Scotland

I'm very slow at blogging lately: I mainly write my blog to remind me of our adventures. This post is a general look back at our Scotland highlights that didn't involve a wee dram! 

The scenery is lovely, very impressive. I have my phone at the ready when we're in the car; some photos work, some are blurred as quite often we hit a pothole or bump just as I click. This is one I managed to take as we travelled west with the September colours starting to appear.

The first day of our travels was my birthday, it was lovely to be with our friends visiting one of the iconic sights of Scotland ... the bridges across the Forth. There are three bridges, the arched one on the right is the famous Forth Bridge in it's bright red. Opened in 1890 this steel cantilever bridge is the main rail link north and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There are two road bridges, the far left one is the main M90 Queensferry Crossing Bridge; opened on 30th August 2017. It replaced the middle Forth Road Bridge which was opened on 4th September 1964 and is under repair, it is currently used only for public transport. 

We stopped at the view point on the south side of the estuary before crossing on the M90 and stopping for a birthday picnic under the arches of the Forth Bridge. The trains certainly rumble along and are quite frequent.

Continuing north towards our first B&B in Pitlochry we stopped at The Hermitage, a Scottish National Trust site. Hubby and I discovered this hidden beauty spot on our previous Scottish holiday. It's a lovely woodland walk along the River Braan and leads to the unexpected Ossian's Hall built in 1757. This small folly has a balcony overlooking the Black Linn Falls and was once decorated with mirrors and paintings to create the illusion of surprise.

Along the way were many large fallen trees with coins pressed into them. We didn't notice them on our previous visit but apparently it's a 'wish tree'. We couldn't see any dates but some coins must have been there for many years. 

Our stay in Pitlochry was lovely, made even more special as our friend celebrated her birthday the day after mine. Our super B&B hosts left a bottle of bubbly for us to share, how kind was that. 

We took a stroll over Pitlochry suspension bridge crossing the River Tummel. I will just say that I had not contemplated that fact that it would move ... not my favourite bridge crossing. The views upstream to Potlochry Dam were beautiful. It was amazing to see the fish ladder alongside and to walk across the top of the dam back towards the town. Such a scenic walk with a great coffee in the visitor centre. 

I have heard about the Queen's View but I didn't realise it was close to Pitlochry. As we set off west for our drive up the Great Glen to our next stay in Alness we detoured slightly to visit this stunning view. Although thought to have been named after Queen Victoria's visit in 1866 the view was actually named after Robert the Bruce's wife Isabella who visited 500 years earlier. 

Of course my seat was there waiting .... hee hee

Back on track we travelled west, pausing at Spean Bridge to look towards Ben Nevis, unfortunately the cloud was a little low to see the top. 

Travelling up the Great Glen towards Inverness we stopped at Fort Augustus the southern point of Loch Ness. The Caledonian Canal travels from here south to Fort William beginning with a set of steep and continuous locks. It was interesting to watch the boats going up, I was surprised how many fit in the huge locks at the same time. 

Being the start of Loch Ness I was very pleased to find Nessie too!

Our time north of Inverness was not quite how we had planned, many distilleries and places of interest were still closed or restricted. The scenery had changed from mountains to sea but was still stunning. We drove to Portmahomack on the edge of Dornoch Firt; it's a small village with a harbour and great views across to north east coast. With the sun out it made a great picnic stop, so calm and peaceful.

Alness was the furthest north we travelled, our return journey south took us past Cromity Firth with beautiful early morning views. We called at Culloden Battlefield before continuing our journey to Dufftown, our home for a few days. I'll be writing a separate post about Culloden.

A word of warning when visiting Scotland ... it's very rural in places so watch your step especially if you have been enjoying a wee dram at one of the many, oh so many distilleries. That said the chaps were on their way to, not back from, a distillery and were just larking about, nice bridge though.

During our stay in Dufftown we drove further east to the coast where to our amazement a large number of seals were basking on the sea rocks. They were quite close to the sea front, we sat on the sea wall for ages watching them, they were quite noisy with their bellowing. It was such a surprise to see so many so close. 

All too soon our days in Scotland came to an end: what a lot we saw, did and discovered. I have written, and have more to write, about specific trips and adventures, this post is an overview of our travels. 

Finally a few more car photos, we loved Scotland and will surely be visiting again. It's nice to now enjoy a whisky at home reminiscing about our trip across the border.