Mom and I took a trip to the Highlands of Scotland from August 3rd-15th. We spent two days in Edinburgh before meeting our Tour guide and group. We rented a car and drove to St Andrews to visit the golf course(s) and meet one of the pros who signed a scorecard from the Old Course for Dad and Bud. We just couldn't imagine being that close to the historic St Andrews and not going.
Once we joined out tour group we traveled north through the ghostly Scottish mist hanging over the lush green hills on our way to Inverness. We saw the grassy hills changed almost automatically to steep, enormous rocky crags. After stopping at a few of the places (Beauly Priory, Clava Cairns, Culloden Battlefield) mentioned in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander book, we headed to Castle Stuart outside of Nairn to meet and dine with Diana and her husband, Doug. They were lovely, gracious people. Diana signed all 7 of my Outlander books. We drove along Loch Ness and saw the gigantic hills of Glenshiel and Glencoe. Next we took a ferry to the Isle of Skye, listened to a Highland storyteller, visited Dunvegan and Eilean Donan Castles and stayed in a historic harbor hotel (where one of my most stunning pictures of the trip was taken). We saw the cairn marking where Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) raised his standard and later escaped to France after the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
We made our way back south to Edinburgh to visit the Palace of Holyroodhouse and shop the Royal Mile. We celebrated our wonderful tour with a farewell dinner at the hotel looking directly up at Edinburgh Castle at sunset. We drank champagne and even toasted my 21st wedding anniversary. Mom and I enjoyed our last two days in Edinburgh shopping, attending the impressive Edinburgh Military Tattoo and taking in a show from the Edinburgh International Festival.
Every day of the trip was amazing, our tour guide, Alastair, was phenomenal (full of insights and a wealth of Scottish history), the weather was uncharacteristically sunny and we were left wanting more, more, more! I guess I will have to plan a return trip in the future since I know I left part of my heart in the Highlands.
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