Heather & Bill’s road trip to the

Scottish Highlands – June 28^th-July 17^th 2007

We drove the red line, a counterclockwise circle starting and ending in Glasgow

The Scottish Highlands, despite their long and colorful history, are characterized by open spaces where wildflower-covered mountains and glens far outnumber people, a magical place of great natural beauty!

Why the Scottish Highlands? 2007 is supposedly the year of Highland Culture. Despite this valiant effort and others by the Highland Council and Scottish Tourism, the Highlands remain largely under-populated and much of everyday life there seems just as it was 50 years ago. Aside from Fort William, Aviemore, and the West Highland Way, there are very few tourists in the Scottish Highlands, and practically none from the USA. Heather and Bill know this area and have a somewhat nostalgic and somewhat romanticized attraction to it, reawakened in recent years by the BBC television series “Monarch of the Glen.” Bill’s first memories of Scotland date from the 1960s when he was just a wee lad. It is what we often refer to as a “forgotten place,” our private shorthand for “a place that time forgot.” For Bill, if not Heather, there is also a very strong attraction in the summer climate of the Highlands, a place where July and August are very cool and misty and it stays daylight until nearly midnight. Last summer we stayed in very posh hotels in Spain and ate too much. As the Highlands are an outdoorsy sort of place, Bill was hoping to do more hiking than eating to see if he could return from his holiday this year no fatter than he left. He was partly successful in this.

On a cool drizzly day in Carrbridge (Inverness-Shire), Heather seems to be asking with her outstretched arms where all the people are. Crowds of tourists are a very rare sight in Carrbridge which seems to have changed very little in the past 60 years. On “caleigh” night at the Carrbridge Hotel the crowd is local, and mostly sixty plus. The dancing is “traditional Scottish,” including Saint Andrew’s Waltz with its characteristic every-now-and-then “one-two stomp.” Great stuff, but where ARE all the people?

Here’s your answer, Heather. Less than one inch thick, this is “the” 2004 Phone Book for all of the Scottish Highlands and the Islands. It astounds us to think that so few people live in such a huge area of such great historic renown. All of Scotland north of Perth is more than half the country’s land area. ALL of “the” whisky is made there! All of the 18^th-century high jinks of the Highland Clans and Bonnie Prince Charlie took place there. All the romance that Queen Victoria’s passion bestowed on Scotland was concentrated in the Highlands. What a delight that this area remains scarcely populated enough to maintain its natural beauty. What a bittersweet blessing that the land has gone directly from the protection of the feudal large-estate system of the lairds to the generous and conscientious conservation policies of the European Union.

Just as it was 50 and 100 years ago, it’s there for us all to enjoy. Don’t miss it!

From the very first day....

Thursday, June 28^th – Glasgow Airport to Airth Castle Hotel, Airth near Falkirk

At about 1:30 pm Bill arrived back in Glasgow from Sevilla where he had been working for UNC. Heather arrived a couple of hours later due to a delayed departure from NY, and we met in the small airport with no difficulty. Heather’s suitcase had been left in London by BA. They said they would send it to our hotel. We picked up the car, a new silver Vauxhall Corsa, basically what we would call a piece of “junk” if anyone we knew actually bought one. It was 4:00 or 5:00 by the time we got started and the rush-hour traffic and drizzle through Glasgow toward Falkirk were the worst we would encounter. At least I got to readjust to driving on the “wrong side” of the road at a slow pace. After a couple of hours of this torment, we arrived, Bill still in his “traveling” clothes, at the Airth Castle Hotel. The weather cleared as we arrived at our hotel. We discovered that the thistle. their national flower, is just starting to bloom in Scotland. It is quite cool as we had anticipated and desired. The short distance to Falkirk from Glasgow was perfect for the first day. Dusk came about 10:00 pm; it will be notably later when we get a bit further north near Inverness. Except for Heather’s lost bag, things went well the first day. Guiness in hand, we explored the well-kept grounds and later had very fine suppers of roast lamb and salmon in the hotel dining room where we also had breakfast the next morning before heading off to Stirling Castle and Pitlochry. Why is Bill drinking Irish beer in Scotland? Because Bill prefers that his whisky come from Scotland and his beer from Ireland rather than the other way around (apologies to fans of Tennants “Scottish” Ale and Jameson’s “Irish” Whiskey).

Friday, June 29^th – Airth Castle near Falkirk to Pitlochry via Stirling Castle

Heather’s suitcase arrived as promised at about 10:00 am. After breakfast at the hotel, we drove into Stirling and paid to park the car in the city to explore the city and its Castle on foot. After late lunch we headed up the A9 to Pitlochry where we arrived about 4:30 pm. We went directly to Wellwood Manor House, a BnB where we were spending the night. We received a very friendly greeting from Jim, Wellwood’s owner. After bringing in our luggage and changing for dinner, we headed off on foot for the Pitlochry Festival Theater where we had reservations for dinner and tickets for the play “The Flouers of Edinburgh.” Pitlochry is a charming little town and it was a nice walk to the theater past the football pitch and over a little hidden footbridge. As we had an extra hour before our dinner reservations, we stopped at a pub called “The Old Mill” for a little liquid refreshment and discovered the world’s most tasty “crisps” – Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorn Kettle Chips. I had Oxtail Stew for dinner and Heather had the Poached Salmon. Both were excellent as was the view of the river from our table in the Festival Theater Restaurant. The play was a linguistically challenging and “interesting” introduction to how English is (not) spoken here, which was a significant motif of the plot about eighteenth-century issues of the cultural and political union of Scotland and England. The weather continues to be cool but with quite a bit of sun as can be seen in these photographs taken during our first two days. Indeed, throughout our nearly three weeks in Scotland, we often miraculously seemed to find ourselves, according to the television forecasts, in the only sunny spot in an otherwise VERY cloudy and rainy UK. Time for a change of venue. We need to get to the self-catering and hiking parts before Bill gains too much weight! These past two days have been no help at all in this area.

Saturday, June 30^th – Pitlochry to Carrbridge

After a hearty breakfast at Wellwood Manor we headed to the Edradour Distillery for a tour. This is Scotland’s smallest distiller of single malt whisky and they do wonderful free tours for anyone who can find the place. It’s a bit west of Pitlochry on the way to Loch Tummel. After our tour, we bought one bottle of Edradour which is not generally available in the US. We then headed north on the A9 to Carrbridge (Inverness-Shire) where we have a self-catering cottage for the week, Saturday to Saturday. Now we are officially in the Highlands. We arrived at Dalrachney Lodge in Carrbridge at 3:00, and hour before the customary check in. Luckily our place, Cairngorm View Cottage, was ready and we spent an hour or so downloading all of our luggage and groceries. The cottage was very comfortable and large. Carrbridge is a wonderfully unspoiled village that was spared the excessive development of tourism that characterizes nearby Aviemore. Our cottage is attached to Dalrachney Lodge, formerly a 19^th-century hunting lodge and now, like many of its kind, a BnB. It is amazing how many large houses in the Highlands were built in the late 19^th century. I think this must have something to do with increased interest due to Queen Victoria’s love of the place. The BBC television news speaks of nothing but today’s terrorist attack on that “small airport” I described when we arrived there just two days ago.

Sunday, July 1^st – In Carrbridge

The lounge in the cottage is large but not as elegant as the lounge in the lodge where Heather waits to be called for dinner. Out the back door of our cottage was a perfectly flat, beautiful, rolled lawn the size of two football fields. Heather knew she liked the owners of Dalrachney Lodge as soon as she saw the huge cat statue outside their front door.

Monday, July 2^nd – In Carrbridge and Aviemore

Our first long hike, about two hours and 2-3 miles to walk completely around Loch an Eilein, near Loch Morlich on the Rothiemurchus Estate near to Carrbridge and Aviemore.

Tuesday, July 3^rd -- Inverness

Today we drove the 28 miles from Carrbridge to the “big ciry” of Inverness, self-proclaimed “Capital” of the Highlands and home to the only Morrison’s supermarket within 60 miles. Inverness even has its own airport! There are a few other supermarkets scattered about the Highlands but not many; the nearest to Carrbridge is the Tescos in Aviemore.

Wednesday, July 4^th

Our Land Rover tour with Rothiemurchus Estate worker, Willie, featured Highland Cattle, domesticated herds of deer, fields and Caledonian Pine Forest, and the newly whitewashed stables of the “big house” with the old 1940s Land Rover that the young laird just bought (back) and which is said to have been used on the estate to take King George VI hunting. Speaking of King Georges, Heather mentioned just before we went to bed today that there did not seem to be anyone in Carrbridge celebrating the 4^th of July. Hmmmmm.

Thursday, July 5^th – Grantown-on-Spey, Tomintoul, and the Glenlivet Estate

Nice weather today for hiking in this whisky-important area of Moray; just north of the Queen’s estate at Balmoral near Ballater, many feel this is the heart of the Highlands, and it IS undeniably the heart of whisky country. The photo of Bill above walking on a footpath is on the Glenlivet Estate, home of one of his favorite single malt whiskies, and therefore clearly sacred ground.

Friday, July 6^th – Kingussie and Newtonmore (Monarch of the Glen country)

In Newtonmore, we met David Fallows, the watercolor artist whose paintings were used in Monarch of the Glen for those supposedly painted by the lady of the house, Molly MacDonald (played by actress Susan Hampshire). We bought a print of one from him that was supposed to be done by her of the back, and more common TV view, of “Glenbogle House” aka the “big” house on the Ardverike Estate near Loch Laggan about 14 miles west of Newtonmore. Both yesterday and today, and actually just about every day we drove much through Scotland’s charming but narrow “secondary” roads, we would have to stop the car every once in a while for sheep (sometimes singular, more often plural).

Saturday, July 7^th – Carrbridge to Fort William via Loch Ness and Fort Augustus

No “Nessie” sightings to report, but here’s Bill at the impressive set of locks on the Caledonian Canal at Fort Augustus

Heather on the highway near Spey Bridge just before coming into Fort William. As we approached Fort William, the cooler than usual weather prompted a few choice comments from Heather but she cheered up when she saw that there were lots of tourists and a huge Morrisons in town.

Heather by the “flower” butterfly on the hill to Loch View House in Fort William

Monday, July 9^th – Fort William to Mallaig on the Jacobite Steam Train

One of Scotland’s most popular tourist attractions, this steam locomotive leaves every day in summer at 10:20am with several hundred passengers. It is advisable and often necessary to make reservations days in advance. The woman reflected in the glass was our traveling companion. She and her partner were caravan tourists from Southwest England. Very nice folks, they were traveling with two enormous dogs who also shared our space on the train. The stone viaduct at GlenFinnan has been seen in several recent films, most notably the Harry Potter films. Despite the hundreds of tourists on the train, this 85-mile round trip gave one of the strongest impressions of all of how sparsely populated the Highlands are. We traveled past acre after acre of sheep-clipped grass hills and mountains without ever seeing a single house or cabin or other sign of human habitation.

Tuesday, July 10^th -- The Glen Nevis hike

Heather and a couple of sheep on the path to Dun Deardial in Glen Nevis and some Heath-Spotted Orchids, by far the most spectacular wildflowers in bloom this week.

Wednesday, July 11^th – Fort William and Loch Linnhe

The Crannog Cruise of Loch Linnhe we took today featured views of salmon farms and seals

Thursday, July 12^th – The Ben Nevis Hike

The day we hiked (part the way) up Ben Nevis was, like many of our days in Scotland, characterized by widely diverse weather but little rain.

Friday, July 13^th

Heather and Bill enjoy the view of Loch Linnhe (pronounced like Lennie) from their place at Loch View House. Heather pauses on the High Street in Fort William near our favorite pub, the Ben Nevis

Saturday, July 14^th – Fort William to Drymen via Glen Coe and Loch Lommond

In Drymen (pronounced more like dremmin), we stayed at the Buchanan Arms Hotel where a wedding was in progress. In fact, there were two weddings this Saturday afternoon in Drymen, one at each of the town’s big old hotels. Drymen, despite its proximity to Glasgow, is a very small, charming, and quintessentially Scottish town. The weather was perfect at the time of our late afternoon arrival. Drymen is a passionately Scottish town that, like most, flies the blue and white Saint Andrew’s Cross on the village green flagpole. Even the generic depiction of a dog on “clean up” bins is unmistakably a Scottie.

Sunday, July 15^th – Drymen to Glasgow via the Glasgow Airport

Heather poses at the Glasgow Airport which has been very much in the news throughout the world since we last saw it some two to three weeks ago. As of right now, passengers are being made to walk the last 50-70 meters through the covered car park to the airport’s main entrance unless they are being picked up by white “airport” taxis or public transport buses; no other vehicles excepting police and rescue are allowed near the airport entrance. We stopped here Sunday to return our car to Enterprise since we will not need it in Glasgow. Sunday was the second day of Glasgow’s Fair Weekend and the final day of the two-day Clyde River Festival – free buses left from George Square. Once again we were blessed with a sunny warm afternoon although I think it was raining everywhere else in the UK that day. There were tall ships, boat races on the Clyde, street performers, marching bands, junk food, and carnival rides set up outside the Science Center and rotating tower near the SECC and famous “Armadillo,” Glasgow’s number one concert venue.

Monday, July 16^th and Tuesday, July 17^th – In Glasgow

Glasgow Cathedral needs a good cleaning, but holds many hidden treasures inside. Just as we entered the organist began to play. The Kelvingrove Museum is one of my very favorite places in Glasgow. Its enlightened directors continue to give Glaswegians of all ages the “latest” in the interactive, hands-on, and FUN museum experience. One of our last sights of Scotland was the view of Glasgow from the Victoria Bridge on July 16^th at 11:15 pm – Can that be a mostly-clear sky again for our last night in Scotland? Looks like it to me, and photographs cannot tell lies. Above is the Scotia that claims to be Glasgow’s oldest pub. (1793? – I think we have older pubs than that in Chapel Hill). On our last night, we stopped for a couple of pints and found not only the oldest pub but the city’s most cordial and generous publican who kept pressing us to eat their free sandwiches. Great place.