Journey Through The Scottish Higlands
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone say, could that lass be I? I have such a romanticized idea of Scotland in my head filled with wild landscapes, Celtic music, very attractive men in kilts, probably quite influenced by Braveheart and Outlander but I always felt it was a very magical country. When my best friend said she was going to be getting married in St. Andrews I took it as my chance to finally explore the famous Scottish highlands! Even better I was going to do it with two of my friends! Roadtrip! I’d first met the girls when we travelled down Australia’s East coast together, so were were stoked to have another adventure!
Ashley and Lorna met me in Edinburgh, and after an afternoon of exploring we drove to our starting point of Glasglow, where Ash lives. We picked up tons of road snacks, an absolute necessity, and packed our bags ready for the next morning. Honestly I wore pretty much the same outfit for the next four days. With limited time and so much that we wanted to see, I wanted to share my must-see places in the Scottish highlands!
Loch Lommond:
Our first stop on the trip! We drove up to the lake with Ashley blasting the traditional folk song ‘Loch Lommond’ over the car speakers, which I highly recommend doing for an epic experience! Its the largest loch in Scotland and its stunning! Its glassy and dark and surrounded by beautiful landscape. Its a really good place to stretch your legs and take a walk, a great photo op, and honestly it was the first time that I felt we weren’t in the city anymore, that I breathed in that highland air and that I felt the three of us were on an adventure.
Random Stop at some point:
Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of driving in a road trip. Because I’m from Canada and wasn’t used to driving on the wrong side of the road…or the car…Ashley ended up doing all the driving so we wanted to make sure to stop lots. Just so happens of the part of the highlands we pulled over at was unbelievable! The views of some of the mountains were stunning and, best part, there was a man in full Scottish garb playing a bagpipe! Its hard to describe the scale of being among the mountains, you feel so tiny. The girls started jigging, I was running and jumping in the tall grass. I highly recommend making sure you stop a few times on you way as the beauty of the highlands is literally everywhere!
Isle of Skye:
This was a big one on my list. Logistically its a little out of the way, and thank god Ash was a pro driver because the tiny, winding, one car roads required someone with skills! Once again we soundtracked our lives by playing the Skye boat song as we went over the bridge onto the island. Epic. The fog and mist were hanging super low which created a really eerie atmosphere. We drove through a few little hamlets on the island, but our main purpose was to see the fairy pools! They’re a natural waterfall and rock phenomenon in the area known as Glen Brittle. They came to be known as the fairy pools because the hues of green and blue look unnaturall, especially when compared with its surroundings. We followed the trails up towards the mountains. Lorna hilariously was in a dress which made for an…interesting climb up a windy hill. Good shoes and a windbreaker or jacket is a must! It totally feels like you are out of time and place here, really mystical.
Warning, there are no toilets around for miles and we all had to pee. We ended up driving around till we found some random campsite but it was getting dire so be prepared! Ashley said the views on the drive out were some of the nicest on the trip. Honestly I don’t remember much of the scenery on the way out because from my permanent fixture in the back seat I passed out cold…
On our way off the isle, we stopped in the very cute town of Portree! A tiny village with candy coated buildings the lined the water. It was cold and rainy and we all felt like comfort food so we stopped into Cuchullin to have some pies and fish and chips. It was one of the best pies i’ve ever had in my life!
Fort William:
We didn’t stay on the Isle of Skye, we ended up staying in this hilarious little miniature wooden cottage in Fort William. Its easy to get to from a number of spots and has some great pubs! Its really close to Ben Nevis if you are so inclined to climb up it, and it was just an easier jumping off point for us. There were shops to restock supplies and get anything we needed aka crisps and Iron Bru…
Where to stay:
Rosemary’s Tiny Cottage $ - seriously I loved staying here!
Where to eat:
Glenfinnan Viaduct:
So just about everyone in the world has seen this viaduct but might not know it! Its the one the Hogwarts express goes over in Harry Potter. I had no idea this was even in Scotland! It was one of the stops on Lorna’s list and it was awesome! Its in the Western Highlands at the top of Loch Shiel, so you can cross another loch off your list! One of the most stunning views I saw with the lake centred and hills dramatically rising from either side. We parked up the road by this stunning church surrounded by purple flowers, then went to check out the Glenfinnan Monument. You could see most people were waiting to watch the train from the main lookout off the path, but we wanted to get as close as possible so we trekked up through the mud and grass and heather! We found a great spot away from everyone else to watch the train wiz past on its way to ‘Hogwarts.’ There was a lot of discussion about which houses we were all in… It would have been spot for a picnic if one of us had thought to bring snacks.
Inverness:
Inverness is such a cool town! We only spent one night there but made sure to wander around and check out Inverness castle and the victorian markets. The best time was at night though! We found a ‘grand wee auld pub’ called The Gellion that was doing a live trad music night. We drank, laughed, I broke a glass and definitely tried my hand at doing a highland fling! Inverness is the hub of the highlands so you can find busses and tours that take you out to all the main attractions of the highlands so its a great place to stay if you're looking to kind of stay put and still experience it all.
Where to stay:
Where to eat:
Loch Ness:
OK, the girls will be the first to tell you that I was next level excited to go to Loch Ness. I was waiting the whole trip to go find Nessie! We decided to just do the one hour boat ride around the loch and not get off. I was pretty much hanging off the side of the boat staring into the water for the most part. The mist in the air and the blackness of the lake lended itself perfectly for monster hunting. We sailed past Urquarht castle and its ruins. Big time bummer, it started to rain, so we went below deck and had hot chocolate while still scanning the waters! I’m pretty sure Ash and Lorna both thought I was bonkers, but it didn’t take up much of our time and was really fun! We eventually found Nessie on land!
Cawdor:
Cawdor is a parish within Nairnshire, not too far away from Inverness. As an actress, I really wanted to see ‘Macbeth’s’ castle. Of course he was a fictional character, so never really occupied it, but in the play he begins as Thane of Cawdor and Cawdor castle has become a bit of an iconic landmark because of it. Its really impressive as a castle in its own right. Winding staircases, giant fire places, a tree that grows right through the centre, I felt like I was in an episode of Outlander. The grounds were the real treat though. Giant hedge mazes, yellow flowering trees that made archways, gardens that went on for miles and an odd wrought iron tree with a yellow orb that the girls made me recite Shakespeare under…mildy embarassing, mostly fun. If you are a castle hopper or botanical garden aficionado this is a great stop to make. There’s a ton of history and beauty in this slice of the highlands.
Pitlochry:
Ashley had mentioned she knew this super cute tea room in this little burgh called Pitlochry! It was rainy (as usual), cold and we were all pooped so it was the perfect place to stop! Driving through it, its exactly what I picture a quaint Scottish town to be like. Beautiful stone walls, flowers, old buildings, completely picturesque. A great place for a walk and photo stop. We were paranoid about how long our parking would last so we didn’t stay long, but ducked into the extremely brightly painted Hetties Tearoom! It was like we’d fallen into wonderland! Everything is pink and turquoise with mismatched pots and cups it was amazing! I had a giant pot of tea with scones while the girls had cakes and ice creams. Plus the surrounding area is so stunning its the perfect place to stop, or to spend a few days!
Stirling:
This was our last stop before heading back into Glasgow. If you haven’t heard of Stirling, I’m sure you’ve heard of William Wallace aka Braveheart! Its the site of the 1297 battle where Wallace defeated the English. We first headed up to the castle, which was the best proper old Scottish castle I saw my whole time there! We knew parking would be a nightmare so we trekked up the hill, which was a big glute work out! The castle was huge! There was some discussion and disagreement on how best to see all of it haha. My favourite was walking along the forfeited walls and looking down onto Stirling for sure. Learning about the different kings and Queens, like Mary Queen of Scots, and what they each added to the personality of the castle was fascinating. After what felt like a month of walking and hiking we couldn’t quite bear to walk up the Wallace monument but we went to look at it. Sometimes for me, marvelling at the architecture is more satisfying for me than the view.
The Scottish highlands are really one of the most spectacular places I’ve been. I’ve never seen so many shades of green in my life. Being out there, among the heather and wild landscape you feel really connected to the earth, magic and ancient history of the country. Its wild! I can’t think of a better way to have done it then with Ash and Lorna. We played road trip games, carpool karaoke, talked about life, and made each other almost pee with laughter. Being able to drive through all the winding back roads through the wilds felt so much more special then if I had taken a plane or train. Its one thing to travel to Scotland, its a whole other to take a journey through the highlands with your own clan.