see the monument to poet Robert Burns, an old school house, the Scottish National Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, and many people using the area to picnic, do yoga or take photos. As it was such a nice day, we continued our walk up to the Grange area of the city, and alongside the river Leith (photo, right), a very pleasant stroll.
Then it was back to the apartment to pick up our bags, a train from Waverley to the car hire place on the outskirts of town, and onto the journey proper…
Day 4: Loch Lomond
On the way out of Edinburgh, we headed to Loch Lomond via Stirling Castle. Although we didn’t go into the castle, we stopped for a picnic in the fields below. We’ve since found out that we probably should have taken a closer look; reviews suggest Stirling is a better place to visit than even Edinburgh Castle.
We were heading for a place recommended in our guide books as having a stunning view over Loch Lomond, a village called Gartocharn which has a public footpath up a high hill with a panorama from the top. Gartocharn was easy to find but the start of the footpath took a bit of searching – but the half-hour leisurely climb was definitely worth it for the 360-degree view (photo, left).
On the east banks of Loch Lomond is Balloch castle with a public park leading down to the water. Although it would be a nice place for a picnic, the place was full to bursting with football games, kite flying and babies running around and falling over on the grass – so don’t expect it to be peaceful!
After all the walking, we were looking forward to visiting a restaurant we had picked out in advance from Internet searches – The Kilted Skirlie, located at the southern tip of Loch Lomond. Its name – and photos on its website – suggested high-quality Scottish fare in a traditional setting. When we arrived, we found it was on the upper floor of a modern shopping centre, pushing out what tasted like heated-from-frozen Scottish dishes. We would go elsewhere next time.
Night 4: Loch Lomond
For the evening, we had booked a private room in a Scottish Youth Hostel Association property. We had had limited, but good, experiences with hostels before in Bruges and London, and SYHA’s castle – yes, castle – wasn’t to disappoint. Although requiring maintenance in some areas such as restoration of its carvings and exterior features, the accommodation was perfectly comfortable given the price – once Sarah had fixed the squeaking ensuite door with her hair serum! Sadly the youth hostel has now closed. We decided not to have breakfast at the hostel as we needed to push on, travelling out of the more urbanised areas of Scotland and into the Highlands.
Day 5: Luss, Inverary Castle, Kilchurn Castle and Cruachan Power Station
Our first stop was at Luss (photo, right), which the guidebook recommended as a place to visit a traditional Scottish hamlet with preserved houses and a church; the fact that it happened to be about half the distance to Inverary Castle persuaded us further as we could change drivers. The village was very pretty, with a little harbour on the banks of Loch Lomond, although we had circumnavigated the entire place in less than five minutes.
On we travelled to Inverary Castle, whose neatly-arranged gardens Sarah loved, although we didn’t go inside as the weather was so nice. We did stop for lunch in the outdoor café; as ever with these places the food was average and rather expensive.
Our main destination for the day was Kilchurn Castle (photo, left), a beautiful ruin on the banks of Loch Awe. The walk to it is almost as stunning as being up close, with ever-changing views of the building and surroundings (although a tip – just cross the unattended, un-gated railway crossing near the carpark – the official path adds at least 10 minutes and brings you out in the same place).
Conscious that we had to arrive at our B&B by 6:30pm as we had pre-booked a meal with them, we thought twice about whether we should take the 5pm tour of Cruachan Power Station – a hydro-electric generator – but in the end decided to risk it. As it turned out we were the only people on the tour, whose guide was entertaining and knowledgeable. We learnt about how the technology worked – although unfortunately didn’t see it actually switched on – and got a tour around the plant in a minibus, seeing the tunnels and infrastructure, and the visitor centre which includes webcams placed around the lake where birds and other wildlife frequent.
Night 5: Ewich House
We always knew this was going to be the best B&B we stayed in, but we didn’t realise how much it would knock the socks of the others until we had to leave! Ewich House in Crianlarich pitches itself as a home-from-home, and doesn’t disappoint. It has acres of land for exploration through a forest, a gorgeous wide trickly river with views of distant snow-topped mountains (photo, right), a plethora of wildlife visitors and animal pets, from a herd of alpacas to dogs, and probably the best meal we had all holiday. Highly recommended.
Day 6: Loch Awe and Newtonmore
The trip to Newtonmore was a little bit of a detour; we had a voucher as a Christmas gift for a hotel stay, and the only establishment participating in the scheme near our route was the Rumblie. That being said, the detour actually took us through some of the prettiest scenery of the trip. Newtonmore is firmly in Monarch of the Glen land, the hit BBC series about a Scottish laird down on his luck and his attempts to resist his son’s suggestions for estate modernisation. Indeed, you can see the very castle and gatehouse used for filming by the side of man-made Loch Laggan.
From our research, Blasta, in the same village as the Rumblie, was the only restaurant for miles around with any reviews on TripAdvisor, promising traditional fare with a twist. We had a strange experience here: We walked in to a restaurant with – at a guess – 25 tables and only 5 or 6 of them occupied. We asked for a table for two, and were told we would have to wait for 25 minutes or so. Puzzled, but at a loss as to what else to do, we agreed and asked if we could have some drinks while we were waiting. The lady showed us to a table in the middle of the restaurant, and cautioned us that this wouldn’t be our final table, but we could use it for drinks while we waited. We ordered a bottle of wine and looked at the menu. 10 minutes later and with wine in hand, the same lady came up to us and asked if we were ready to order. So we did, they bought us our food – what we expected, simple and delicious home cooking but nothing to write home about – without moving us to another table. Perplexed, we ate, paid and left. It now appears to be closed.
Day 7: Fort William, Glenfinnan and Eilean Donan Castle
This was our longest drive – including a 32-mile detour to Glenfinnan then back on ourselves – but the weather was beautiful and we were determined to make the most of it. Starting early, our guidebook recommended that the best thing in Fort William was the Caledonian Canal, a series of locks with the mighty Ben Nevis towering over it, and we would pass on this recommendation. We didn’t stop long in the town itself, as we pressed on to Glenfinnan, the location for the viaduct featured in Harry Potter and a tower to commemorate the raising of the standard.
The viaduct (photo, left) is certainly impressive and we snuck over fences and between bushes obviously designed to keep walkers out, in order to get some excellent photographs. Unfortunately we’d picked a day when ScotRail were on strike, so no trains were ever going to pass over it – but if they had, they would have been modern carriages rather than picturesque steam trains anyway! The Glenfinnan monument, opposite the viaduct, looks out over pretty Loch Sheil, although charges an entry fee to get past the ugly fence surrounding it.
After the drive back on ourselves to Fort William and then onto the A82 and A87 towards Eilean Donan and the Isle of Skye, we passed through some extraordinarily pretty scenery, up high and overlooking Loch Lochie, Loch Garry and Loch Loyne. The views definitely get better the further north you go – the view over Loch Lomond from Gartocharn has not a patch on this! Reaching the famous Eilean Donan castle on the banks of Loch Duich (supposedly the most-photographed site in Scotland), we added to the photograph count a fair bit, wandering around the outside and (after paying a modest fee) the inside.
Our B&B was nearby, so we checked in, dumped our bags and then headed out to the Isle of Skye. By then, for the first time in the whole week, the weather had turned so we’re not sure if Skye didn’t impress us because of the weather, because of the endless roadworks on the road to its only real urban area Portree (photo, right), or because there generally wasn’t much to see. Upon arrival in Portree, we had an average dinner in an average café on an average market square, then did a 180 and drove all the way back to the mainland, where we took more photos of Eilean Donan as the sun was setting.
Night 7: Conchra House
We noticed as we got further and further north, our choice of accommodation and restaurants decreased. We had pre-booked Conchra House online before we left home, which was located a five-minute drive from Eilean Donan, on the river which feeds Loch Duich. The views over the river from their website looked amazing, but unfortunately neither our room, nor the breakfast room, took advantage of the view, and we were too tired from the long drive and the prospect of our last day looming to enjoy it from the garden.
Day 8: Loch Ness
This was our last day of the holiday proper, as our flight home started checking in at 11am, so we planned to spend the morning in Inverness before heading to the airport. We therefore decided to spend most of the day in the Loch Ness area, starting off at the ruins of Urquhart Castle (photo, left) which, while pricey, gives good views over the Loch, and introduces you to its weird acoustics by echoing everything you say in a normal voice all the way to the other side of the lake and back.
We then travelled to Invermoriston where the guide book recommended a pretty riverside walk (photo, right) which leads up to the lakeside itself where moored boats bob up and down with the water next to wooden piers.
Drumnadrochit – the “home of Nessy” – was our next stop, about two-thirds of the way up the Loch on the western side. From the moment we drove in and found a car park, we found it incredibly tacky. There are two ‘monster museums’ almost next-door to each other in the town, which promises a guided tour to the history and myth surrounding the Loch Ness Monster, complete with the obligatory gift shop selling cuddly Nessies. At a loss as to what else to do in the town, we plumped for one of them (we can’t even remember now which one), learnt absolutely nothing we didn’t already know about the fairytale, and left. On the way out of town we did see signs to Roslyn Chapel, but as it was getting late decided to push on to find our next B&B, right at the northern end of Loch Ness in a place called, err, Lochend.
Night 7: Kimcraigan B&B
We had trouble finding this hotel, as the postcode given is apparently the same for most of the northern part of the western road. After arriving at what was clearly the end of the Loch, we turned round in a small public car park and went back on ourselves, assuming we’d missed a turning. There was a side road leading uphill with a signpost marked “B&B”, so we followed it up and pulled into another establishment. Immediately the two owners surrounded our car in their carpark and asked what we were doing pulling in to their house. We sheepishly asked if this was the Kimcraigan B&B we had booked at, but the answer was clearly no. I don’t know if they were expecting any guests or if they just deal with everyone who just turns up hoping for a room in this way; if so it’s definitely one to avoid! We did another 180, and eventually found the right place… in exactly the place we had turned round the first time!
Flight back
Over the course of the week, we had been listening to the news bulletins which initially told us that an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland had erupted, followed by an ash cloud which had disrupted Atlantic and Icelandic air travel. This slowly turned into – as we all now know – the closure of most of the European air space, moody sunsets and lots of falling ash. The last two weren’t a problem for us – the first was. We were booked onto a lunchtime flight from Inverness back to Luton. As no flights were leaving anywhere in Europe, nor were we.
Sarah’s parents had managed to book us a hire car at Inverness Airport for us to drive it to Luton Airport at a cost of over £150 for two days’ hire. When we arrived, it appeared to be their last vehicle in the compound! And so we settled into the long drive back home, through the Cairngorm mountain range, Perth, over the Forth bridge, via the Lake District and eventually onto the M1.
Map
Photo Gallery
There's more photos in the gallery 'Driving through the Scottish Highlands'
Dates and Updates
Originally written June 2010.
Updated February 2013.
Minor revisions to fix typos July 2013.
Added map in October 2013.
