Scotland

We’ve just completed a week-long exploration of Scotland, just as the flowers were blooming, the landscape was beginning to green, and the young lambs pranced in the pastures. Wow! Ever since my 2011 visit to Scotland I have wanted to return. On this visit, with my wife and two dear friends, we packed a lot into one week. I’ll touch here on the highlights and share a gallery with highly selective subset of photos snapped that week.

April 23 London to St Andrews: We took the train from London to Edinburgh, where our friends joined us after their flight from Boston. After the train reached Leuchars, we took a taxi to St Andrews, where we’d rented a flat in the historic heart of town. Right next door are the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral, built in 1158. The sight of this (and other historic sites in St Andrews) settled us into the ancient character of Scotland, where we would routinely encounter evidence of cultures dating back 4,000 years or more.

April 24: St Andrews: David spent the day visiting his Computer Science colleagues at St Andrews University, while the others toured the cathedral ruins, the castle, the Old Course, and the town’s historic district. A thick haar (sea fog) had moved in overnight, and took most of the morning to burn off.

April 25: East Leuk, then to Ballater: in the morning, we drove across the Fife peninsula to a region known as East Leuk, where we explored small coastal villages (like Crail, above) and sampled fresh fish & chips from one of the famous chip shops in this area. The roadside farms shone in the afternoon sunshine, showing the bright greens of new growth and the brilliant yellow of blooming rapeseed (canola).

We rented a car, said good-bye to David’s friend in St Andrews, and headed inland toward Ballater in Cairngorms National Park. As we gained elevation the landscape became more sparse, and spring receded to the remnants of winter: snowfields were still visible in the hills above us. Indeed, every turn around the rolling hills of central Scotland led to starkly spectacular views… because I was driving, I have few photos!

April 26: Ballater, and drive to Dingwall: Early the next morning, I hiked a loop along the River Dee, just outside town. The quiet of a Sunday morning allowed me numerous wildlife sightings: rabbit, pheasant, goose, duck, oyster catcher, seagull, and more. Indeed, there were so many rabbits in the pastures it was hard to find a view that did not include a dozen or more rabbits! Later, we hiked a long loop around Loch Kinord, passing an ancient carved stone from the Picts (a civilization predating the Scots and Vikings and English), and visited Tomnaverie Stone Circle, a site dating back more than four millenia. (Read more about these hikes in my earlier post.) Perhaps my favorite photo from these hikes was of a Lapwing foraging for worms in a farmer’s field.

After a hearty lunch in a nearby pub we drove on to Dingwall, along the edge of the Cairngorms, and past the harbor city of Inverness. Again, the scenery was spectacular. Many of the sheep pastures allowed a peek at cute new lambs…

April 27: Dingwall and the Western Highlands: After spending the night in Tulloch Castle, we drove further to reach the western coast of mainland Scotland, to the small coastal village of Ullapool. Although clouds moved in and a light drizzle persisted for most of the drive, the payoff was a spectacular rainbow (as shown at the top of this post). We enjoyed a brief walk around Ullapool, including along the streamside trails, and a seafood lunch beside the harbor. We took the long way back toward Dingwall, along single-track bi-directional roads. (Whew! this is tough driving… imagine driving a narrow one-lane road, with no shoulder, and lots of blind curves, needing to always anticipate the possibility of oncoming traffic. Remember to keep left!)

We stopped at the Glenmorangie distillery. While Pam and our friends settled in for a whiskey tasting, David explored the grounds and watched a series of fun, new Harrison Ford videos on repeat in the visitor center. Nice!

April 28: Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, to Glencoe: We drove south along The Great Glen, a fault that draws a massive slash across the map of Scotland… and which is filled with several long, deep, narrow lakes, including the famous Loch Ness. The skies were clear and the sun was shining as we followed the twisty narrow road along the shore of Loch Ness, before stopping to visit Urquhart Castle. Founded in the 13th century, Urquhart played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century, and was destroyed by its occupants to avoid it being captured by opposing forces. I enjoyed photographing this castle from many angles, and even waded into Loch Ness, standing shin-deep in cold water for half an hour to wait for people to move away from the scene. (I finally got the shot!)

As we drove south, we took a lovely hike to an overlook called Craig Monie, stopped for lunch in a cute little cafe, and paused along the shores of Loch Lochy (apparently, a very lochy loch!) before arriving in Ballachulish where the Great Glen meets the sea in a lengthy fjord called Loch Leven. As we checked into our lochside hotel, we noticed a sign advertising kayak rentals… and it being a lovely day, jumped at the chance. We quickly rented two kayaks and paddled around the harbor, circling tiny islands before finally going ashore on the biggest island. There, we found the ruins of an old chapel, surrounded by many graves from the MacDonald clan.

April 29: Glen Coe and onward to Edinburgh: I was up 5am to drive through the early twilight into the legendary valley of Glen Coe, where I hoped to photograph a three-tiered waterfall and loch in early light. But, as the road climbed into the glen, it entered a dense fog, then reached a section where construction had narrowed the road to one skinny lane. The road was so narrow that my walk from the car park to the falls, along the road, was a hair-raising experience. Large semi trucks barreled past me, as I pressed up against the rocky walls of the ravine. On the upside: the early hour, the fog, and the road closure meant I had the waterfall overlook all to myself!

[That waterfall had a lot more water, and green vegetation, when I visited in August 2011.] After breakfast I collected the others and we drove back up into Glen Coe, where the sun had emerged. We enjoyed a short hike from the Three Sisters car park down to the river and back, before heading onward across the Glencoe pass and across the high country. [During our August 2011 visit to Glen Coe it was misty but verdant; what a difference between April and August!]

Our route to Edinburgh hugged the south edge of the Cairngorms, and we had time for a side trip to Loch Venachar for a walk in Glen Finglas. This out-of-the-way spot is pretty, but I expect it is rarely visited.

We arrived in Edinburgh just in time to catch the last tour of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the King when in Edinburgh. We were lucky to be led by an outstanding guide, who walked us through the complex history of the English and Scottish monarchs as well as the architecture of this beautiful (and still functional) palace.

April 30: Edinburgh: while David visited Computer Science colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, the others explored Edinburgh Castle and other historic sites. It is a beautiful city and, though I’ve visited before, there is much more to see!

• May 1: Edinburgh to Aberdeen: after my early morning hike to Arthur’s Seat, we hit the road again. We had to reach Aberdeen by early evening, but we had time to stop at the incredible Dunnottar Castle on the eastern shore. If there was ever a castle that exudes the essence of the words Scottish and castle, Dunnottar is it: it perches top of a sheer rocky outcrop, waves crashing below, and a narrow ridge barely connecting it to the mainland. It has a fascinating history spanning more than a thousand years!

From there we took some back roads toward Aberdeen. In a tiny village we stopped at the village community building, where we examined a small but informative display about the Pictish stones found (and now displayed) nearby. The Aberlemno Pictish stones date between AD 500 and 800; one depicts an important battle, and others depict traditional motifs and a Christian cross.

Finally, at Aberdeen, we boarded an overnight ferry to Lerwick. We settled into a comfortable, though cramped, cabin, then enjoyed dinner in the forward lounge where we could watch the shores of Scotland slip away as the sun over the North Sea. In the morning we would awake as the ship entered the town of Lerwick, in the Shetland Islands. More on that in the next blog post! Meanwhile, I recommend the six-minute slideshow.