After completing our planned hike along Hadrian’s Wall, we left northern England and took a train to Scotland to start our driving adventure there…driving on the wrong…I mean opposite…side of the road. Gary and Dave took turns driving.
The guys said it is much easier to drive in the countryside than in the city, although the very narrow roads in the country could be nerve-wracking. The busy streets and round-abouts in the cities were challenging.
We spent the first day in one of two major cities in Scotland: Edinburgh. We toured Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Botanical Gardens, Water of Leith walkway, and ate dinner in The Old Bell Inn, a pub in Edinburgh.
The remainder of our days we toured and explored the Scottish Highlands. They are stunning.
We drove through Cairngorm’s National Park, and alongside Loch Ness, looking for Nessie –we’re pretty sure we spotted her.
We stopped to walk along the North Sea, and went to the Culloden Battlefield. We hiked a “hill climb” up the Devil’s Staircase on the West Highland Way trail system in the stunning Glencoe Valley.
We toured the Isles of Skye, Mull and Iona, saw very old brochs, castles and abbey’s (a different post coming), and rode over the Glenfinnan Viaduct on a steam train.
In Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, the second movie in the Harry Potter movie series, there is a famous scene that involves the Jacobite steam engine train, aka Hogwart’s Express, going over the picturesque viaduct at Glenfinnan.
The Glenfinnan Viaduct is a twenty-one-arched concrete bridge built in the 1890’s. (A viaduct, by definition, is a type of long bridge, usually supported by a series of arches.)
Sue and I enjoyed riding on the Jacobite steam train, while the guys drove to the small town of Mallaig, a northwestern coastal town on the North Sea, and met us there. On their way to Mallaig, they parked the car and walked through a field, along with many others, to take a photo of our train passing over the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct. It was a memorable ride.
We spent our last night in the other major city in Scotland; Glasgow where we would fly out the next morning.
In Glasgow, we saw a bit of the city, in the rain, on our walk to our “last evening celebration dinner” in a lovely restaurant called “The Citizen” where we revisited all aspects of our time together. And it was time to say good-bye.
