Road Trip 6: Scotland

We did a lightning fast trip through Scotland.  This is a place we will definitely explore more thoroughly in the future.  We left Hadrian’s Wall and drove into Scotland to find a place for the night ending up in the quaint seaside town of Troon where the local ‘municipal sanitation operative’ chatted with us in what we think was English.  Anyway we could understand about three quarters of what he said and he let us know that it was alright to spend the night in the carpark by the sea.

Troon at sunset

The next day we drove along the lochs of the highlands with a quick stop at Fort William which was swarming with young fit ramblers who had just emerged from the mountain moors. Even with gray skies the area was inspiring.

We spent the night at a campsite in Dingwall just outside Inverness to wake up the next morning to sunshine!  The first time we saw real sunshine in about a week.  What a difference it made in our mood for the pilgrimage to John o’Groats so we could cast an eye on the Orkney Islands from where my ancestor, Robert Traill, immigrated to the Pennsylvania area in 1766.

The ferry to the Orkneys - We will definitely take this on our next visit

Northern most part of the mainland

Hotel at John o'Groats

That is Orkney, 6 miles away

On our return trip south we stumbled upon some Highland Games in Tain and had to stop for a look.  They were fantastic!  Kilts everywhere, caber throwing, highland dancing, races, bagpipes and birds of prey.  Perfect.

An owl that could be out of Harry Potter 

Highland dancing sponsored by a wee dram of whiskey

Throwing the caber

Foxglove was everywhere

What trip to Scotland would be complete without the heather.  We carried a sprig in the van for our whole trip

We found a spot at Hunting Tower outside Perth for the night so we could continue on to Edinburgh the next day.  We woke up to foul weather and made our way through the rain into Edinburgh which being Festival time was packed.  It was impossible to find reasonable parking.   We found some short term parking and spent an hour or two walking the streets to get a small taste of the city.  I sought out Dundas Street and imagined Alexander McCall Smith’s characters walking along living their quietly understated Edinburgh lives.  We didn’t do this amazing city justice but I was glad I could at least have a brief look.  This is another place that we will have to do more thoroughly in the future.

City scenes through the rain

 

So we said goodbye to Scotland with a firm resolve to return.